Bill Nye, B.S. Mechanical Engineering, in his book "Undeniable", asserts that evolution explains everything we need to know about life on earth.
Douglas Axe, Ph.D. Biology, in his book "Undeniable", opines that his readers' intuition that life is designed is strongly supported by science.
T. Nagel subtitles "Mind & Cosmos" with "Why the Materialsit Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is almost Certainly False." Are you drawn into this debate? It says something about you if you're not.
Nicholas Humphrey has written a book, "Sentience", in which he introduces a neologism: Ipsundrum. Easy to pronounce, not that hard to remember or spell, even if it doesn't liltingly roll off the tongue.
Ipsundrum seeks to illuminate what's going on in the whirring blender of our minds to ensure we are maximizing our "phenomenal consciousness", which he characterizes as a "mathematical attractor".
But how sentient are humans? Battle lines abound, economies stressed or disfunctional, the planet rife with hate, drugs, violence, murders--sentience should be able to fix this. However, it has never managed to do so.
The first thing I know is that striving to improve my writing is the last thing I should do. (I should do it, but it should be the last thing I do.)
The second thing is the importance of the reader. (But this raises the question: Is the reader a segment of the population or is the reader first and foremost myself?)
The third thing I know is the importance of the mind's eye, (Where beauty is beheld, readers bond with books, and all the things that cannot be said start to sing.)
Wittgenstein says what we can't speak of, we should shut up about. Wyeth's drybrush "On Her Knees" gives us an image that speaks beautifully and rockets far beyond delimiting words.
Is Helga "A Perfect Woman"? I believe Wyeth thought so. He made 238 images of her. He was driven, I think, to capture her "perfection" and in "On Her Knees" he did.
And there she is, deep in thought, her nipples impossibly pink, her bush a masterpiece of nature, the soles of her feet dirty from walking around barefoot. Not idealized, realized, timeless, dominating memory.
Or more specifically, "Why? The Purpose of the Universe." It's current philosophy by Philip Goff that attempts to bring the reader up to speed on trends and differences of opinion about the effort to unpack reality.
"Why?" is a slog. It gives one a brain ache the same way Nagel's "Mind and Cosmos" gives one a brain ache. Thinking is hard. The consolation prize is there is humor on hand to provide relief.
Abigail Tulenko wrote an article for AEON, "Folklore is philosophy", that leads with Pretty Maid Ibronka. She's after truth, which shows that in addition to being pretty she's also smart.