Per Bylund Commentary

There is a saying in the world of marketing that if no one sees you, you do not exist. This is not a modern version of the old philosophical question of the tree in the forest. The question goes something like this: if a tree in the forest crashes down and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer to the question might seem obvious, but it is difficult, to say the least, to prove.

As far as other people know, however, if they don’t see you, you don’t exist. From this point of view the marketing saying is correct (it also sells marketing services). The same can be said about ideas, that if no one has ever heard of an idea it does not exist. I am not trying to refute the Platonic philosophy of an ideal world (the “real” world) consisting only of ideas, even though the incorrectness of this philosophy should have been proven long ago. I am simply saying that I am one of those people who believe that ideas are very important, and I therefore also believe that good ideas need to be brought into the light. Unless they do they will die, at least as far as people’s knowledge of them goes.

In this sense it is important to have a voice, and to shout out loud. The good ideas you have and believe in need to be communicated – you need to raise your voice and make people hear what you have to say. If you don’t, these ideas may become extinct.

The saying in the marketing world is worth repeating – if no one sees you, you do not exist. It is equally true to say: if no one hears you, your views do not exist. This means your ideas do not exist, so make sure to communicate them.

This blog is a part of my shouting out loud the ideas I find important. But it is not limited to that; I intend to communicate bad ideas as well, and show you as clearly as I can that they are, in fact, bad ideas. This blog is not a way to satisfy my ego or show people how a fantastic philosopher or scholar I am. It is rather my contribution to the world of ideas, and the global discussion of these ideas that ought to exist.

The explicit focus on ideas and the analysis of ideas makes this blog unique. In a sense, one might say this unique idea of the exploitation of ideas is what makes this blog competitive. But to tell you the truth, I don’t intend to compete with all the blogs out there – there are a lot of writers in the blogosphere who have much more time, who are more knowledgeable, and who are better writers than I am. There is no way I can beat a world of bloggers.

Nevertheless, I think this blog contributes something unique and special to the blogging world. The focus of ideas has already been mentioned, but that is not all and – quite frankly – it is not what makes this blog unique. Rather, the uniqueness of this blog is the fact that it does not meet many of the characteristics of blogs. It is, in many respects, not a blog but yet a blog.

I guarantee that there will be no references or personal evaluations of what is going on in the world – I do not do news. This blog is only for the discussion (or, if you prefer, the dissecting) of ideas. Also, there will not be any short commentaries. I take ideas much too seriously to bring it up and describe the idea in only a few sentences without going deeper or analyzing it. Ideas do matter, and most ideas – both good and bad, even ridiculous – require our attention, respect, and time. Ideas make the world the beautiful place it is.

Such important things aren’t discussed easily, it takes time and intellectual effort. I am not saying that this blog will be an advanced course in philosophy, but it will bring up important issues from the perspective of ideas and go through them – to see what they are worth, what they are like, what they really mean, and whether they are coherent or contradictory.

The purpose, thus, is to softly collide with the world of ideas. I wish to penetrate ideas and see how certain ideas are, for instance, culturally conditioned or related to each other. Ideas throughout history come together in a web very much like the WWW – ideas are linked to each other and belong in a context. What we can learn from this is essential for our lives, it is how we adopt the values that make us who we are.

So this is not a blog. It is a webbed collection of on-the-fly analyses of ideas. Thus, the posts are long – they are extremely long for being a blog. And the posts will not be as frequent as in a regular blog, but I do intend to post something at least twice every week. So bear with me – if you share my interest in ideas I bet you will enjoy visiting this site a little now and then. Feed off my thoughts as I intend to feed off your comments.

Welcome to the magnificent World of Ideas, with which we are about to collide. I hope you’ll enjoy the ride. Please fasten your seat-belt.

Per Bylund