architectural philosophy - a framework for decisionmaking

develop 'a philosophy', or a manifesto of sorts, to determine an end, and to aid in the delineation of the means. The idea with developing your own 'philosophy' is to provide a framework for decision-making. For instance, an idealist romantic might provide a scenario different from a minimal pragmatist.

Working with a clean slate seems to be a matter of conflict for some, the endless possibilities being just that, endless. With some self-imposed restrictions and constraints, a programme of sorts, the possibilities seem to 'offer up' a solution in themselves. We are able to perceive an answer to the problem, or at least a better focus on what avenues are most pragmatic or appropriate, based on our programme in combination with our views about the world - our philosophy. Thus, having a limited number of avenues to pursue, an aim or solution becomes clearer. Set yourself a series of tasks, and a programme, and maintain it. For without this, frustration manifests itself.

It is this programme, these self-imposed constraints, that aid in refining your philosophy from a group of unconnected thoughts and feelings, into a definable set of views - a kind of world view. From this broad perspective, armed with your particular view of the world, you can look at individual conditions and make decisions that reference back to your main views, your overall objective, your end goals. This is simply defining a method for decision-making that starts with a disconnected group of feelings, refines those into a distinct and consistent way of looking at the world, and ensures that our actions and goals are undertaken in a way that is consistent with, supports, strengthens, develops and refines that way of seeing - that world view. It is in fact this process that makes us distinctly human, which is consistent with choice and second-degree self-reflection not present in higher-order primates or mammals. They are unable to reflect in the way we do, and they do not have the capacity for highly organised culture the way we do. However, I digress. The point remains that a consistent set of views enable us to see the world more clearly and make decisions based on principles developed in conjunction with and supportive of our view of the world.

In another philosophical digression, is the reverse possible, where we develop a set of principles out of our feelings and thoughts, from which our world view takes shape? For the purposes of this discussion, the two are mutually supportive and exist interdependently, whereby either is possible, yet each element alone is necessary but not sufficient to support a consistent philosophy.