However, I do think that there is a distinct division between some people who believe in an absolute sense that tables and chairs do exist in the worl...
Does this not mean you can be thought of as a Direct Realist, in that objects such as tables exist in the real world. ================================...
As an Indirect Realist, I would say that tables and chairs only exist as concepts in my mind. They are representations of something in the world, as t...
"Esse est percipi" may be translated as "to be is to be perceived". Presumably, "to be" is referring to the world But there are two main meanings of "...
"Esse est percipi" may be translated as "to be is to be perceived". Are the relations we perceive perceived only in the mind or perceived of the world...
Exactly, fulfils the definition of a metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes one thing as if it were another. For example, saying "t...
The most basic interpretation of addition is in the combining of sets. When two or more sets are combined into a single set, the number of objects in ...
If fundamental particles and forces did not exist in the world, there would be no concept of "table" in our mind. /uploads/files/sa/7wu7rd0jdavg2mlx.p...
I'm trying to distinguish between the word "table" which exists in language and a table which I don't believe exists in the world. I believe that what...
As with Berkeley's Absolute Idealism, ideas exist in the mind and the material world only exists as ideas in the mind. You mentioned multiplication. A...
My belief is in Nominalism, in that "table" only exists as the name of a concept. My belief is also in Realism, in that there is something in the worl...
If the meaning of the concept "table" is about something material, then the meaning of the concept "thought" is about something immaterial. This fits ...
Taking one example, that of the mathematical concept of zero. A metaphor is a figure of speech that in mentioning one thing actually refers to another...
In a language of abstract concepts, there are still boundaries, Such as between chair and non-chair, material and immaterial. As with Derrida's "diffé...
But "photon" is a concept in the English language, and concepts are something abstract. The sense of a concept is abstract. Its reference may be concr...
That is the nature of language, where concepts are about the sense of things in the world rather than refer to things in the world (Frege). Scientific...
There are two ways of looking at it. One way is that "gravity is a force". "Gravity" and "the force of gravity" are synonyms, as the hotness of a body...
Yes, Strassler's article says that photons are material (stuff). But, today, matter is commonly defined as something that has mass, meaning that a pho...
I don't know. Some physicists say that matter is just stable energy. For example, Wilhelm Ostwald regards energy as a form of substance. https://readf...
Yes, there are at least two ways to think of gravity. One is as a force and one is as the curvature of space-time caused by the presence of mass energ...
Even someone who believes in Determinism may know their past but cannot know their future. ===========================================================...
The equation {s = 0.5 * g * t^{2}} describes the position of a stone above the ground dropped from rest with time under gravity. We could say "gravity...
I have the belief that ontological Determinism is true, in that all events in the Universe can occur in only one possible way. But I am not committed ...
In language, one can justly say that "the force of gravity causes a stone to move towards the ground". Some of these words are figures of speech, some...
As regards the second point, yes, the actual measurement of distance between two points in space is dependent on human observation. But as regards the...
My intention was that from the viewpoint of a human observer, even in a deterministic world, they cannot know the future. ============================...
A stone falls to the ground under gravity. Materialism was the old term that just referred to matter, the stone and the Earth. Physicalism is the new ...
True. As an Indirect Realist, I don't believe that tables exist in a mind-independent world, but only exist in the mind as a human concept. However, s...
Neither do I. I am sure that science in the future will look back at current knowledge on quantum mechanics as we look back to alchemy. But today not ...
True. When thinking about the equation f=ma, in determinism force is a physical thing whereas in free will force is a mental thing. In determinism the...
If object A is 1.8 metre in size and object B is 1.7m in size, then there is a relation between their sizes. Does this relation exist in the mind, the...
Suppose a table exists mind-independently. A table is an object, not a relation. Suppose space exists mind-independently. As with the table, then isn'...
Exactly. "Esse est percipi" is translated as "to be is to be perceived". But does this mean perceived through the sense, I perceive a loud noise, or p...
As a Nominalist I disagree. But I don't think we will be able to resolve the debate between Universals and Nominalism in this thread. There is a spati...
When someone says that they perceive the colour red, science may discover that they are looking at an electromagnetic wavelength of 700nm. Where in an...
The mind is a mysterious expression of the brain, but we know the brain has spatial extension. We know of no example of a brain that has no size. If t...
The fact that I perceive the colour red does not mean the colour red exists in the world. The fact I perceive a spatial relation between Glasgow and E...
Perhaps that is what I am trying to say. A relation is a concept in the mind rather than an object in the world. Relations exist in the mind, not the ...
The ship is secured because of physics, the force in the rope between the ship and the bollard. The ship is not secured because of the relationship be...
Kant's distinction is slightly more than between transcendental idealism and empirical realism, if empirical realism means that the objects we encount...
I agree that it it seems plain that Edinburgh and London exist in different places independently of our knowledge of them. The concept "relation" cert...
Kant in Critique of Pure Reason would agree that realism is grounded in idealism, in that the pure intuitions of space and time and pure concepts of u...
Introduction As a supporter of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, I agree that "Empirical knowledge is not a passive representing of what’s out there." I...
You believe you argue in a non-deterministic way, but as you say yourself "a belief is not evidence of the thing believed." ==========================...
As regards the existence of ontological relations in the world, a human may know that Glasgow is west of Edinburgh. But where in Glasgow is the inform...
I cannot accept that there are no binaries, and everything is a formless soup of amorphousness. I cannot accept that Tyrannosaurus rex did not have an...
Physicalism vs Materialism Historically, Materialists thought that everything was matter, but today, physics has shown that forces such as gravity are...
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