Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2015 6:42:46 GMT
Week two: Essay Questions
1. Why is understanding physics and the general rules of the universe so important in doing philosophy?
- To understand this notion of why doing philosophy depends so heavily on if the individual doing it knows and understands the way the universe works, one should really first find out what philosophy and physics are. Philosophy is all about questioning and answering concepts of reality and existence based on consciousness I believe. However, this itself can be daunting at times especially when it's dealt with no understandings of physics. One could argue though that if consciousness didn't exists then perhaps the universe wouldn't either and how reality really is only what we can observe and that anything that can happen does happen, which seems more philosophical to me than scientific. For instance reading the book Quantum Weirdness you find out that Objective Reality or Conventional Quantum Theory, states that "things don't exists unless they are being measured." Now with Physics it's about the understanding of how the universe came to be and why it exists at all and answering these questions requires finding a grand unified field theory, which in return would sum up all physical reality. To me discovering this theory of everything is therefore a theory of philosophy itself and if you can understand the meaning of the universe you can then create a philosophy for the things in it. I myself feel more of a philosopher, because I have a great knowledge of physics, and once you know the workings of the universe philosophy comes so naturally to ones self. However, in the end both physics and philosophy have helped us shape our understanding of the cosmos. I also believe that most physicist are also philosophers and once you know both physics and philosophy your outlook on life will change forever.
2. What is eliminative materialism? Provide three examples of it.
- Eliminative Materialism to my understanding and from what I gathered watching the videos is a process in which we use to try and solve the mysteries surrounding consciousness and for any other problems deemed unsolvable. For example, when scientist try and prove a phenomena they usually try to do so first with the help of mathematics to see if it's plausible first before testing an experiment. The next field of work they would turn to if the math didn't add up would be physics and physicist, and if they cannot provide an explanation for the phenomena, as well as from the other branches of science like chemistry, biology and psychology and finally sociology, then it's perfectly fine to suggest that God did it. Over the ages of human kind we've steadily advanced our knowledge and understanding of the human body and the universe we inhabit with more accurate results using the fields of physics, astronomy, and even medicines too. Before all of this though we looked to superstition and mythic gods created by man if you will, as an explanation for things we could not yet explain or fathom. For instance, we believed the God of Thunder Thor was responsible for why lightning occurred on our world, when In fact it's caused by electrical magnetic currents, and how it's the cause of bacteria and viruses why we get diseases not spirits. It was also believed ghost moved around inside our bodies pulling on our muscles when it is in actuality our body's central nervous system, so you see we have indeed replaced these mythic gods and spirits of our pasts almost completely. Eliminative materialism has drastically changed our views and understanding of the way things work on our planet and things beyond it, but has yet to show us why we as humans function the way we do and think the way we think, and why consciousness seems to ultimately determine the existence of something through observation. Another famous example simply put is " Does the moon exist if nobody's looking at it " suggesting that measurements alter the physical known universe.
1. Why is understanding physics and the general rules of the universe so important in doing philosophy?
- To understand this notion of why doing philosophy depends so heavily on if the individual doing it knows and understands the way the universe works, one should really first find out what philosophy and physics are. Philosophy is all about questioning and answering concepts of reality and existence based on consciousness I believe. However, this itself can be daunting at times especially when it's dealt with no understandings of physics. One could argue though that if consciousness didn't exists then perhaps the universe wouldn't either and how reality really is only what we can observe and that anything that can happen does happen, which seems more philosophical to me than scientific. For instance reading the book Quantum Weirdness you find out that Objective Reality or Conventional Quantum Theory, states that "things don't exists unless they are being measured." Now with Physics it's about the understanding of how the universe came to be and why it exists at all and answering these questions requires finding a grand unified field theory, which in return would sum up all physical reality. To me discovering this theory of everything is therefore a theory of philosophy itself and if you can understand the meaning of the universe you can then create a philosophy for the things in it. I myself feel more of a philosopher, because I have a great knowledge of physics, and once you know the workings of the universe philosophy comes so naturally to ones self. However, in the end both physics and philosophy have helped us shape our understanding of the cosmos. I also believe that most physicist are also philosophers and once you know both physics and philosophy your outlook on life will change forever.
2. What is eliminative materialism? Provide three examples of it.
- Eliminative Materialism to my understanding and from what I gathered watching the videos is a process in which we use to try and solve the mysteries surrounding consciousness and for any other problems deemed unsolvable. For example, when scientist try and prove a phenomena they usually try to do so first with the help of mathematics to see if it's plausible first before testing an experiment. The next field of work they would turn to if the math didn't add up would be physics and physicist, and if they cannot provide an explanation for the phenomena, as well as from the other branches of science like chemistry, biology and psychology and finally sociology, then it's perfectly fine to suggest that God did it. Over the ages of human kind we've steadily advanced our knowledge and understanding of the human body and the universe we inhabit with more accurate results using the fields of physics, astronomy, and even medicines too. Before all of this though we looked to superstition and mythic gods created by man if you will, as an explanation for things we could not yet explain or fathom. For instance, we believed the God of Thunder Thor was responsible for why lightning occurred on our world, when In fact it's caused by electrical magnetic currents, and how it's the cause of bacteria and viruses why we get diseases not spirits. It was also believed ghost moved around inside our bodies pulling on our muscles when it is in actuality our body's central nervous system, so you see we have indeed replaced these mythic gods and spirits of our pasts almost completely. Eliminative materialism has drastically changed our views and understanding of the way things work on our planet and things beyond it, but has yet to show us why we as humans function the way we do and think the way we think, and why consciousness seems to ultimately determine the existence of something through observation. Another famous example simply put is " Does the moon exist if nobody's looking at it " suggesting that measurements alter the physical known universe.
