Post by Javier Rodriguez on Jan 22, 2015 1:52:04 GMT
1. Why is understanding physics and the general rules of the universe so important in doing philosophy?
Philosophy is basically an attempt to understand reality and in order to understand reality we must know everything we can about it. Physics and the general rules of the universe tell us how the world works and basic laws of existence such as gravity. When we make discoveries in sciences such as physics we gain better understanding of how the world works. In part two of the Eliminative Materialism videos it explains how advances in science have brought our understanding of the world from using gods and spirits as answers to how things work to more precise answers in reality and even better understandings of how our universe works on an even smaller and smaller basis. In trying to understand our world it is important to break things down and see how things work, just as 11 yr old Shaun-Michael did to a golf ball to understand it better in the short video on string theory.
2. What is eliminative materialism? Provide three examples of it.
According to the three part “Eliminative Materialism” videos, eliminative materialism is a process by which phenomena can be explained. Most anything can be explained by one of the sciences starting with mathematics then moving on to physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, then sociology. It is the process of eliminating previous ideas of unexplainable concepts through science over time to create a more understandable and definite answer. For example we now know more about electricity and magnetism instead of saying a thunder god was responsible for this event. We also know that bacteria and viruses are responsible for diseases instead of spirits as was thought to be the cause a long time ago as well as the discovery of our central nervous system controlling our bodies.
Philosophy is basically an attempt to understand reality and in order to understand reality we must know everything we can about it. Physics and the general rules of the universe tell us how the world works and basic laws of existence such as gravity. When we make discoveries in sciences such as physics we gain better understanding of how the world works. In part two of the Eliminative Materialism videos it explains how advances in science have brought our understanding of the world from using gods and spirits as answers to how things work to more precise answers in reality and even better understandings of how our universe works on an even smaller and smaller basis. In trying to understand our world it is important to break things down and see how things work, just as 11 yr old Shaun-Michael did to a golf ball to understand it better in the short video on string theory.
2. What is eliminative materialism? Provide three examples of it.
According to the three part “Eliminative Materialism” videos, eliminative materialism is a process by which phenomena can be explained. Most anything can be explained by one of the sciences starting with mathematics then moving on to physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, then sociology. It is the process of eliminating previous ideas of unexplainable concepts through science over time to create a more understandable and definite answer. For example we now know more about electricity and magnetism instead of saying a thunder god was responsible for this event. We also know that bacteria and viruses are responsible for diseases instead of spirits as was thought to be the cause a long time ago as well as the discovery of our central nervous system controlling our bodies.