The Prime Metaphor
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 12:50 am
There is no really good place to start so i'll just jump in at random, dripping axioms as necessary.
The state of reality is that of the state within which we can sense and verify. This is the human bubble. Anything beyond this bubble is speculative and can only be speculative. Verification can be one of two things, empirical probability - the realm of science, or logical necessity - the realm of philosophy. Both are subject to the limits of our bubble but logic may extend that bubble according to the precision of the definitions of the words used within it.
Outside the bubble is undifferentiated stuff. Inside it are specific things. First we sense, then we notice, then we differentiate those patterns into things according to whatever use we have for them. Internal and external uses are distinct and that is a boundary which cannot be crossed. Internal patterns may be correlates of external reality or may be only internally consistent. For external purposes we use language to represent those patterns and words mean whatever we say they mean.
The mind/body problem is a no problem - it's two different metaphors for the same thing, just as psychology can be deconstructed to biology which can be deconstructed to chemistry, etc. They are different levels of understanding. Conscilience is constantly occurring. All human knowledge is like patches on a globe, covering certain knowledge about reality according to certain purposes.
Those patterns which exist within the mind either correlate with natural, physical/material reality or are the same as fiction. Opinions may therefore be more or less true based upon how closely they match testable reality.
That's a good enough start. I'll add all the new things that come up as they come up. I've tried to work out with various people what it would mean to have solved metaphysics and no one can agree that it's possible much less that i could have done it so i'll just address all my main points here. Coming up in a new post: Some Metaphysical Questions (answered)
The state of reality is that of the state within which we can sense and verify. This is the human bubble. Anything beyond this bubble is speculative and can only be speculative. Verification can be one of two things, empirical probability - the realm of science, or logical necessity - the realm of philosophy. Both are subject to the limits of our bubble but logic may extend that bubble according to the precision of the definitions of the words used within it.
Outside the bubble is undifferentiated stuff. Inside it are specific things. First we sense, then we notice, then we differentiate those patterns into things according to whatever use we have for them. Internal and external uses are distinct and that is a boundary which cannot be crossed. Internal patterns may be correlates of external reality or may be only internally consistent. For external purposes we use language to represent those patterns and words mean whatever we say they mean.
The mind/body problem is a no problem - it's two different metaphors for the same thing, just as psychology can be deconstructed to biology which can be deconstructed to chemistry, etc. They are different levels of understanding. Conscilience is constantly occurring. All human knowledge is like patches on a globe, covering certain knowledge about reality according to certain purposes.
Those patterns which exist within the mind either correlate with natural, physical/material reality or are the same as fiction. Opinions may therefore be more or less true based upon how closely they match testable reality.
That's a good enough start. I'll add all the new things that come up as they come up. I've tried to work out with various people what it would mean to have solved metaphysics and no one can agree that it's possible much less that i could have done it so i'll just address all my main points here. Coming up in a new post: Some Metaphysical Questions (answered)