The reality tag has no wiki summary.
3
votes
2answers
108 views
How do correspondence theories handle statements like these?
I have a number of true statements. Each of these statements is a case where I have difficulty seeing how (assuming physicalism) the statement could correspond to a state of affairs. My question is: ...
5
votes
3answers
197 views
What are the most basic assumptions one has to make in order to conduct science?
I often wondered: What are the most basic assumptions I have to make before I can even start thinking about life, universe and the rest?
So far I have boiled them down to three:
There is a world, a ...
2
votes
2answers
118 views
What does Einstein's quote “If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts” mean?
What did Einstein really mean by saying:
If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.
0
votes
0answers
18 views
Is there a construct that exists to describe a 'support structure'? [closed]
In programming there is the idea of a 'construct' which consists of the basic elements of a programming language. Using the metaphor of programming, does there exist in philosophical thought, a ...
0
votes
0answers
24 views
Is it possible to reconfigure being and what would be involved? [closed]
In my understanding 'being' is a term with a multiplicity of meanings. Does it mean 'direct lived experience'?, a 'way of being'?, being somewhere? What is it in relation to 'existence'? Is 'to be' ...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
What is the Lacanian term 'The Real', and can the concept be found in other movements? [closed]
In Zizek's studies of Lacan, he talks about the Real being the gaps in between symbolic reality. However, what is the full Lacanian definition? and what are the definitions of 'The Real' in other ...
2
votes
3answers
136 views
Succinct argument for the fundamental role of binary digits as information units
I will clear up the context of this question so that the potential answers can be effectively targeted towards what I'm looking for.
Information (at least in the non-semantic, canonical sense of the ...
9
votes
3answers
311 views
What would a quantum interpretation without ontology be like?
Luboš Motl keeps insisting quantum mechanics invalidates ontology, and has made ontology obsolete, just like phlogiston. What would metaphysics without ontology look like, where words like "existence" ...
0
votes
2answers
122 views
Can we create the Matrix?
Can we fully simulate the reality for a Brain in the Vat (BIV)?
For example i clone myself and connect the clone's brain to a very sophisticated computer, which simulates a part of the universe (for ...
1
vote
2answers
104 views
Emulation, simulation and the real thing
The description of the strong AI position in the wikipedia article on the Chinese room describes the blurring of the difference between a simulation and the real thing with respect to the mind:
...
2
votes
2answers
114 views
Convincing a brain in a vat of reality
Pondering at the arguments at wiki:
In other words, if a brain in a vat stated "I am a brain in a vat", it
would always be stating a falsehood. If the brain making this
statement lives in the ...
0
votes
1answer
78 views
Is this an Immanuel Kant quote? [closed]
You can imagine the perfect chair in your mind but you cannot build the perfect chair.
Or something very similar. I believe that is Kant but I cannot find any reference to the quote anywhere. Any ...
1
vote
1answer
131 views
“matra” vs “maya”, à la Bohm
There is a passage that I could not possibly regard as anything other than intriguing in David Bohm's "Wholeness and the Implicate Order", and I would like to share it with the esteemed readers of ...
7
votes
3answers
663 views
Is time a physical factor or just a concept?
When thinking of cycles and myths, one cannot pass the idea of Kronos or Kali. That brought me to form some questions about the nature of time.
Three definitions for time:
Time is a measure of the ...
-1
votes
3answers
266 views
How can we identify the soul or spirit in an object? what is the difference between man and machine? [closed]
If you consider a human and a very smart computer, you have no trouble turning off the computer but most people would consider "turning off" a person to be bad.
If a computer becomes as smart as a ...
7
votes
3answers
358 views
Can we be Boltzmann brains? Or, how can we be sure there is no conspiracy about the past?
The way things are traditionally presented about time, there is the present, the past is fixed, and the future is open. The second law of thermodynamics is invoked. But how can we be so sure the past ...
-4
votes
2answers
193 views
Is there something in the real world that cannot be proved nor disproved? [closed]
It is often said that you cannot prove nor disprove God. People who bring forward this kind of reasoning often try to persuade you that there is a kind of balance, a truce; you can't prove your point ...
3
votes
4answers
316 views
What is the difference between existing in the mind and non-physical existence?
How could one detect the subtle difference, if any, between imagining a being and using the imagination to interact with a non-physical being?
To provide some context for this question, I will give a ...
9
votes
2answers
308 views
Existence of an Intelligible Physical World beyond the Mind [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Are there any philosophical arguments to disprove or weaken solipsism?
What justification(s) exist for the generally-agreed-upon axiom that a physical world beyond our ...
