“We ought to take middle reality as realest because it is what our senses lead us to focus on.” But don’t they reveal generalities first?
Category: Technical Philosophy
The Pragmatic Case for Middle Reality: Replies and Objections 2
Posted in Levels of Reality, and Technical Philosophy
Last time, I argued that intellectual and perceptual maturity attunes us to middle reality — if we judge the middle in terms of parts and wholes. The better we…
You’d expect organisms that survive to be attuned to reality, and most attuned to what is most real. We’re attuned to things that are on the middle level of reality. So . . .
When I say reality is realest in the middle, what do I mean? Well, let me explain. No, please let me explain. This is so important to me. Pleeeeease
Imitating Aristotle leads us to conclude that reality is in the middle. And we should imitate Aristotle. Down with reductionism and its opposite!
Idea: Reductionism is incompatible with one form of generalism, but not the other. Reductionists believe reality is at the bottom. You don’t really exist. You are just your parts,…
Idea: There are good reasons for believing that the more original a thing is, the realer it is. Let’s call reality-is-at-the-top-ism in general, “generalism.” The…
There’s a mix of reasons for believing that larger, more inclusive things are realer. Some of them seem perfectly reasonable. Others are questionable.
Idea: There are four good reasons for being a reductionist. At the cellular, molecular, or quantum level, you don’t exist. But it’s those lower levels of reality…
It does, and everyone (from Plato and Aristotle to you) agrees. In this post, we explore the various ways of dividing reality into different levels.
Where Is Reality?
Posted in Levels of Reality, and Technical Philosophy
There is a huge fight going on about where reality is, and no one realizes it. Except me. And tons of other people. Option 1: Reality…
Idea: The number of things in the world goes down when you make new things. When you smash a vase — as you regularly do, I’m sure —…
I’ve received two rejection letters this summer for papers. I sent the first paper right out again, because the rejection from the APA’s new journal…
Some Not-Well-Developed Thoughts: Whether wholes are more fundamental than their parts, or parts more fundamental than their wholes, is an important question. The terminology of…