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So when we talk about mind/matter, idealism/realism, materialism. Which concept of matter are we employing anyway?
What does "matter" mean in quantum age? What is "quantum materialism"? How does this changed conception of matter affect our conceptions of such classic notions of the world as a mechanical machine obeying fixed deterministic laws? Or of space and time as existing independent of "matter". I think many of our philosophical notions are still based on a Newtonian view of the world. I think the dualisms of philosophy: mind/matter, ideal/real, objective/subjective is really based on a misconception of the nature of deeper reality. Are there important clues in our changed conception of matter for resolving these troublesome dualities?
Monism, oneness, anyone?
When we say 'they virtually have no existence as we understand it' - it is frankly a neither here nor there remark. The fact is whether we perceive matter or not, existence of matter doesnot rely on human perception, experiments and theories. If there is a cause, there is matter, no matter if Descartes existed or not.
The virtual non-existence of particles could, of course, mean that they have a "different" form of existence. Nothing is proved one way or the other at this point. As far as the perception of matter is concerned the whole philosophical argument that has raged for years is exactly about whether matter exists when we are not observing it. To state categorically that matter does not rely on human perception is to brush aside the arguments and counter-arguments of minds far greater than ours. The fact that I actually agree with you is neither here nor there. I am only saying that when you try to describe anything without direct recourse to experience you find yourself grasping at thin air.
I would hardly call Hulme & Co. "mystics" and, while I can accept that this may be "un-scientific" (I stress "may") I would hardly call it un-philosophic as this particular subject has been in the area of philosophy since ancient greek times up to the present day (Pirsig comes to mind).
Even the problem of measurement in quantum physics, whilst not actively supporting the idea, at least does not rule out the possibility. As I have said, broadly speaking, I agree with most of what you say. I just feel that an element of doubt and open-mindedness does not go amiss. I do not think that discussion on this is "absurd", far from it, and there is no element of truth or lies because, quite simply, we are discussing "possibilities" because the whole argument is based around the fact that proof, one way or the other, is not yet possible for the reasons I have outlined before.
The world almost certainly is real but the element of doubt lends itself to interesting debate.
Hey, does a room still exist when you leave it? It's an old and jokey question but there may (stress may) be more to it than we think.
Epistemologically then we can see that we can only be sure of objects existence when we directly observe them, until then they remain as probabilities.
Also we do not know anything about the intrinsic properties of objects,
That is what I meant, we understand our relationship to matter better but we cannot know anything of it.
Furthermore the relation of perceiver and perceived is a subtle matter. I think the idea that 'existence depends on perception' in such a way that non-perception implies non-existence is mistaken. It is more a matter of saying that the mode of existence of any thing is a function of the manner in which it is perceived. Because of the kinds of minds and senses that H Sapiens has, things exist in a certain way, for us. If we were a radically different type of creature, our notion of existence would also be radically different. But this does not say, as is often thought, that things do not exist when they are not perceived. That is mere speculation.
If you want to accept the math, that there are multiple dimensions, then by all means perception could be just one of them.
Jackofalltrades,
if a child was born with no sense perception at all, no sight, taste, hearing, touch or smell, and if that child was kept alive by whatever means until it was 18 years old or so, would that now adult have a thought in it's head? The answer is almost certainly no, because all our knowledge of the world, including matter, comes from sense perception, and sense perception is a working of the mind. In that sense Hume "proved" that the world is "all in the mind".
All our knowledge of the world, including our own sense of self-awareness, comes from sense-peception and, as such, is intrinsically flawed. Self-awareness is based on interaction with the "outside world", the only way we know we exist as individuals is through our knowledge (whatever that be) of whatever is "out there", in other words our knowledge of being other than that which we perceive. This is not to say that matter does not exist other than when we experience it, it may well have intrinsic value, but it does mean that there is a "possibility" that it doesn't. There is no way of knowing that, when the door is shut, that room still exists. Read up on the idea of Schrodinger's Cat.
As far as the child goes in your experiment, my hunch is that the child has thought.
It also depends on what you describe as a thought. A child without the sense's knows it is alive just like a tree knows it is alive. Here knowing may mean feeling or intuition.
Knowledge of the world doesnot require a brain to process it.
What does that child think about, and how does she think it?
What does a tree know, and how does it know it? Are you suggesting that trees have feeling or intuition? How does a child with no senses sense a feeling? What intuition will she have about a feeling she cannot sense?
What other mechanism other than a brain can collect, store, archive and retrieve knowledge?