EI,
I think you're approaching things from the wrong angle. Rather then ask yourself if your views on the structure of reality are logical, you should be asking yourself if any contradicting view might also be logical. I can pretty much assure you that such is the case.
I agree with you absolutely, and I mean it. Now hear this…
“I think you're approaching things from the wrong angle. Rather then ask yourself if your views on the structure of reality are logical, you should be asking yourself if any contradicting view might also be logical. I can pretty much assure you that such is the case.â€
I haven't changed a single word; now what say you?
There are many ways one can approach the whole mind/body problem, and many of them just outright solve it. The question isn't which one of them is logical (as none of them involve necessary logical contradictions if approached with care), but why we should accept one rather then another, or any at all.
I agree in this too, but what you fail to recognize is, we recognize or accept one conclusion over the other because as individuals, we find one thing more logical over another. I have no problems or doubt about your logical deductions as they mean to you. Your conclusions don’t bother me at all, so mine should not bother you, if you really mean what you said above.
It is merely a discussion, and take it as just that. You do think deeply on such issues, and I respect that, but your conclusions are worth nothing to me.
You seem to approach ontology using a very reductionist method.
You can label it as you like, EI, which I’m not even sure of what it means. I have never ever studied or read books on philosophy, except the one titled ‘philosophy for dummies’, and what I have heared here, which give me a rough idea of what people mean by the labels. However, I’m not really that interested. As you say here…
The reality of things reveals itself plainly to anyone who cares to pay attention.
That has exactly made me what I am, I have relied pretty much on nothing else, really.
What do any of these conceptual frameworks really accomplish at the end of the day? An apple is still the same apple it's always been for me, regardless of it's just in my mind, if it's in the world, or whatever else. Wittgenstein once said something to the effect of "don't think, but look!". The reality of things reveals itself plainly to anyone who cares to pay attention. Beyond those simple sensations though it's all generalization and speculation, and we make mistakes
Yes, we make mistakes, I agree, that is when we “reason†and can reach varied conclusions either way, and hence, “don’t think, but look†is a wonderful advice. But what you and this Wittgenstein (I can’t even spell or pronounce his name correctly by the way) fail to see is; what this stark “looking†itself actually is, how does that even come about, by what means is that even possible?
If you are not interested, all I can say is that it is merely a matter of interest. Each to his own... my friend.
Tell me, can you show me that an object could be visible without light? And I will show you how it is impossible to see anything at all if darkness did not accompany it. Its the same thing of course, but it is just a matter of perspective.
In a similar manner, it is impossible to distinguish one thing from another, if it were anything else but it self, against all that it is not. You simply know it is an apple by looking at it, I want to know what ‘looking’ is. For me an apple is logically there, without a doubt. Whereas, a theological God is logically impossible, hence does not exist. That is what thinking grants me the access to; and you (along with Wittgenstein) are essentially telling me to throw away the baby with the dirty water? Whereas you used the same thing to arrive at what you did, and you seem to say that you and this W has already done all the thinking that is to be done for each and every soul. Think my friend.
It is just a matter of how one “looks†at things; if you and Wittgenstein prefer to simply look, so be it… good luck to you both…. why talk then? You see… how futile it is for you to think over things and then tell me don’t think? Why do you want to do the thinking for me, just as you wouldn’t want me to think for you?
I have absolutely no problems with anybodies thinking, I am simply concerned as to my own.