It is just the inevitable outcome of a conversation where people know the truth but they are different truths. — Rich
You are just underestimating the potential of material and energy to describe reality. Energised matter gives us physicalism and there is nothing that this will not ultimately explain. There is no other -ism capable of beginning to illuminate our existence. — charleton
Thanatos was habitually insisting that I didn't show a conclusion that I set out to demonstrate.
But, when invited him to specify a particular statement or conclusion in my posts that contains that error or fallacy, he said, "No, you just didn't show it." But, if I claimed to show something, then there'd be a fallacy or false statement somewhere on the way to that conclusion, in my posts.
The answer, of course, is that, if someone says, "You didn't show it", and says that the burden isn't on him to show what's wrong with where you claimed to show it, then there's no way to answer that vague charge.
That's a common, definitive, troll-tactic. Repetition without any verification or justification.
As someone else pointed out, there are only two possibilities:
1. Thanatos is a typical, incredibly-sloppy &/or dishonest troll.
2. Thanatos is sincere and honest, but he's quite delusional....delusional to a degree that's problematic to the decorum, order and integrity of the forum.
Either way, he's a detriment and a liability to the forum..
Physicalism is a description of what is the case. — charleton
Physicalism is a description of what is the case. — Charleton
Not. Physicalism is a description of what can be measured physically. — Wayfarer
It's my understanding that the physical world is composed of things that have a causal influence on each other. It must be that things that have a causal influence on each other are made of the same substance. If the physical world has a causal influence on our minds and our minds have a causal influence on the physical world, then it must be that they are all of the same substance - physical, mental, information, or whatever we decided to call it (and does it really matter?). — Harry Hindu
You have completely missed the point. — charleton
Only physicalism can answer how it is that your mind can be altered by drugs. If the mind is note physical, then you have a job on your hands to say how this works. — charleton
Anything that has mass has energy, is matter. A thought has not mass, possibly no energy, can't be measured, therefore isn't matter...therefore all is not physical. — Anthony
.How does Physicalism explain why there's this physical world which, according to Physicalism, is Reality itself. ... independently, fundamentally-existent.,"
.Nothing explains that.
.What makes you think it is explicable?
.You can hardly demand the answer to such a question that nothing can explain.
."Why is there that independently, fundamentally existent physical world, that comprises all of Reality?"
.Why do you think it is "independent". Independent of what exactly?
.Physicalism is a description of what [it says] is the case.
.There is no where you can stand outside of it to view it independently.
.I think, once you have divested yourself of your disabling dualism…
.…you might be better equipped to understand the questions you are asking.
Physicalism is a description of what can be measured physically. — Wayfarer
Phsyicalism is a metaphysics that says that this physical world is independently, fundamentally, existent. ...and is simply what is, and is all of reality. — Michael Ossipoff
This is what you might call a brute fact. I would call a belief. — Rich
There are as many varieties if physicalism as there are off Buddhism. I would say physicalism is a point-of-view that declares everything is physical
What makes them equal is their causal influence on each other. We observe physical things interacting and we observe the mind interacting with physical things and vice versa. I don't see any inequality - just a bunch of stuff interacting with each other.This would be the case if mind/physical were given equal status.
In some cases mind is transformed into some illusion (I guess this the essence of materialism) , thus giving it less status - I suppose. This kind of thinking is hard for me to get my arms around. I prefer to think of physical being more substantial and mind being less substantial but - and this is a big but - mind being the motivator, the impetus. In this manner, the living body is a fully holistic living body. — Rich
I think it is more of an indicator of the nature of knowledge/understanding itself.To our limited selective mechanisms, it may only appear that one event causes another; the fact we have to make observations to try to understand the universe is possibly an indicator of our limited understanding of causality. — Anthony
An omniscient being doesn't need to make observations because it's mental representation of reality would mirror reality itself. The question is, "how did it's mental representation become a mirror of reality without observing (learning), as that seems to be the nature of understanding/knowledge?" Another questions would be, "what form does an omniscient being's knowledge take?" We understand the world in colors, shapes, sounds, feelings, etc. This is the form our knowledge takes - the form of the information that comes through our senses (qualia).If there is a universal mind, absolute and omniscient, it doesn't have to make any observations, and so we are closer to it when we aren't making observations or trying to understand it. And indeed it is true when I'm zoning out or meditating, or in a state of deep sleep, time flies, the subjective nature of time is more obvious when making fewer observations. Causality itself comes into question. — Anthony
It seems like it has to do with our limited ability to conceptualize extremes in time and space. Over enough time and space, everything does have a causal influence on each other, eventually.One local event is causing another all around the universe far beyond any isolated local causality. Even though we have a small perspective of our own lives and activities, within a local sphere of causality, it has to be remembered that in a way, everything causes everything when nonlocality is introduced. Which is in fact what is happening. Everything informs everything as though it were one unfathomably monumental event. We tend to get stuck in trying to apply local causality to the big picture or to infinitude. Splitting the universe into pieces is done by human observers, not by the universe itself. — Anthony
You're right in that the term is used loosely and is but one category of beliefs.There are as many varieties if physicalism as there are off Buddhism. I would say physicalism is a point-of-view that declares everything is physical, but then again this is my POV of physicalism. — Rich
Materialism would perhaps care to address that question, but your question assumes that there is something, physical or not. So how do you explain that there is whatever you assume there is?How does Physicalism explain why there's this physical world which, according to Physicalism, is Reality itself. ... independently, fundamentally-existent.," — Michael Ossipoff
What makes them equal is their causal influence on each other. — Harry Hindu
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