Comments

  • Using Artificial Intelligence to help do philosophy
    Maybe because we can learn by doing rather than relying on something to constantly correct our mistakes (which is laziness) ;)
  • The Question of Causation
    How so?Philosophim

    Because you are obsessed with not being labelled a Physicalist when I am not labeling you as a physicalist. Every post you seem to do this.

    I am labelling the arguments put forward in this particular area of philosophy of mind as physicalist because they are.

    You're trying to occupy a non-physicalist position while affirming physicalist conclusions about the mind.
    I like sushi (chat gpt)

    No. I'm not a physicalist, as they believe everything is physical. I simply conclude that the brain and consciousness is physical due to years of scientific results that indicate consciousness seems to be physical, while little to no evidence of it being non-physical. Concluding that consciousness is physical does not make you a physicalist. Believing that all of reality is physical and that there can be nothing non-physical does.
    Philosophim

    Take it up with Chat gpt. Not my words.

    All I can suggest is exploring this site further Stanford and beyond the opening paragraph.
  • The Question of Causation
    For those actually interested the Causal issue here is a snippet from Davidson expressing something akin to what I am getting at:

    The first principle asserts that at least some mental events interact causally with physical events. (We could call this the Principle of Causal Interaction.) Thus for example if someone sank the Bismarck, then various mental events such as perceivings, notings, calculations, judgements, decisions, intentional actions, and changes of belief played a causal role in the sinking of the Bismarck. In particular, I would urge that the fact that someone sank the Bismarck entails that he moved his body in a way that was caused by mental events of certain sorts, and that this bodily movement in turn caused the Bismarck to sink. Perception illustrates how causality may run from the physical to the mental: if a man perceives that a ship is approaching, then a ship approaching must have caused him to come to believe that a ship is approaching. (Nothing depends on accepting these as examples of causal interaction.)

    Though perception and action provide the most obvious cases where mental and physical events interact causally, I think reasons could be given for the view that all mental events ultimately, perhaps through causal relations with other mental events, have causal intercourse with physical events. But if there are mental events that have no physical events as causes or e ects, the argument will not touch them.

    The second principle is that where there is causality, there must be a law: events related as cause and effect fall under strict deterministic laws. (We may term this the Principle of the Nomological Character of
    Causality.) This principle, like the first, will be treated here as an assumption, though I shall say something by way of interpretation.

    The third principle is that there are no strict deterministic laws on the basis of which mental events can be predicted and explained (the Anomalism of the Mental).

    From Mental Events by Donald Davidson

    Apologies for jinky copy and paste (Might be a word or two missing cut so let me know where and I will Edit as needed).

    As I mentioned way, way back I was trying to look at the disparity between nomological and metaphysical positions.
  • The Question of Causation
    And this is often a problem I have with broad generalized terms. The general definition of a physicalist is "One who thinks everything is physical." But I don't.Philosophim

    Misrepresetnation of what is being said.

    Also agreed. But they should be an assistance to understanding the argument being made, not something we try to fit the argument into. Its why when asked if I was a physicalist, I'm not.Philosophim

    and again.

    Sometimes I am not of course, and I'll try to adapt and learn where I can. But what I am almost never aware of in a conversation is how other people define the terminology. I have learned that many people rarely use the formal definition of complex philosophical ideologies or terms.Philosophim

    They are not 'ideologies'. Such is to adhere to a form of Idealism.

    People on philosophy forums do occasionally actually use philosophical terminology. You can say until you are blue in the face that what you are expressing is not a type of Physicalism, but it is. Just like someone going around killing random people can claim they are not a murderer, it does not stop everyone else from blatantly disagreeing. The murderer could argue that "being a murderer is not eveyrthing I am!" but they cannot rationally argue that they are not guilty of murdering people.

    I hold to physicalism in some situation and not others. I can be liberal about one political problem and conservative about another. Neither rigidly defines me as either.

    Because you are unwilling to accept that what you are saying adheres to some sort of argumentation from some form of physicalism, and instead repeatedly revert to 'I am not a physicalist!' like it is some harsh insult, you completely miss everything.

    Maybe chat GPT can do a better job? Here is its take on your reply:

    "Certainly. Here's a clear explanation you can give to this person regarding the philosophical problem they seem to be having—namely, the confusion caused by adopting a position that seems to commit to physicalism while denying that label, and the consequences this has for coherence in the philosophy of mind debate:

    Hi [name],

    Thanks again for the discussion. It seems to me that the issue you're running into is a classic one in philosophy of mind, especially when navigating between physicalist and non-physicalist frameworks. Here's the core problem, as I see it, and I hope this helps clarify some of the points raised earlier.

    The Philosophical Tension:
    You've said you're not a physicalist, because you don't think "everything is physical" in the broad, metaphysical sense. However, you also say that consciousness is physical, because that's where the science is pointing. That sounds like you're committed to at least token physicalism about consciousness (i.e., each instance of a mental event is identical to some physical event in the brain).

    But if that's your view, then you're not rejecting physicalism — you're accepting a form of it, even if you're uncomfortable with the term.

    So the tension is this:

    You're trying to occupy a non-physicalist position while affirming physicalist conclusions about the mind.

    That does raise confusion because labels in philosophy matter, not to stifle thinking, but to track arguments, commitments, and counterarguments. Without clear reference points (like physicalism, property dualism, emergentism, etc.), discussions risk talking past one another, as seems to have happened here.

    The Supervenience Problem:
    Now, if you're affirming that consciousness is physical — but still not reducible to physical states — that’s non-reductive physicalism, which relies on supervenience (i.e., mental states depend on physical states such that no change in the mental without change in the physical is possible).

    But if you reject supervenience (or leave it vague), you fall into interactionist dualism, and then you're stuck with:

    The causal closure problem: How does a non-physical substance cause anything in a physical system?

    The pairing problem: Why does a particular non-physical mind interact with this brain?

    And yes, the supervenience problem again: If mental states don't supervene on physical ones, then how do we explain regular, lawlike mind-brain correlations?

    So even if you don’t want to use the term “physicalist,” your statements imply physicalist commitments. And that matters because the moment you say “consciousness is physical,” you enter territory with well-mapped problems, arguments, and consequences.

    Let me know if you'd like this reworded more diplomatically or conversationally — but the goal here is to help your interlocutor see that clarifying terms isn't a pedantic game, it's part of responsibly navigating conceptual terrain."
  • The Question of Causation
    Property Dualism in a nutshell? It does get confusing when people use differing terms to describe the same idea.

    Another example would be physicalism and materialism. People tend to use this as synonyms while others do not. What is important is to clarify your position and use of terminology.
  • The Question of Causation
    What does that make me?Philosophim

    In regrads to the problem at hand you are expressing an idea contingent to physicalism. That is a VERY broad category though.

    Regarding this particular problem I would place myself on the side of physicalism as things stand regarding scientific evidence. The thing is this is a Philosophy forum and while it is certainly worth pushing that those partaking in discussions on Philosophy of Mind -- beyond a mere navel gazing -- have a pretty expansive understanding of the cognitive neurosciences. That said, the reverse is also true. One can have a pretty decent grasp of the neuroscientific evidence and yet be completely oblivious to what the Philosophical side of this is trying to tackle.

    This problem is probably most pertinent in regards to questions of consciousness as it is here where the neuroscientific experimentation can provide evidence for differing approaches, but this is not by a long shot anywhere near a logical proof.

    A good number of scientists and philopshers alike point out that they are doing one or the other and that it is a category to combine the two. Physical Evidence is not an Abstract Proof and an Abstract Proof is not Physical Evidence. When it comes to questions involving consicousness it is pretty easy to confuse one for the other.

    Here is a basic rundown of how things work in terms of the terminology involved >

    If an argument denies substance dualism this does not necessarily mean it adheres to physicalism. It does necessitate some form on Monism for the position though!

    Physical Monism may be what you are getting at, but this is generally regarded as a kind of Physicalism.

    Panpsychism? I do not think you have expressed this at all as far as I can see.

    Eliminativism? As you strongly deny what you are expressing is physicalism we have to rule this out. This basically describes Mental Terms as misleading (I am sympathetic towards this approach despite its faults).

    Neural Monism is a kind of physicalism too, so we have to rule this out.

    Non-Reductive Physicalism would mean you have to face the Supervenience Problem.

    Epiphenomenalism would be another option possibly? You in for that?

    From all you have said a kind of Reductive Physicalism or some kind of Eliminativism are what you have expressed. This is simply a fact. The issue is you seem to have expressed quite ardently that your approach is not physicalist yet both of the above approaches ARE physicalist and you have said you dislike the reductive approach.

    I have no problem with someone holding to contradictory positions regarding more complex problems like this, because the reason it is so difficult is because we are met with contradictions as we follow through on the logical reasoning. I am labelling the general schemata of the ideas being expressed.

    Being able to label certain positions and highlight where you do and do not agree with them helps people navigate the discussion and argumentation involved. My exploration was an attempt to focus on the Causal nature of Substance Dualism (which we cannot say much about if anything!?) but which could help to further distinguish faults aroudn the Supervenience issue or Property Dualism.

    I can only assume you do not really know the appropriate terminology and therefore this entire miscommunication is due to you not knowing the Philosophical terms being used (not uncommon here, and I have been more than guilty of this myself over the years).
  • Opening Statement - The Problem
    Life expectancy has gone up and your book sales have gone down. Is this why philosophy has falied, because you cannot sell your book!?

    :D

    Why you are still allowed to continue this I find strange. Have flagged several times now as at every opportunity you are trying to flog your book.
  • The Question of Causation
    To be fair it is quite a subtle problem and many people miss it.

    @Philosophim Perhaps this will help show the difference?

    If you hold an Eliminativist position then Supervenience is almost irrelevant. If you see no instance of one thing supervening another then you are holding an Eliminativist position. There is still an issue here regarding how we intuitively seem to experience one item (Mental Act) supervening another (Physical Act) regardless of there Substance.

    This is not a term of insult it is just a fact of the philosophical terminology. Knowing your position helps people better understand what arguments therer are against it and for it.

    Edit: I myself am more than a little sympathetic with the Eliminativist position!
  • The Question of Causation
    Should I continue to?Philosophim

    No. I think not.
    It is your job to point out the contradictions in what I'm stating and demonstrate why. I see only accusation, no articulation why. "You're wrong because I say so," does not work.Philosophim

    The problem is I have articulated why twice.

    If you hold to there being a difference between Properties of items under discussion AND hold that there is no Substance Dualism then it doe snot logically follow that you can have this both ways due to the condition of Supervenience -- if two causally related items are connected one supervenes the other. In this case the Physical of the Mental Property supervenes the Physical Property. Even if you frame both from a physicalist stance (it is all physical stuff) there is still the matter of Supervenience to explain. Herein lies the contradiction of which the only way out is to opt for a kind of Eliminativism -- the denial of any significant difference and to frame a thought as purely physical while intuitively appearing otherwise in terms of basic day-to-day causally subjective experience.

    You cannot have your cake and eat it. EVERY position has this problem.

    Do you understand now? This is the third time I have tried to articulate this better. It seems like you are reading what is written but not really READING it. Forget what you believe to be the case and pick out the problem of logical reasoning.

    I am assuming you have not solved the Hard Problem ;) ?? Excuse me for being a tad impatient here. It is the nature of this kind of online discussion. All too often one can assume people understand X when they have never heard of X before > That is why I suggested looking at the terminology involved, just like throwing around terms like Neural Priming, Inhibition of Return, Top-Down or Bottom-Up, Libet's Experiment and such may not mean all that much to those with a passing interest mistaken as a full understanding.
  • The Question of Causation
    I suggest you not pull a fast one and try to label a poster as holding a position they clearly do not hold without explaining why.Philosophim

    Look it up. I am not stating you hold this rigidly (at least I hope not). The point is you need to understand the counter arguments involved.

    I am not here to teach you the terminology involved. I have been helpful enough to demarcate your general thoughts into the appropriate area.

    If you are just going to get all defensive because you do not understand the contradictions you are articulating -- even when pointed out multi times by myself and probably others too -- then please do leave the thread and start your own.
  • The Question of Causation


    The label not wanting to be owned here is Physical Eliminativism. @Philosophim does not believe there is a Hard Problem. Daniel Dennett is another example of this kind of thinking.

    I suggest you use this term (Eliminativism) to describe your position in the future and perhaps look it up and address the arguments against it.

    To be clear, there is no clear concensus on this. There is no proof of any of the positions put forward. We just do not know. Some appeal to different people depending mostly upon their intuitions (experience) not merely Evidence (that can be called 'mere' when we are doing philosophy).
  • The Question of Causation
    We've seen the results from property dualism, now you want to imagine IF substance dualism exists. I already mentioned that there is absolutely nothing we could glean about causality because we don't know what the properties of something non-physical would be. Would it appear to interrupt physical causality? is it the same? We don't know.Philosophim

    This is the problem for Substance Dualism. As I also demonstrated the same kind of disjoint appears for Property Dualism where we hold to physical reductionism without the need for another 'Substance'.

    Many fall into the error of reframing Mental States as a kind Brain State but this still tells us nothing about the distinction of the experience of having a brain state, to a brain state causing another state (the Slap example).

    For Supervenience -- focusing on the physical stuff of Brain States causing another State -- the problem is the distinction made for different States, with The Mental/Brain State (Idea to Slap) supervenes the Physical State (Motion of Hand to Slap). This means that one state changes the other but not vice versa.

    So either the Brain State plays no causal role in this OR this is physical reductionism > Judging your words up to now.

    Do you think there is a good reason to distinguish between me moving my hand and me thinking about moving my hand? If your answer is yes, then we have Property Dualism and it needs explaining.

    From Libet's we can see examples where in physical causation someone believes they make a decisions at time B but an observer of their brain knows their decision at a prior time A. If we are looking at this form a phsyical reductionist perspective it looks a more like Epiphenomenalism is a reasonable explaination of such Mental States.

    Ok, so that leaves us with 'a different kind of causality'.Philosophim

    Well, this is where the line of thinking takes us. We cannot say on the one hand Mental Acts are no different to Physical Acts (Causation with one Substance) AND also say that Physical States are indentical to Mental States because one supervenes on the other. There is a difference whether you frame this froma purely physicalist perspective or not.

    This is the Hard Problem. My aim is to tryand clear up the language by focusing on the term Causal in order to divulge something that may strengthen the Phsyicalist position a little more and leave the Substance Dualist position more wanting in some ways.
  • The Question of Causation
    No, they're both physical states. So they can affect each other. There is no logical reason they wouldn't. Now IF they are two substances, who knows? Maybe its only the mental substance affecting the physical, and its a meat puppet being strung along from something we don't fully understand. Maybe the physical has a one way influence on the mental instead. We don't know. We wouldn't be able to tell because we don't even know how these two substances would interact. We need more.Philosophim

    No. I meant them as both Physical the naming can change to suit you if you wish though. So Physical States supervene on Brain States (or whatever you want). Property Dualism is not Substance Dualism. Here we are talking about Property Dualism only. The Substance for thinking (Mental State) about slapping someone in the face and slapping (Physical State) someone in the face work in the same Physical Substance.

    No, I don't think that's the way it works. Physical interactions always affect what is being interacted with.Philosophim

    Well this is the philosophical argument that shows this contradiction. The only way out of this is to deny that there is anything special about consciousness and mental states compared to other phenomena. It is to deny the Hard Problem as an illusion (like Dennett).

    Now this is cleared up, the point I am making may possibly get around taking some kind of Eliminative argument to avoid this contradiction (Possibly). So put aside any disagreement with substance dualism and put some thought into what this could mean for the problem at large in terms of different types of causality or the absense of causality. How does this strengthen or weaken more physicalist positions?How does this reframe the problem?
  • The Question of Causation
    And focus on the above well-known argument is that if we assume a different kind of something then we are met with a problem of not being able to understand Causation as we have one unknown entity interacting with another without knowing anything about its basic workings.

    To jump into highly speculative territory the mental stuff could be atemporal and therefore to talk of 'causation' would make little to no sense.
  • The Question of Causation
    Causation requires an understanding of consistent and repeatable logical states.Philosophim

    There is no logical reason why there may not be two substances (Substance Dualism).

    In terms of Property Dualism you seem okay with this as you say it makes sense to demarcate between a slap in the face and the desire to slap someone in the face as two different states.

    The question is then what makes a Mental State different to a Physical State?
    If you say nothing and also say that they are different in terms of Properties only we enter into the issue of Supervenience.

    It would then follow that you are saying mental states supervene over phsyical states, meaning if the physical state changes so to must the mental state, but not vice versa.

    It then follows that these mental states (you refer to as physical) have no causal effect. So now we have a physical state (neural state of mentality) that is non-causal.

    Is there something else you were trying to get at? I feel like there is and I'm missing it.Philosophim

    Get it now?
  • The Question of Causation
    It'd require it's own thread.Banno

    THIS is the thread for it ;)
  • The Question of Causation
    I am familar with this area. Go for it. No need to dumb-down.
  • The Question of Causation
    Donald Davidson who has been mentioned and about whom Banno knows a lot, is an example of non-reductive physicalism.Wayfarer

    I have a decent grasp of Davidson's approach. If @Banno has something to add regarding the possibel descrepencies with the term Causal between Physical and Mental acts I would love to hear. Donaldson's position is especially relevant here so would be nice to hear from someone who has a better indepth understanding of his points.
  • The Question of Causation
    I am not interested in how scientific approaches woudl have to readjust. My concern is with the Metaphysical question of Causation.

    You do seem to be conveying a Dualist approach in term of Properties, meaning you have stated that there is a good reason to distinguish between Physical and Mental Acts. So maybe looking at this metaphysical delineation would help in expressing how Causation could differ?
  • The Question of Causation
    I think the thread is about 'mental causation' - can mind, if it is non-physical, cause physical effects?Wayfarer

    It is actually about the use of Causation across two different domains and how this may aggravate the Hard Problem even further. I know because I started this thread :)

    Look here:

    Which is why its much simpler when you realize its just a physical act.Philosophim

    This is besides the point. It is an IF question. That is, if we assume that physicalism is actually wrong (I know you are familiar with IF questions) and there is something else going on, then the Causal relation between Mental and Mental Acts compared to Physical to Physical may very well be quite different. If so then obviously there is a problem when then framing a Physical to Mental or Mental to Physical causal stream.

    Understand? I am not saying I one is or is not correct. I am putting forward a potential problem that has been overlooked.

    Absolutely not interested in a back and forth argument about how this or that point of view is right or wrong (no one knows). I am asking people to assume Mental and Physical Acts are quite different and that this could possibly play a part in dissecting The Hard Problem a little further.

    So the OP is addressing that IF there is some other obscure substance -- non-physical -- then assuming Causal Acts are the same for both substances could be a mistake. Therefore when talking about Mental to Mental causation we can only assume they play out as and when they manifest experientially, rather than physically (Libets experiments and other like it) which shows a disjoint between Acts where the Physical appears to be a precursor to Mental.

    Perhaps the OP was too severely lacking in detail as to where I wanted to take this. I usually do miss things out just to see if someone comes up with something else interesting.
  • The Question of Causation
    Yes, I imagine informational objects, so do many.hypericin

    Can you imagine a non-informational object?

    Anyway, I misrepresented what I meant. No problem. Back to the matter that concerns me :)

    Are informational objects causally related in the same sense that physical objects are? If so, how. I not how so?
  • The Question of Causation
    Don't. Just address my arguments.Philosophim

    What arguments. I have provided examples of what people refer to as Mental Acts: Desires, Beliefs, Propositions etc.,.

    I created this thread to talk about the different perspectives regarding Physical and Mental Acts and how I believe there is a problem when using Causation at a micro and macro level as well as between nomological and metaphysical positions.

    I clearly told you I don't associate with the physicalist position.Philosophim

    Yet you cannot express what position you lean towards. Physicalism is a not a dirty word. What I meantr by it not being a religious doctrine was that actual philosophers Explore other philosophical perspectives not bang a drum about their own particular point of view. They provide Proofs not Evidence and this in and of itself leads to problems. It is around this area that I was hoping to examine Causation as an example of how they differ in Proofs and Evidence.

    Proofs are based on abstractions (not overtly concerned with spacio-temporal matters) and Evidence is based on empirically measureable events (more overtly concerned with spacio-temporal matters).

    Both have differing forms of Causation built in to them as we operate as spacio-temporal human beings that intuitively appear to be grounded in the physical world.

    Back to Causal Acts ...

    From a physicalist perspective (to repeat, only crazies are dogmatic physicalists in a philosophical sense) the problem lies in infinite reduction unless it shifts to something like Russellian Monism -- but that is spectulative and a cohesive thoery has yet to be crafted there.

    Then there is Substance and Property Dualism. The list goes on ...

    Just to be explicitly clear. Many of the exmaple and analogies you have given lean toward a physicalist perpsective. You are obviously open to other possibilities and I am still struggling to discern where it is you are coming from (Russellian Monism?), while also trying to guide this back to the OP and question of Causation.
  • Negatives and Positives
    I already stated a problem I see in the OP. A fake fake could be construed as something Fake and as something Genuine. It depends on which 'fake' we prioritise perhaps?

    1) A FAKE fake seems like it should be considered a fake.
    2) A fake FAKE seems like it should be considered genuine.

    1 is concerned primarily with the item being fake, whereas 2 is concerned with the negation of fakeness.

    Bearing in mind that this is supposed to be a forum page about the logic and philosophy of mathematics, should we consider the original post as a fake question?alan1000

    Maybe it is just that simple :) It was more of a curious musing that I thought might create some interesting back and forth.

    Costume jewllery are most certainly real fakes. So if in that case the jewllery is assumed to be fake but is actually genuine, then fake fake means genuine.
  • Negatives and Positives
    Fake means not genuine/authentic.
  • Negatives and Positives
    My point is that is seems like with some terms the usual double negative rule does not necessarily apply.
  • Negatives and Positives
    What is a "fake, fake painting" and how would that differ from a "fake, fake, fake painting?" Can such a concept continue ad infinitum?Outlander

    Yes it can
  • The Question of Causation
    Can you imagine an non-physical object? Can you refer to something that has velocity but no material qualities? I think you will find in both cases that the answer is no.

    This is true of items liek 'and' in language. The 'and' does not exist materially, yet it serves a function for describing material items.
  • The Question of Causation
    Phsyicalism is basically the same as Materilaism. You can look it up easily enough.

    I was not labelling you I was labelling the position you are expressing. Physicalism comes in many forms. It is not a religious doctrine.

    You were expressing that everything we know of, and can know of, is physical which is obviously (for most) associated with a physicalist position. Yet you deny expressing a phsyicalist position and also say you do not know what it means.

    What game are you playing here?
  • What is a painting?
    Yes, I know. The hypothesis commonly put forward for that is an association with ripe fruit.

    Red also slows time subjectively whilst blue does the opposite.
  • The Question of Causation
    You understand that this is one philosophical position. It is called physicalism.

    If you claim you are not talking about physicalism just spit out what you are talking about to avoid confusion if possible. If you are not acquianted with the philosophical jargon someone else can probably point it out for you more clearly and give people a better opportunity to engage.
  • What is a painting?
    What you say seems sensible, and as I see it may be called the weak Whorfian hypothesis.RussellA

    :up:

    Although there are plenty who wholly oppose this. I thought @Jamal was one but apparently not?

    As you say, if prepositions are emphasized rather than nouns, the student becomes more proficient at spatial tasks rather than categorization. Similarly, if drawing is emphasized rather than painting, the student becomes more proficient at line and form rather than colour and texture.RussellA

    Or if the Art World dictates 'Conceptual Art' as actually 'Art' more people will come to adhere to that view to suit the political landscape. Something like the obtuse writings of people like Derrida and Foucault who privately stated that they had to write in that style or French academia would not take them seriously -- tongue in cheek possibly, but I think there is a degree of truth in this everywhere.

    It wasn't until the 19th C Romanticism and Expressionism that painting started to take precedence to drawing, as being able to better convey atmosphere, mood and emotions.RussellA

    And of course photography was, to some extent, beginning to replace the need for formal paintings and drawings. Paintings have a historic weigh to them in terms of politicals too being used as pieces to display symbolism and even a sense of immortality in terms of portraits.

    The whole period of Expressionism was influenced by the technological development of synthetic paints. Ultramarine once an expensive pigment become more readily available to more artists.
  • What is a painting?
    I think the whole deal can be more or less split into two categories.

    1) You go to school and you are taught how to use numbers effectively.

    2) You do not go to school and your effective use of numbers is determined by experiential exposure.

    The same goes for many things.

    As I mentioned previously -- you may have missed it -- South Korean infants are taught Korean with their parents emphasizing Prepositions rather than Nouns. This leads to a small developmental period where are cognitively more proficient at spacial tasks but poorer at categorisation compared to other infants.

    The Russian blue thing is just pretty much the same thing. Personally when I think of blue I do not imagine Sky Blue I imagine something akin to ultramarine (likely due to exposure). Habits make distinctions easier, I do not see this as necessarily causing perceptual differences but I have been of the mindset that languages most certainly differ and can influence how we perceive things.

    @Moliere As above. My point being that a Painting and a Drawing are known habitually according to tool use. A Paint Brush is directed more often at a larger canvas than a Pen or Pencil. Also, a Pen or Pencil is associated with more rationalistic behaviour in academia, whereas a paintbrush is more of a household item possessing something of a heavier domestic quality. I am being more speculative here!

    My other main point was how Paintings and Drawings are Static and encourage the audience to spread out in a spacio-temporal sense, where other mediums of Art (such as Dance, Film or Music) Collapse a spacial and/or temporal experience into a moment. This can get quite complex when you get into it and is something I have been mulling over for years now.
  • What is a painting?
    @praxis For starters I think you are just assuming this is a representation of how attracted we are to particular colours where it could be more to do with economics and the textile industry, or even religious symbolism.

    How you leap from assuming such research represents our inclinations towards certain colours -- and then make a further leap to the quote above -- I cannot understand. What is this "view from nowhere"?
  • What is a painting?
    In that case I have literally no idea what you are talking about when you said this in reference to how colour has presented in written form throughout history:

    It’s highly relevant.

    Imagine two abstract paintings of similar composition side by side on a wall. One of the paintings is colored with large blocks of black, white, red, and a little yellow. The other painting is only colored with large blocks of light blue and dark blue.

    We may like the blue painting more but our eye will be naturally drawn to the ‘boldly’ colored painting. Why would that be if we can look at paintings with a “view from nowhere.”
    praxis
  • What is a painting?
    You've lost me. I think I may have misunderstood though:

    According to the theory (or study?) colors were added in about the same order across languages. That order being:

    Red
    Green or yellow
    Both green and yellow
    Blue
    Brown
    Purple, pink, orange, gray, etc.
    praxis

    Meaning in CURRENT texts rather than the first historical instances? I read this as meaning the first written instances recorded across all records.
  • The Question of Causation
    Supervenience in the philosophy of mind states that if a Physical property alters so to does the Mental property. A change in Mental property requires a change in the other, but not vice versa. A physical property can change without there necessarily being a change in mental properties.
  • The Question of Causation
    As someone else mentioned supervenience may be a way to elucidate this misunderstanding further?

    Correspondence Theory is one way of bridging the gap to some extent when considering possible worlds and how the term Water corresponds to chemical elements in all possible worlds.
  • What is a painting?
    Cicadian Rhythm. Easily the most important as it regulates your body clock. This was fairly recently discovered to be far, far more sensitive to Blue light. Your Pineal Gland used to function as a kind of eye measuring this -- it regulates melatonin.

    As an aside, I think there is more than a good reason to correlate any increases in mental health issues with the prevalence of artifical light. This is especially relevant in an age of mobile devices!

    Edit Note: Reds and Oranges are known to increase appetite
  • What is a painting?
    This can be explained by basic physiological neural priming though. If we are brought up around chimpanzees we recognise the differences in facial features -- irrespective of language involvement I assume -- yet without exposure to numerous chimpanzees humans will not so easily tell the difference between individual chimpanzees.

    It is kind of obvious that this will flow into language and concept use. I would bet that a English speaker would be better able to distinguish teal and turqouise where a Russian would struggle as the concepts are not so rigidly defined. The same was true for Orange which is a reletively new addition to the English language.

    I prefer Husserl's use of 'pregnant' meaning we fill in the gaps that are not seen -- we see beyond knowing there is a surface, side, rear and volume. His use of 'parts' and 'moments' is useful, but I do think Heidegger did a better job of articulating a lot of what Husserl had to say.