Brad McCormick wrote:
I would propose starting with something that, to myself, at least, seems
obvious: The only place anyone will ever find physical objects (i.e., the
objects of laws of physics), and the only place anyone will ever find laws
of physics instantiated is in physics experiments and the applications of
laws of physics (e.g., in engineering calculations). That is: There is no
physical world except as it appears in the experience (consciousness)
of individual human beings doing certain kinds of activities which are
ordinarily called physics, engineering, etc.
If anyone can show me a "counterexample" which is not a *confirmation* of my
thesis, I will be much amazed.
----
I (Annemarie Estor, pleased to meet you) find a lot of sense in Leif Edward
Ottesen Kennair's counterexamples, especially in his question: When a dog
jumps to catch the frisbee, what on earth is it engaging in?
The doctrine of mental constructionism is utterly stimulating, and the idea
that the world out there is no world out there but existent only in our
minds, has fascinated me like no other thought ever. Yet I have not been
able to fully believe in it, which deep down I find a pity. If I would
really believe in that idea, why don't I try driving in the wrong direction
on the highway? If this speeding traffic were a psychological construction
and not a reality, it would be quite harmless to try that out. I might even
prove this theory by doing that. It would be like those computer games in
which you collide with a car and your body is still perfectly undamaged. The
logical solution to that idea is that we might die of the fact that our
brain is disciplined so strongly that we *have* to become injured if we
drive on the wrong side. Still, what would our bodies look like in the
hospital? Badly bruised and broken or would we have suffered a psychiatric
or other brain problem?? I wonder.
then, we do not only imagine that we throw and catch frisbees but also that
the dog sometimes catches it or not.. and then we would have had to think of
everything we know ourselves, as far as the most minor details like the dog
hair's DNA. we also experience our own body while there actually is no body.
in that case all one sees, feels, smells etc. is experienced in a continuing
dream state of the isolated brain. and where do these dreams come from?? and
how come that we all have similar dreams?? or is there no 'we' and is there
just 'me'?? but in THAT case, why bother talking to each other on a
discussion list?? if brad mccormick really believed that all he experiences
is his own solipsism, he would not have to take the trouble to write to an
imagined 'us': an imagined group of academics thinking strange thoughts.
another possibility is that we are all here, indeed, but that there must be
someone who is playing with our brains in a lab-- and then we enter in
discussions that could well be linked to God-like imagery...
Maybe we do not like mental constructivism because it smells like proofs for
the existence of god
Annemarie Estor
Work:
A. Estor, M.A.Sc.
Department of English
Leiden University
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
Holland
0031-71-5272159
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