RE: The Meaninglessness of Meaning
July 27, 2015 at 7:15 am
(This post was last modified: July 27, 2015 at 7:16 am by bennyboy.)
(July 27, 2015 at 4:04 am)Nestor Wrote: I should say that the tension I feel between the alternatives of physicalism and idealism is like the choice of a red or blue pill. The red pill destroys myself but preserves the world; the blue pill preserves myself but destroys the world.
You know my feelings on this: what is apparently physical works just fine as a collection of ideas (about experienced properties and the things which seemingly underly them). However, it seems to me that consciousness fits much more poorly into a physicalist perspective.
The only thing holding us back from an idealist word view is that physicalism just feels so darned convincing-- until we remember that feeling, itself, is nothing more than an idea. So if there ever was a blue pill, you've already taken it, long ago.
Ironically, meaning is accepted for the same reason that most of us (at least implicitly) accept physicalism-- that the sense of certainty about it seems to validate it with no further inquiry required.