Proof Mind is Fundamental and Matter Doesn't Exist

[bennyboy]

that's pretty close. I would just impose a few minor corrections if we're using QM in the idealistic model. the bridge you walk on is there only because you're observing it. apart from your observation, it doesn't exist as such. apart from observation, matter is merely a wave of potentialities which have predetermined probabilities they will collapse to when they are observed. thus the bridge isn't actually real apart from your observation of it, as a wave of potentialities is certainly not the same as substantial material. but regardless of whether it is substantial or not, it still functions exactly the same in your conscious experience. so you wouldn't treat the bridge any different despite the metaphysical model you adopt.

This is my view, as well. The functional reality, as you refer to it-- gravity, space, energy, etc. all work perfectly fine in ANY conceivable world view. So the question is this-- what is physicalism adding? In my opinion, nothing. It instead serves to cut away-- to say that anything mysterious or unknowable is unworthy of consideration. It turns into "woo" all the spiritual and artistic pursuits of man, and all the wonderful abstractions of thought, and labels it all bullshit. It is the sand under which those unwilling to work with undefined quantities may hide their heads.

The problem is that the mating call of the physicalist, "Show me the evidence," fails when applied to the very assumptions upon which the world view is founded. I'd ask them to show me the evidence that the universe is ultimately as they think it is-- not in the outer forms of things as we live our mundane lives, but under the hood. The problem, and it's a 1000-ton elephant, is that modern science actually serves as pretty good evidence AGAINST the assumption upon which physical monism is founded-- that all is observable and understandable, at least hypothetically, and that things exist unambiguously and without paradox.

Call it irony, or call it paradox, but reality as we observe it seems with each step less and less predictable, and more and more mysterious. And trying to wave that away with appeals to prove in physical terms things which obviously aren't physical is not an answer to the unknown, but rather a cowardly refusal to engage it head-on.