(January 18, 2016 at 7:42 pm)Jörmungandr Wrote: What is your notion of what an idea is? In the physicalist paradigm, ideas are things just as much as a desk or a glass is a physical thing. If you're saying something different, you need to provide some defense of that instead of just handwaving it aside with the non-informative label 'idea'. What is an idea in your framework? You have a referent that doesn't seem to refer to anything. A signifier without a significand.You are demanding of a person who does not define the world in thing-ness to define ideas as a thing. I will not.
Quote:Materialism is a reduction of all phenomenon to a small set of mathematical principles, with some metaphysics thrown in for good measure.That it turns out the universe is reducible only to ideas is an etymological problem for you. You can call black white if you want, but unless you can represent your ideas of essential parts as things with volume, occupying space, and located in specific times, then you are abusing the word horribly. Essentially, you are taking Idealism and saying "Nuh uh, that was us all along." But let me say this, if you want to argue that reality consists of mathematical principles, then you're going to have a tough time explaining why mathematical principles have become aware of themselves.
Quote: It explains by breaking apart composite phenomena into parts that explain the composite. Your breaking everything down into 'ideas' doesn't explain. It merely leaves the nature of things undefined. It subsumes, but doesn't reduce. Is there anything that an idea cannot be? Is there anything an idea must be? It seems that under your view, an idea can be anything, so you haven't identified any parts which explain the composite. That's a weakness, not a strength. What are the practical limits on ideas in your Idealism?An idea is an immaterial principle or pattern, either an experience or a principle which molds experience.
