RE: God, Santa, and The Tooth Fairy
December 9, 2021 at 8:37 am
(This post was last modified: December 9, 2021 at 9:06 am by brewer.)
(December 9, 2021 at 4:36 am)Belacqua Wrote:(December 9, 2021 at 1:33 am)Oldandeasilyconfused Wrote: [...] by 'exist' I mean occupy space in people's minds. They never actually exist in a material sense.
Do minds have space in them? I'm thinking that mind, though associated with the brain, is not itself something which has extension. Certainly a given form in someone's mind doesn't seem to have a measurable space that it occupies. (I'm guessing you're using this as a metaphor.)
If they exist in the mind, then they do exist in a particular way.
If they exist in the mind but not in a material sense, then there are things which can exist non-materially.
How would you define this non-material realm? Can the things which "occupy space" in people's minds be in some way real, like numbers? In terms of hylomorphism, we can talk about things of which the forms exist (morphe) without the matter (hyle). This would certainly be in line with standard theology.
I'd define it as the realm of imagination. The place where Santa exists.
There are claims in christianity (and other religions as well) that god and it's actions/effects exist outside the mind and you know this.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
