RE: Christianity is heading for a full allegorization
January 29, 2022 at 4:32 pm
(This post was last modified: January 29, 2022 at 4:33 pm by polymath257.)
(January 29, 2022 at 4:23 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote:(January 28, 2022 at 4:43 pm)polymath257 Wrote: I don't see a problem. Why would things have to be the same 'substance' in order to interact?
Well it does kinda depend on your definition of substance. But, as far as definitions of "substance" go, I like drawing the line at "must interact with physical reality."
You are pretty empirically-minded, Poly, so think about it. If there IS some kind of thing out there that doesn't interact with physical matter or energy at all, it may as well not exist. We'll never sense it. We'll never know it. And if we do somehow sense it or detect it- Boom. That's interaction.
It makes sense to define substance as something that MUST interact with physical matter or energy.
Actually, I would go further and say that the definition of 'existence' is 'that which interacts with something physical'.
So, something that never interacts with anything physical, like you said, cannot be sensed, detected, or verified. it might as well not exist at all. And, in fact, we get a simpler system by saying no such thing *can* exist.
And that is why physicalism is true.
The *definition* of 'physical' is ALSO 'interacts with something physical'.
