(February 10, 2015 at 12:45 pm)bennyboy Wrote: So how would you go about determining whether one of these positions is true? And if this is impossible, how would you go about establishing which position, if either, should be the dafault position?
What people are arguing is not what is default position, but what position is more practical or rational. Both views are unprovable. However, physicism gives more explanatory power than idealism, as demonstated with the how paint dries question. Hence, physicism is prefered for practical purposes.
As for which is more rational, it would make sense that a more accurate representation of reality will provide more accurate predictions. As far as I'm aware, idealism only predicts qualitative observations, nothing quantitative. Physicism makes quantitative and qualitative predictions. Hence, physicism is more rational because it's predictive capability is higher.
