Post by nechiverri on Mar 14, 2016 2:26:44 GMT
1. Why is understanding physics and the general rules of the universe so important in doing philosophy?
Understanding physics and the general rules of the universe is very essential to philosophy. Philosophy is defined as “the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.” I take this definition of philosophy and start to think of philosophers as people who are looking for the truth and trying to understand information in a deeper manner. Thus, it is very essential for philosophers to understand how the universe functions in order to be able to understand why things happen as they do. If philosophers do not know how the universe really works then their thoughts will become irrelevant when a discovery becomes known. For example, information relating to when everyone said the world was flat and all the philosophers surrounded their philosophies around that (wrong) idea is now void. When it was discovered that the world is truly round, all the relating philosophies were thrown out the window because everything evolved around that thinking that the earth was flat and that humanity would fall off the face of the earth if out too far. In conclusion, knowing how gravity, and in general how everything works, is very important for philosophers to have a helpful understanding and to be able to come up with philosophies that will stand through time.
2. What is eliminative materialism? provide three examples of it.
After watching the video on YouTube, eliminative materialism is defined as the method of finding a logical reason for why something happens. That being said, it is not just believing that the Gods did created all or that this is just what the universe has randomly materialized; eliminative materialism is logical. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, eliminative materialism is the radical claim that our ordinary, common sense understanding of the mind is deeply wrong and that some (or all) of the mental states posited by common sense do not actually exist. For example, in my answer in question number one, I had the case of how the world was believed to be flat; while many philosophers had started to shift their beliefs that it was not flat, it was not widely known until Columbus actually sailed the seas towards “the ends of the earth” and proved then that the world was not flat. Secondly, how it is/was believed that when we are in a drought it is because God is mad of us and might just be a part of global warming, climate change, and more specifically, “El Niño”. Thirdly, when people believe a house is haunted or possessed with spirits but truly it can be explained by the foundation and house just settling. The creaks and moans are thus logically explained, discrediting the supernatural theories some come to believe. Simply put, eliminative materialism is just an explanation of why and how things happen. Instead of just believing a higher being is making it happen, a scientific reason is found. This helps us understand why and how certain situations happen all around our universe, from odd weather to creaking houses.
Understanding physics and the general rules of the universe is very essential to philosophy. Philosophy is defined as “the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.” I take this definition of philosophy and start to think of philosophers as people who are looking for the truth and trying to understand information in a deeper manner. Thus, it is very essential for philosophers to understand how the universe functions in order to be able to understand why things happen as they do. If philosophers do not know how the universe really works then their thoughts will become irrelevant when a discovery becomes known. For example, information relating to when everyone said the world was flat and all the philosophers surrounded their philosophies around that (wrong) idea is now void. When it was discovered that the world is truly round, all the relating philosophies were thrown out the window because everything evolved around that thinking that the earth was flat and that humanity would fall off the face of the earth if out too far. In conclusion, knowing how gravity, and in general how everything works, is very important for philosophers to have a helpful understanding and to be able to come up with philosophies that will stand through time.
2. What is eliminative materialism? provide three examples of it.
After watching the video on YouTube, eliminative materialism is defined as the method of finding a logical reason for why something happens. That being said, it is not just believing that the Gods did created all or that this is just what the universe has randomly materialized; eliminative materialism is logical. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, eliminative materialism is the radical claim that our ordinary, common sense understanding of the mind is deeply wrong and that some (or all) of the mental states posited by common sense do not actually exist. For example, in my answer in question number one, I had the case of how the world was believed to be flat; while many philosophers had started to shift their beliefs that it was not flat, it was not widely known until Columbus actually sailed the seas towards “the ends of the earth” and proved then that the world was not flat. Secondly, how it is/was believed that when we are in a drought it is because God is mad of us and might just be a part of global warming, climate change, and more specifically, “El Niño”. Thirdly, when people believe a house is haunted or possessed with spirits but truly it can be explained by the foundation and house just settling. The creaks and moans are thus logically explained, discrediting the supernatural theories some come to believe. Simply put, eliminative materialism is just an explanation of why and how things happen. Instead of just believing a higher being is making it happen, a scientific reason is found. This helps us understand why and how certain situations happen all around our universe, from odd weather to creaking houses.