Week 3

1. Why is understanding physics and the general rules of the universe so important in doing philosophy?

To understand the nature of the world, it is necessary to understand how the world works through the laws of physics. The development of science has broken through the limitations of human cognition in the past and has provided a more comprehensive understanding of the world we live in, which is what philosophy needs. Philosophy and physics sometimes discuss the same objects, such as time and space, the basic composition of matter, etc., but the methods and ideas are very different. In order to ensure the correctness of the research, the philosophical theory must be consistent with the correct scientific theory. Likewise, some problems that cannot be explained by physics (such as quantum phenomena) need to be thought about through a philosophical lens. “In other words, quantum mechanics is a statement about reality itself and what it is saying is that there is no world “out there” apart from our observations of it. Our observations, in other words, are part and parcel of what we observe” (Lane, pg.13). If the act of observation can change the state of the object being observed, this shows that we have never been able to recognize things as they originally were. Quantum physics is derived from the summary of experimental phenomena, and this process has impacted many people's worldviews. The famous quantum physicist Bohr once said that "it does not make sense to operate with a conception of reality other than one that can be described in sentences concerning our empirical knowledge" (Lane, pg.21). In general, the relationship between philosophy and physics is complementary. The two of them are indispensable in the pursuit of truth.

References:

Lane, David, Mt. San Antonio College “Quantum Weirdness: Einstein vs. Bohr.” May 15, 2014

2. What is eliminative materialism?

Eliminative materialism argues that every phenomenon can be explained by physics, biology, and other rational approaches. Through scientific advances, we are able to replace outdated concepts with more advanced and accurate terminology. It will go on and on and will not meet the end. There are several examples that are mentioned in the video eliminative materialism. Almost everyone now realizes that electricity exists and knows how to use it. Yet long ago, people believed that lightning came from Thor. During the time of the Black Death, Europeans generally believed that the disease was a punishment sent by God. But as biology continued to advance, viruses and bacteria were discovered. It was the understanding of the cause of disease that led to a remarkable improvement in human health. In addition, a group of eliminative materialists believe that the world of mind does not exist. For example, they hold the view that all thoughts come from electrochemical reactions in the brain. In this extremely materialistic worldview, physics is dominant, followed by the other natural sciences, and psychology is ignored. The biggest problem with this is that humans don't really understand the brain because of the limitations of science. Many eliminative materialists also ignore the fact that a concept, even if it does not refer to a specific thing, is difficult to abolish as long as it is widely used in our daily lives.

References:

NeuralSurfer, Eliminative Materialism: God Did It? PART ONE OF A THREE PART SERIES. Nov 8, 2011.