Intro to Metaphysics Part 1

  The study of reality and existence is metaphysics, named from a set of books written by Aristotle asking what is being, what are first causes, and what is change. It studies what we are and what our purpose is, seeking knowledge about everything from the nature of the entire universe to that of he human mind.

Starting with Plato I think will make it much easier to understand the theories of his student Aristotle, later on.

Plato wanted to understand the relationship between the material and immaterial realms, the one and the many, change and permanence and the proper role of both senses and the intellect in coming to know them. He sought to demonstrate that objective knowledge about all these things, and not mere opinion, was possible. This is enshrine in his famous theory of Forms.

(For a fine introduction to Plato’s thought in general and his Theory of Forms in particular, see David Melling, Understanding Plato (Oxford University Press, 1987)

 

What is a “Form”?

Consider several triangles; on paper, on chalkboard, on sand, on the pc screen, small, large, red, black.

The essence or nature of a triangle is a closed plane figure with three straight sides.

The features of a triangle has nothing to do with ‘triangularity” as such.

Every particular physical or material triangle—the sort of triangle we know through the senses, and indeed the only sort we can know through the senses—is always going to have features that are simply not part of the essence of nature of triangularity per se, and is always going to lack features that are part of the essence or nature of triangularity.

Plato would say that when we grasp the nature of being a triangle, what we grasp is not something material or physical, and not something we grasp or could grasp through the senses.

Material triangles come and go but triangularity stays the same.

The essential features of triangles would remain true even if every particular material triangle were erased tomorrow.

What we know when we know the essence of triangularity is something universal rather than particular, something immaterial rather than material, an something we know through the intellect rather than senses.

 

What we know is an objective fact that we have discovered, not invented. It is not up to us to decide what the feature of a triangle should be. If the Canadian parliament should declare that  triangles should sometimes regarded has having four sides, it would cast doubt on the sanity of the parliamentarians. The Pythagorean theorems were true long before we discovered them and will remain true long after we’re all dead.

 

          Now if the essence of triangularity is something neither material nor mental—that is to say, something that exists neither in the material world nor merely in the human mind—then it has a unique kind of existence all its own, that of an abstract object existing in what Platonists sometimes call a “third realm.” And what is true, of the essences of triangles is no less, true in Plato’s view, of the essences of pretty much everything; of squares, circles, and other geometrical figures, but also (and more interestingly) of human beings, tables and chairs, dogs, cats, justice, beauty, goodness, and so on and on.

          When we grasp the essence of any of these things, we grasp something that is universal, immaterial, extra-mental, and known via the intellect rather than senses, and is thus a denizen of this “third realm”. What we grasp, in short, is a Form.

          The Forms not being material cannot exist in a spatial location. Plato’s whole point is that the Theory of Forms, if correct, proves that there is more to reality than the world of time and space. As Plato sees it our senses are not the only sources of knowledge of reality; for the highest level of reality is knowable only through the intellect.

In general, the world of material things is merely a faint copy of re realm of the Forms. Particular things an events are what they are only by “participating in,” or “instantiating” the Forms.

Fido is a dog because it participates in the Form of dog.

Paying your phone bill is a just action because it participates in the Form of Justice.

These individual exemplars are all imperfect in various ways.

The Forms are perfect, being the archetypes or standards by reference to which we judge something to be a dog or just action, etc.

Individual things come and go; the Forms, being outside of time and space, are eternal and unchanging.

The Forms are more real that the material things that exemplify them.

A shadow or reflection won’t exist at all unless a physical object casts it, while the object will exist whether or not its shadow or image does. By the same token, the physical objects themselves exist only insofar as they participates in the Forms, while the Forms would exist whether or not the particular physical instantiations did.

 

My view on politics

 I do not like “one person one vote” which seems to be the sacrosanct democratic principle.

Why? Because this way of choosing a leader will always result to the least common denominator or representative. Someone put it very nicely:  What is more important in any voting system - the means or the end? If the process leads to sub-optimal outcomes, should we still fight tooth and nail to preserve this process?

The only time we ask for everybody’s opinion an insist on it, is when we choose our leaders. Now leaving aside the gerrymandering and the many other possible political manoeuvring trying to beat the one person one vote system, why would we ask everybody, even those who have no idea what the idea of leadership is all about, to chose our leaders? In any other circumstances when a choice has to be made, be it building something, buying something, etc., we consult experts in the matter before we make a decision. So why pretend that everyone is an expert when it comes to leadership? 

My problem however is that there does not seem to be any reasonable alternative.

The only positive I can see with the system we have is that, hopefully, having more than one political party seeking election, they can keep each other in check when one is in the power seat. A very important factor indeed is the reporters, always questioning and investigating, keeping a close look at the politicians’ moves.

You might have guessed by now that my allegiance is to conservative principles. If one googles ‘conservatism’ one is bombarded by many, many descriptions of many kinds of conservatism. My description is short and to the point, I think. A conservative will if necessary, trim, make sure a tree is well fed and continues to provide for new circumstances. A liberal will uproot the tree and plant another one, for the same purpose.

I never judge the parties by their political names. Before I vote, I closely look at their leader, at his character, at his decisions records. Their platform has to be seriously consider. Because so many people will choose a candidate for so many idiosyncratic reasons, I always feel that my efforts are wasted.

Now on a more personal level. I had at least a dozen books on political matters, books I did my best to learn from for many years. Then one day, I gave them all away and promised myself not to discuss politics anymore. The reason was that I became too emotional, too argumentative, when it came to political matters. It was perhaps due to my lack of knowledge in the matter which made me see everything in black and white instead of shades of grey; I really don’t know.

Interest In Sciences

 

    I have always been interested in the advance of science, an interest I still very much have today. I always found the basics physics fascinating and still do. I try to keep in touch with the latest development in the natural sciences, especially Theoretical Physics and the latest advances in Photonics and Electronics.

Here are a few examples at random; there are so many to chose from.

The coming of quantum computers is pretty exciting.

What about the ability of measuring how long it takes an electron to revolve around its nucleus? Pretty amazing, I would say.

If you are fascinated by space and time as I am, here is a fascinating example on that subject..

One of the main problems in science today is uniting General Relativity and quantum mechanics. There are different approaches to solve the problem.

One is called Superstring Theory which leads to M Theory.

Another one is called Quantum Loop.

A third one is called twistor theory.

Again another is Quantum Group Theory.

The one that I find really interesting is the Non-commutative geometry which is rich in many conceptual possibilities. One such possibility is the idea that the fundamental level of physical reality can be non-local. On that  level there can be no time and no space in their usual sense. How cool is that? (contact me if you are curious about the details).

This is not the place to get over-excited about this subject, something I obviously could do.

     I also developed a great interest in the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mathematics (what is the nature of), the whole question of religion in relation to natural sciences. I keep deepening my knowledge of theology and apologetics. I have no hesitation to mention that the author I admire the most in theology is the holy and genius man called Cardinal Ratzinger who became Pope Benedict XVI, 1927-2022

I have 62 books written by him and a few about him on my shelves.

 

Objective Truth

 If there is no objective truth then whatever a person says is true. This leads to contradictions.

When there is a contradiction, one statement must be false and the other must be true.

John, for instance, is either at home or he is not. If someone says John is at home and another person says John is not home, only one of these statements can be true. Similarly, it is either right or wrong to date your professor who is already married.

Protagoras, a Greek philosopher of the 4th century BC, maintained "man is the measure of all things." Protagoras is saying each individual determines what is true, and nobody else. If I am the "measure", then I determine what is true; I determine what is right and wrong.

In many ways this is the Age of Protagoras. In today's moral climate individuals decide for themselves what is true, and then they decide what the right thing to do is. Our laws function in this manner, and now our schools more and more.

An objective truth or good does not appear to exist any longer; it's only what is "true for me," and what is "right for me.

Objective truth serves to establish norms of moral behaviour whereby a person can say what is right and wrong.

Man is not the measure of all things. Objective truth is the measure.

Objective truth refers to information or statements that correspond to reality independent of individual perspectives, emotions, or biases. It remains constant regardless of who observes or interprets it. The concept finds its roots in logic and empirical evidence, emphasizing the necessity of verifiable and repeatable facts. 

In philosophy, the idea of truth as objective is straightforward: some things will always be true and other will always be false, irrespective of our beliefs or opinions. Our personal convictions have no bearing on the facts of the world around us. That which is true remains true, even if we stop believing it or cease to exist altogether.

Most people, in their daily lives, implicitly act as though they believe in objective truth. We assume that our clothes will still be in the closet in the morning, even though we stopped thinking about them during the night. We expect our keys to be where we left them, even if we don’t actively believe this at the moment. These assumptions are rooted in the idea that things happen independently of our beliefs.

Scientific research also operates under the assumption of objective, independent truths. Scientists make predictions based on theories and then test those predictions. If the tests succeed or fail, it doesn’t matter how many researchers believe in the outcome—the results stand on their own. This process relies on the existence of objective truths that remain unaffected by our subjective beliefs.

While there are logical and pragmatic reasons for assuming that truth is objective, some skeptics challenge this position. Nevertheless, our daily functioning depends on the idea that certain things are objectively true, regardless of our individual perspectives.  So, whether we’re discussing the height of Mount Everest or the length of a banana, objective truth remains a fundamental concept in our understanding of reality.

Common Sense Principles Of Discussion

 

         Effective and civil discussion is absolutely essential in reestablishing science on its firm foundation. Since discussion has

in recent times become less and less clearly centered on its purpose — which is to get to the truth — we find we have

developed bad habits of discussion. Indeed it often happens that, despite our good intentions, discussions degenerate

into incivility. It is our hope that the following thoughts will help restore the right emphasis and civility in conversation.

l) The aim of discussion is to arrive at a precise statement of a problem and a true answer. It is profitable if progress in achieving this goal is made even if there is not ultimate success.

2) The first step in critical thinking must be to state a problem clearly in the form A is B, or at least that A is not B.

Many disagreements arise from not being clear about what problem is to be solved.

3) lf you are speaking to someone who has more education and knowledge in the field under discussion, give deference

to him. This means that conversation will not equally split with each person speaking 50 % of the time. Clearly, the

one who has more knowledge will necessarily have to spend more time relating it.

a)

The receiver of knowledge should not resent the giver merely because the giver gives more, i.e. speaks more. Indeed,

like the receiver of a wonderful material gift, the spiritual gift of knowledge should be received with sincere appreciation. Few who receive a gift of gold will respond with accusations of unfairness about the inequity involved of them not being able to respond in kind. Rather, most will receive it with great thanks and enthusiasm as lottery winners do. Since the spiritual gift of knowledge is literally infinitely more valuable, the gratitude of the receiver of knowledge

should be immense.

b) One essential way of showing gratitude to the giver, which is also an exercise of justice, is to remember his gift and acknowledge him to others. Remembering is key in the process of finding and verifying trustworthy sources, for one needs to remember who has given what to be able to note whose information is reliable.

The giver should always act and respond charitably to the receiver, never using his knowledge as a club to assert superiority. Instead, the giver should remember that his own knowledge is ultimately itself a gift. Even first hand knowledge is not our own, for it ultimately comes from the external world, which in turn is from God.

c)

Both sides should be grateful for the opportunity for discussion, because, if nothing else, it is an opportunity to be present to your fellowman, through the exercise of the highest human power: the intellect. After all, you are conversing with a being made in the very image of God and in that very conversing you are manifesting and seeing manifested that image, which is man’s intellectual power. Beyond this, the receiver should be thankful for the new understanding he receives and the giver for the new perspective opened up to his own mind by carefully answering the points made

by the receiver. For each party, it is the opportunity to serve his fellowman.

Letter To A Physicist

 

This letter was an answer to a physicist who asserted that science has priority, not philosophy.

        There is ’science’ then there is the ’scientific method’; you do not seem to acknowledge their differences. Knowledge, prediction (even if mathematical) is science as much as philosophy is science. The philosophical a priori that one need to do ’science=knowledge’ can make all the difference in how I view the usefulness or nature of the ’scientific method’, a method based on logic, therefore philosophy.

For example, if I assume philosophically (you might say scientifically, having your experimental goal in mind) that ’all there is’ is, or can be, mathematically accessible or understandable. That assumption is a philosophical one, not a scientific one.

The Scientific Method measures and counts, If I assume that all I care and worry about can be measured and counted so far so good. We are all witnesses to how far that Scientific Method has taken us.

I do not for an instant doubt or question the utility, the grandeur of the Scientific Method. Far from me the thought. But in the realm of Knowledge (Science if you will) it is only part of the story.

In the realm of Knowledge science is limited

BRAIN DEATH

 This an introduction to an article from the National Library of Medicine.

The article can be found here: Brain death and true patient care - PMC (nih.gov)

Summary: Though legally accepted and widely practiced, the “brain death” standard for the determination of death has remained a controversial issue, especially in view of the occurrence of “chronic brain death” survivors. This paper critically re-evaluates the clinical test-criteria for “brain death,” taking into account what is known about the neuro-critical care of severe brain injury. The medical evidence, together with the understanding of the moral role of the physician toward the patient present before him or her, indicate that an alternative approach should be offered to the deeply comatose patient.