The incoherence of mainstream physicalism (Part 2) | Analytic Idealism with Bernardo Kastrup | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Perception is not a transparent window into the world, but rather a dashboard of dials conveying important information for survival. Mainstream physicalism, which assumes that matter is the only existing thing, is incoherent and fails to explain experience.

Key Insights

• 💁 Perception is not a transparent window into the world, but a dashboard of dials conveying important information for survival.
• 💁 Mainstream physicalism assumes that the forms and contours of the world as perceived correspond to the actual forms of the world, but this assumption is arbitrary and not logically coherent.
• ❓ Mainstream physicalism postulates matter as an ontological entity that can be described purely through quantities, neglecting the existence of qualities and experience.
• ❓ The postulates of mainstream physicalism are not logically coherent, internally consistent, conceptually parsimonious, empirically adequate, or explanatory powerful.
• 👾 The historical development of physicalism was influenced by political and cultural factors, aiming to establish a space for scientific inquiry.

Transcript

welcome to part two of essentia foundation's course on analytic idealism in part one we've seen that our screen of perception the things we see hear touch smell and taste uh the screen of perception is not a transparent window into the world it doesn't show us the world as it actually is in and of itself the screen of perception is more like a dash... Read More

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the main difference between perception and the actual world according to the content?

Perception is like a dashboard of dials conveying important information, while the actual world may be inconceivable and unimaginable beyond our perception.

Q: How does mainstream physicalism define matter?

Mainstream physicalism defines matter as an ontological entity that can be fully described through quantities, lacking any qualities or experiences.

Q: Is mainstream physicalism internally consistent?

No, there is a contradiction in mainstream physicalism, as it tries to explain qualities and experiences in terms of an abstraction (matter) that has no qualities or experiences.

Q: How does perception and experience fit into the physicalist narrative?

According to mainstream physicalism, perception and experience are considered epi-phenomenal, generated by the brain, and not fundamentally real.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Perception is like a dashboard of dials, conveying important information about the world, but not showing the world as it actually is.

• Mainstream physicalism assumes that the forms and contours of the world as perceived correspond to the actual forms of the world, but this assumption is arbitrary and not logically coherent.

• Mainstream physicalism postulates matter as an ontological entity that can be described purely through quantities, neglecting the existence of qualities and experience.