Ostronomos
Well-Known Member
From: Where Quantum Theory Lives
In and out of academia, metaphysics has trouble getting respect. It is variously criticised as foolish, mushy, and unnecessary. It is dismissed and even mocked for its supposed “non-physicality” and resistance to empirical methodology.
“The triumphs of modern science and engineering leave no doubt that metaphysics is nothing but a waste of time!” its critics bellow, contempt and belligerence smeared across their angry faces. “It’s for cranks, crackpots, and fools!”
According to adherents of the worldview known as physicalism, matter, energy, space, and time are all and only “physical”, together comprising that to which everything worth mentioning, i.e., everything that is “physical”, necessarily boils down. In short, they feel that reality and physicality are one and the same concept, and that anything else must supervene on “the physical” as a trivial correlate.
In and out of academia, metaphysics has trouble getting respect. It is variously criticised as foolish, mushy, and unnecessary. It is dismissed and even mocked for its supposed “non-physicality” and resistance to empirical methodology.
“The triumphs of modern science and engineering leave no doubt that metaphysics is nothing but a waste of time!” its critics bellow, contempt and belligerence smeared across their angry faces. “It’s for cranks, crackpots, and fools!”
According to adherents of the worldview known as physicalism, matter, energy, space, and time are all and only “physical”, together comprising that to which everything worth mentioning, i.e., everything that is “physical”, necessarily boils down. In short, they feel that reality and physicality are one and the same concept, and that anything else must supervene on “the physical” as a trivial correlate.