Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
> Peter Jones writes:
>
> > By youur definitions, it's a straight choice between metaphysics and
> > solipsism.
> > I choose metaphsyics.
> > We can posit the unobservable to expalint he observable.
>
> Solipsism is a metaphysical position.
A minimal one, that refuses to posit anything beyond
that for which there is direct evidence.
> > (BTW: it it is wrong to posit an unobserved substrate, why is it
> > OK to posit unobserved worlds/branches ?)
>
> It's debatable, but perhaps MWI is a better and simpler explanation of
> the facts of quantum mechanics than is CI, for example.
Presumably for reason more complex than "we cannot posit the
unobservable".
> Similarly (but
> much more strongly) believing there is a world out there is a better
> explanation of the facts than solipsism. But some explanations of physical
> phenomena, such as an undetectable ether through which light propagates
> have been dropped as unnecessary. And perhaps the propertyless
> substrate is more like the ether than the many worlds, in that we can at
> least imagine travelling to other branches or detecting them in some way,
> whereas the ether and the propertyless substrate are undetectable as
> a part of their definition - i.e. if we found evidence of the propertyless
> substrate it wouldn't be a propertyless substrate any more.
Since the propertyless substrate is needed to explain time and
contingency, time and contingency are evidence for it.
> Stathis Papaioannou
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Received on Mon Aug 28 2006 - 06:54:12 PDT