Re: Everything is Just a Memory

From: Marchal <marchal.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Sat Jan 15 09:54:45 2000

Fritz Griffith wrote to Russell:

>I'd like to hear just one good reason why you are dismissing these ideas.
>You seem to have a lot of ignorance towards solipsism (whatever exactly that
>is), yet you don't give any reasons why. As best as I can understand, you
>think my ideas are crossing too far into philosophical territory, where
>nothing gets accomplished. This often happens when too many assumptions are
>made. I took the opposite approach, however; I made no assumptions, and
>used logic and reasoning to draw my conclusions. Please point out just
>where this theory goes wrong.

Idealisme is the Platonist idea that only ideas exists.

There is a widespread confusion between two kind of idealism.

1) There is solipsism, sometimes called "subjective idealism". It is
(as James Higgo said) the doctrine that I am dreaming, that I am the only
builder of reality, and all other people are just zombie.
This is a ridiculous doctrine, although it can be used to illustrate
some philophical point, like the concept of zombie.
It is a ridiculous doctrine, because a doctrine is something you
communicate, and why should someone try to communicate things to
zombie. So solipsisme (like some strong form of positivism) is
self-defeating.

2) There is all form of objective idealism. Some "mind-like"
predicates are taken as more fundamental than matter or physicalist
predicates. It can be number (Pythagorism) mathematical structure
(Platonism), or extravagant set of mortal to god-like entities
(like in some Indian idealist school).


Reading Griffith's post, unlike Russell, but like Higgo, I don't have
concluded that Fritz Griffith was solipsist, though. It seems to me he
defended a sort of objective idealism (like me BTW), even if his use
of the word "memory" is a little vague.

But is not the discussion-list a tool for helping us to make
our ideas clearer?

Concerning the (logical or physical, whatever) link between
memories, observer-instant, worlds, etc. This is a very difficult
matter. I say a little more in the post I will send to Jacques Mallah.

Bruno
Received on Sat Jan 15 2000 - 09:54:45 PST