Holistic Unity and Red Boxes

David Musick (David_Musick@msn.com)
Thu, 26 Sep 96 20:03:01 UT


Ian,

Remember that your philosophy of holistic unity is in your own head, and is
not necessarily true about the world outside your head; the world which is
providing information to your senses is forever beyond your direct reach (you
don't see the world; you see the *effect* the world has on you). Your
philosophy may make a great deal of logical sense to you, but that doesn't
mean that the real world categorizes things the way you do. Your entire
notion of identity is entirely fictional. Yes, it appeals to you, but that is
no reason to suppose that reality actually organizes itself that way. Your
philosophical world is an invented one, a sort of virtual world, and just
because something makes sense in that world, such as the idea that every part
is identical to the whole universe, doesn't mean that it is an actual feature
of the real world. Yes, granted certain premises and assumptions about how to
percieve things and categorize them, your idea is perfectly correct, but I
don't think that the world actually organizes itself according to your
personal philosophy, nor do I think that your personal philosophy of holistic
unity is likely to be a feature of the real world. And even if it was, I
don't see what value this way of looking at thing actually has. Does it help
us understand the way our world works at all? Can it help us understand
chemical reactions? Can it help us build better technologies? Or is it
simply a mental game with no external relevance?

- David Musick