W.V.O. Quine: "[W]e cannot detach ourselves from it [that is, our conceptual scheme] and compare it objectively with an unconceptualised reality. Hence it is meaningless, I suggest, to inquire into the absolute correctness of a conceptual scheme as a mirror of reality. Our standard for appraising basic changes of a conceptual scheme must be, not a realistic standard of correspondance to reality, but a pragmatic standard."Iron said:I adore empirical science to the extent that it attempts to make our experience intelligible, but deplore the tendancy to crown it with absolute truth. When that happens, it merely becomes the new religion. The problem as I see it is the distinction between reality and appearance. I doubt that there is one. It's all appearance. 'Reality' pawns itself off as the absolute truth with very little basis.
This is all part of a grand war on language. It fools men into believing that there is pure reason, when all we really have are constructions of perfect realities which dont/cant perfectly match up with our experience. Whether this is liberating or nihilistic, I havent decided yet.
However, part of the pragmatic standard may likely involve the assumption that there exists some form of observer-independent, external world. Most of our ends and desires relate to this entity/construct/whatever that we call 'the real world' and so even if we can't verify its existence through some 'absolute' or 'objective' method (say logic, or cartesian intuition, for example), we are nonetheless prone to include the existence of such an entity as a core part of our conceptual scheme (perhaps it is ultimately something akin to Moorean common sense which keeps us grounded). It's interesting to consider what would become of human relations if we were to abandon it entirely.
I'm tempted to agree with the claim "there's no real distinction between a truth of the belief and a physical truth", but I'm unsure why "because a belief is a physical manifestation within a human being" is the right justification of this. Why is the physical reduction of belief so important here?_dhj_ said:But once you break things down there's no real distinction between a truth of the belief and a physical truth, because a belief is a physical manifestation within a human being.