Neutral Monism
DOWNLOAD
FREE
|
Space, time, continuity and atomism
Equations are omitted for technical reasons - download the original pdf
So in fact, Hume's argument presupposes that space is not continuous. In other words, that space is also made up of atoms of space. In this case we would say that space is discrete. In reply, Kant claims that space (and time) are continuous. He says that every space is comprised of spaces that are smaller than it, so it is not possible to reach a space that does not contain parts. No portion of space can exist on its own without all space being given. Outside a given bounded space must exist other spaces. There is not boundary between what is in space and what is not in space. Atoms of perception therefore do not exist in experience, and our experience always involves an experience of the whole of space, as given to our consciousness. To further support this view, Kant argues that consciousness itself does not exist in only two states – that is, either you are conscious or you are not conscious. He argues that consciousness comes in degrees of consciousness. You can be more or less conscious of an object. He says that consciousness has an intensive quality. By this he means that consciousness comes in degrees of intensity. To illustrate this idea, imagine moving your hand slowly from in front of your eyes to the side and round the back of your head. Keep your eyes fixed before you. At first you are fully aware of your hand, but at some point your hand will not longer remain in your field of consciousness. Your hand has disappeared from your field of consciousness. But this disappearance is not an on/off thing. It is not the case that you are at one moment aware of your hand and at another not aware of it. There is not boundary between what you are conscious of and what you are not conscious of. All there is a slow fading away of consciousness so that at the margin it is not possible to perceive the boundary. So this is Kant's reply to Hume's argument about the bulls-eye. The boundary between what you can see (the sense-datum of the smallest red blob) and what you cannot see, does not exist, and consequently, there is no sense-datum.
|
Contents of
Neutral Monism
1 Sense data, atoms of perception
2 Hume, sense-data, sense impressions and atoms of experience
3 Entrapment within subjectivity, ideas
4 Neutral monism, realism, Russell, A.J. Ayer, Qualia
5 Is the whole a composite of its parts?
6 Space, time, continuity and atomism
7 Phenomenalism
8 The philosophy of logical atomism
9 Logical atomism, complex sentences and intensional contexts
10 Human identity in the context of naive realism
|
