Brent Meeker writes: > > Saying that there is a material substrate which has certain properties is > > just a working > > assumption to facilitate thinking about the real world. It may turn out > > that if we dig into > > quarks very deeply there is nothing "substantial" there at all, but solid > > matter will still be > > solid matter, because it is defined by its properties, not by some > > mysterious raw physical > > substrate. > > But I don't think we ever have anything but "working assumptions"; so we > might as > well call our best ones "real"; while keeping in mind we may have to change > them.
That's just what I meant. If you say, this is *not* just a working assumption, there is some definite, basic substance called reality over and above what we can observe, that is a metaphysical statement which can only be based on something akin to religious faith. Stathis Papaioannou _________________________________________________________________ Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail. http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a-b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
