The example of heliocentric vs geocentric views is a good one to show the limitation of the reductionist impulse. While Earth happens to be a part of a heliocentric topology, the fact that it is easy to mistake the Sun for the more 'moving object' is not in any way an endorsement of the position that stars do not move, or that all appearances of moving objects are misinterpretations.
In order for the reductionist-determinist philosophy to be valid under this analogy it would have to be the case that all forms of relative percepton are physically impossible. If a person walks around a bird then it would mean that it is impossible for a bird to fly around a person. The fact that we can conceive of any alternative to determinism cannot be explained within determinism. The geocentric view is a perfectly legitimate possibility based on perception and realivity which happens to be misleading in this particular case. Other ideas and mythologies are similarly grounded in ontologically coherent priciples that happen not to apply. It is not, however, valid to presume that we can make up extra-ontological possibilities in the same way that it is not possible to mistake blue for a color that doesn't exist. Yes, a sphere can look like a disk, but a disk cannot look like a sphere if you are living in a two dimensional universe where a sphere is ontologically inconceivable. Determinism presents an even more restrictive case since the meaning of determinism refers specifically to our access to conceivable ideas. If we can conceive of anything outside of determinism, even as a fiction, then the source of that fiction must be a conceivable possibility. Even mistakes have to make sense. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
