-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ham Priday Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 1:20 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MD] Mystics and Brains
Hi Platt -- > If you posit that the universe evolved in order to observe itself, > then it has a lot to do with us. If you say the universe evolved for > no reason at all, then you end up in a wasteland where "Each > individual in his cell of isolation was told that no matter how hard > he tried, no matter how hard he worked, his whole life is that of an > animal that lives and thinks like any other animal. > He could invent moral goals for himself, but they are just artificial > inventions. Scientifically speaking he has no goals." > (Lila, 22) I prefer the former scenario to the latter. What you are describing is the Anthropic Principle I introduced here under a Value heading. It asserts that the universe is "fine-tuned" so as to permit life to exist as we know it. Were the universe not fine tuned in this fashion, human beings would not exist, hence could not observe the universe. When you tie this in with Value (DQ?), as Arthur Witherall did in his seminal essay, you then have a workable teleology that supports your idea. As Witherall stated it: "Since the question is why rather than how the world came to be, it seems appropriate to say that it came to be in order to realize goodness. This would mean that existence has a purpose, which is the realization of value." This is compatible with the "moral thrust" of the MoQ, except that it is man's realization of Value, rather than the "experience" of rocks and things, that creates the objective world. (I also suspect this is what Micah is hinting at by insisting that everything is objective -- that is, from the perspective of the subject.) Ham, Johann Gottlieb Fichte had some interesting ideas on this subject, he's not well known but is Considered by some to be the bridge between Kant and Hegel. moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
