If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one to around to hear it, does
it make
a sound? That isn't intended to be obtuse, the koan is a precise isomorph
of the
question:
"would you say that nothing existed before humans?"
What do you mean by "exist"? How do you determine the existence of something?
Our observations of the universe imply that it had a history prior to the
arrival
of homo-sapiens. What was the skin color of a T-Rex? Purple?
>From my perspective:
You are making the assumption that there is some underlying substrate of
perception
called "reality". It is, however, impossible to independently verify the
existence of
this supposed material outside of perception. "Reality" is derived from
perception,
not the reverse. If you like, the two are inextricably intertwined. While
I am willing
to call such a viewpoint "subjective" I'm not certian why you insist on
equating
"subjective" and "inconsistent". In fact, I'm not sure what you find so
distasteful
about "subjective".
What is wrong with subjectivity, anyway?
Reed
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Reed Konsler konsler@ascat.harvard.edu
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