File spoon-archives/bhaskar.archive/bhaskar_1998/bhaskar.9805, message 12


Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 01:29:32
From: Louis Irwin <lirwin1-AT-ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re:  BHA: Re: starting up DPF readings again.


Howard,

>My question is in what sense we can say that the world could have no 
>presence at all.  In what sense can we assert this?  What is the 
>transcendental argument to the possibility of no presence?  As a matter 
>of logic I can abstract from the properties of being.  That does not 
>establish the real possibility of totally no being.  What am I missing here?

Do we really need to argue for the possibility of an empty world?  Of
course, I don't mean simply space/time devoid of matter; I mean the
existence of nothing whatsoever.  Let me try to put the ball in your court.
 We can think of lots of things whose existence is contingent, and we can
imagine a universe without them.  If you think that we cannot, then you
must think that some things necessarily exist (although perhaps not
necessarily specific things, just some things).  If you think that, then
you must have a transcendental argument that there cannot be a completely
null world.  So it's up to you to state it.  If you cannot, then on what
grounds could you possibly rule out a null world?

>Do you have an example of a relation which is perceptible?

Yes.  I can perceive that you are standing to the left of Colin, for
example.  Or I can perceive that Colin is enjoying his beer, etc.  The idea
that perceptibility of relations is suspect may be tied to a sensationalist
heritage in the theory of ideas.  In other words, when I perceive that
something is red I normally have a sensation of redness.  You might then
ask whether I have a sensation of leftness when I perceive that you are to
the left of Colin, thinking that the existence of such a sensation is
dubious, which it is.  It is an error to think that a perception is always
grounded by a sensation.  Be that as it may, it is better to focus on the
grounds of our judgements of relations, rather than perceptions thereof.

Louis Irwin



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