WEEK THREE: Natural Philosophy and the Universe

Essay Questions

1.     Why is understanding physics and the general rules of the universe so important in doing philosophy?

Firstly, in terms of the concept of philosophy, according to the video for this week, “philosophy include an area of thoughts including natural science, mathematics, ethics, morality…” That is to say, physics and the general rules of the universe is included in the study topics of philosophers. Secondly, in terms of the studying method, understanding physics and the general rules of the universe could help in doing philosophy. For example, in terms of the debate over the priority of mind and material, the breakthroughs in physics could greatly influence the opinions of the philosophers. The scientific finding that sun is the center of the solar system, instead of the earth, also brought discussions in the philosophical world that we are not the center of the universe. What’s more, many philosophical thoughts, like determinism, casual relationship, the origin of the universe, etc., are all originated from the physics and the general rules of the universe. Thirdly, the exterior universe could help us to reflect upon ourselves, and to focus on the interior mental worlds and even the social rules. For example, as introduced in the Quantum Weirdness, the “Plato’s allegory of the cave” was describing principles about knowledge with the help of natural phenomenon.

2. What is eliminative materialism? Provide three examples of it. 

According to the reading, eliminative materialism refers to that “we eliminated god and spirits in favor of more precise and accurate physiological explanation, hence the eliminative materialism”. In my own words, eliminative materialism means that during the development of science and during the work of the scientists, the original spiritual explanations of the world have gradually been replaced by the more scientific explanations by introducing more accurate concepts and terminologies. For example, previously, human beings believed that some bad spirits might influence human beings, so they get sick, but now they understand that these illness was caused by bacteria and other factors. In the Chinese mythology, the ancient people described the rain, snow, sunset glow as the behaviors of different gods, but now we know these are only natural phenomenon produced by certain conditions. The ancient people also believed that there were little ghosts around us so we could move our body, but now we know the structures of muscles and how they control our behaviors.

My post could be found: 

http://msacphilosophy101.freeforums.net/thread/124/week-3

Extra Credit, reply to another student:

The post I am reply to is written by Zahara Alrubai, which could be found: http://msacphilosophy101.freeforums.net/thread/121/week-3

Hi, Zahra. I think you have done a good job in explaining the relationship between physics and philosophy. You have also added relevant quotations from Quantum Weirdness to support argument. This is great. I agree with you that on one hand, physics helped the philosophers to understand the world, the natural phenomenon, and the relationship between things in the material world. On the other hand, I think the subject philosophy also helped the subjects of natural sciences, by providing analytical abilities, training the critical thinking patterns, etc.