I like it. Metaphysical speculation can cover all sorts of things related to the ultimate nature of reality. On a fairly ecstatic and related note, James R just PM'd me and said Kittamaru has resigned as moderator of the Fringe section. He also reduced my infraction points down to 50. So there IS justice afterall, at least here in our liquid crystaliine cyberreality.
Reality Is Produced Mental Projection |
(Sep 3, 2015 09:00 PM)Yazata Wrote: I see that Stryder has made the move. I was actually thinking of the more broader understanding of what metaphysics is rather than just Parametric's own theory. It's not intended to be a pseudoscience/junk science subforum, it's placement in the forum list isn't to suggest that metaphyics is junk, far from it. I see it as more about the attempt of understanding the world from our own individual perspectives, our egocentric observations. It is indeed something that is deeply rooted in philosophy, without it some of the greatest minds wouldn't of rationalised some of the greatest philosophical discoveries. The reasoning of abstraction is that sometimes those egocentric rationalisations aren't scientifically formatted, sometimes it's hunches and feelings with a lot of missing supporting information which if known would probably change that perspective and rationalisation entirely. The alternative is to add "Metaphysics" into the philosophy forums title and change this subforum to yet a different name to which I would be unsure what exactly would fit. (Suggestions appreciated if we go that way)
I think that calling it 'Alternative Theories' would be better than calling it 'Metaphysics'. (But I'm not really complaining and can live quite happily with things as they currently are.)
You don't really need a forum entitled 'Metaphysics'. The more academic kind of metaphysics that I favor, metaphysics as a philosophical specialty, fits within the scope of the 'logic and philosophy' forum very well. In recent years, physicists have turned into Platonist-style metaphysicians too, inspired by their mathematical assumptions into making grand (and often untestable) proclamations about the nature of the universe, so we also find quite a bit of metaphysics in what ostensibly is physics. I'm thinking of guys like Vilenkin. 'Alternative theories' would be a nicer and less perjorative way of saying 'Crank Theories', I guess. It would be the place for everyone who wants to demonstrate that Einstein was full of shit, ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian gods were really ancient astronauts, or that Parametric's peculiar muscle-bound prophet has revealed the secrets of the universe and answered all the age-old questions about God, the universe and everything. I see it as being distinct from MR's 'Weird' forum, since the 'weird' forum would actually be more scientific, more about reporting unexplained anomalous phenomena, things like ufos or cryptozoology (you can perhaps detect the Fortean in me) while the 'alternative' forum would be more about grand cosmic pseudo-scientific theories that seemingly aren't consistent with conventional academic science or philosophy. Here's another suggestion: why not rename the 'weird' forum 'anomalous phenomena'? (I'm curious what MR's reaction is to that, it's basically his turf.) That new name might suggest that it has a valuable and useful function. Quote:]Here's another suggestion: why not rename the 'weird' forum 'anomalous phenomena'? (I'm curious what MR's reaction is to that, it's basically his turf.) That new name might suggest that it has a valuable and useful function. That would be fine by me. Anomalous basically runs the gamut from frogs falling out of the sky to stigmata to ufos and ghosts and bigfoot. Also included would be scientifically validated phenomena like earthquake lights, ball lightning, or rogue waves. Finally it also would include any new phenomena out there, something I'm always looking out for.
The group could be called "Metaphysics and Alternative Conceptions" (or add "alternative conceptions" to the description), and just be done with it. That way the "Logic and Philosophy" group could be cleared more for being devoted to scrutinizing the formal systems supposedly regulating science, and issues of scientific realism; and of course epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, etc.
If Anita Darling comes around with her "Jesus was an ancient astronaut" stuff and the French guy with his "Einstein was a menace to physics" lectures, and that gets too thick in this subforum at times, then the folk who want to discuss metaphysics proper (first principles, ontological doctrines, QM Interpretations, philosophy of time, Platonic traditions of sensible / supersensible, etc) will still have the philosophy group to temporarily venture back to. |
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