A singular perspective view

[The D.S.]

I have currently read about "the absolute" in terms of philosophy and wish for a further definement of the term. I have an expression which may or may not help clear up some confusion- using the saying "if a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound" it may be compared to- "if a reality exists, and no one is around to be "in" it, does it exist"...a confusing topic of which i would greatly appreciate some clarity lol

[Queso]

i believe that just becase we, us humans, aren't around, nothing would be different. it's our overall ego and need to be significant that raises this question.

[C1ay]

"if a reality exists, and no one is around to be "in" it, does it exist"...a confusing topic of which i would greatly appreciate some clarity lol

 

We were not around for the Hadean age. Would you say it did not exist? What of any of the other eras, sinian, paleozoic or mesozoic to name a few. Humans are not a requirement for reality to exist.

 

You comparison is really comparing apples to oranges. The only reason it is said that a sound is not made if no one hears it is because it is true. Sound is nothing more than the movement of air. It is not sound until a eardrum converts it to sound in an animal. OTOH, the universe could be lifeless but it would still exist, no mind to consider that existance is required for it to be so.

[motherengine]

if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it it makes a noise not a sound. sound requires the filter of human perception; it is not what occurs but what you hear. other than that i would say descarte was right, no one can know they are not the center of the universe and all that occurs therein does not depend on their interpretation..

[kaelcarp]

Everything you see and hear and do, the entire reality in which you exist, is nothing but your own personal perception. You can hypothesize about a world beyond yourself and choose to trust your senses as accurate reality filters, as most of us do, or not. Your entire concept of reality could be completely wrong (as in Plato's Allegory of the Cave, or, in more modern terms, The Matrix). At any given moment, all your past memories may have been implanted.

 

So, if no one is there to experience a given reality, does reality exist? Well, by definition, it is not really possible for anyone to know that, since, if no one is there to experience it, we don't know. I prefer to look at it as a sort of Schrodinger's Cat thing: it both does and does not exist until observed.

[Tormod]

This logic implies two things: Either the universe is conscious and thus has created itself, or some other being has been around since the universe was created in order to observe it.

[kaelcarp]

This logic implies two things: Either the universe is conscious and thus has created itself, or some other being has been around since the universe was created in order to observe it.

Not necessarily.

 

For one, if we are observing it now, then, like in the case of quantum physics, it retroactively fits everything together for self-consistency. Basically, observing it now is observing it up until now.

 

Also, there could be a time in our future when we are able to observe the past as it was at particular times. At that point, we will have observed the past directly. Of course, thinking about that can make my head hurt a bit with all that's involved.

 

Or - there is no universe except for what we personally observe now.