Physical and Virtual Reality
Call Kai
Learn
Practice Test
Spaced Repetition
Match
Flashcards
Knowt Play1/91
Earn XP
Description and Tags
PHL204 Module 1: Physical and Virtual Reality
Name | Mastery | Learn | Test | Matching | Spaced | Call with Kai | Chat |
|---|
No analytics yet
Send a link to your students to track their progress
92 Terms
Module 1
Introduction
The Two Models of Philosophy
Attempt to produce a grand all-encompasing theory
Attempt to dig into everyday, current issues
Subject Matter of Philosophy
An attempt at understanding, rather than a fixed body of knowledge
Main Domains of Philosophy
Ethics, politics, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind
Questions Explored by Philosophy
Ethics: good/right
Politics: justice/legitimacy
Metaphysics: reality
Epistemology: knowledge
Mind: consciousness/thinking.
Philosophical Method
Examine assumptions, synthesize evidence, and offer reasoned explanations
Reasoned Argumentation
Philosophical questions are explored and settled through reasoned argumentation
Three Types of Arguments
Deductive
Inductive
Abductive
Deductive Arguments
Show what must logically follow if the premises are true
Ex:
All bookstores close on Sunday (premise)
ABC is a bookstore (premise)
Therefore, ABC closes on Sunday (conclusion)
Inductive vs Abductive Arguments
Inductive arguments generalize from a sample
Abductive arguments propose the best explanation for evidence
Validity vs Soundness
Validity asks whether the conclusion follows from the premises
Soundness asks whether all premises are true
Module 2
Why is there Anything at All?
“Why is there anything at all?” asks why anything exists rather than nothing, not why a particular thing exists or why the world looks a certain way
The total range of everything that exists across all space, time, and worlds
Essence concerns what kind of thing something is
Existence concerns why it exists at all
The Question is Unanswerable Explanation
Two ways to explain this:
Any explanation seems to depend on something that already exists, making it difficult to explain existence as a whole
Our brains may be unable to answer why anything exists, but this would be a limitation of our understanding rather than proof that the question itself is unanswerable
The laws of quantum mechanics suggest that a universe could spontaneously arise from a quantum vacuum state without additional energy
The Problems with Quantum Vacuum
Changing the subject: A quantum vacuum state is not nothing
Where do the laws of quantum physics themselves come from?
Even if there are laws, how do laws create a world?
The world has always existed, so it never began to exist at a particular moment
The Problems with Infinity
Even if the world has always existed, we still need to explain why it exists at all rather than not existing
For an eternally existing world to explain existence, the alternative of nothing existing would need to be impossible
Yes: existing things seem as though they could have been otherwise
No: if something must exist necessarily, absolute nothingness may be impossible
A fact is logically necessary if it must be true according to the laws of logic; denying it produces a contradiction, as with 2 + 2 = 4
A fact is logically possible if it may or may not be true without violating the laws of logic
A thing is ontologically or metaphysically necessary if it must exist and does not depend on anything else for its existence
A thing is contingent if its existence depends on something else or could have been otherwise
If the world does not have to exist, it is contingent; even if it has existed forever, the question of why it exists remains unanswered
The world simply exists, and there is no further explanation for why it exists
The principle that every fact has an explanation; what appears unexplained may reflect our limited understanding rather than an absence of explanation
An epistemological problem is that we do not know an explanation
A metaphysical problem is that no explanation exists
God created the world out of nothing and explains why something exists rather than nothing
God is proposed to be necessary because God depends on nothing else for existence, and self-explanatory because God supposedly needs no further explanation
It is unclear how anything can explain itself; the nature of this necessary being is uncertain; and there may be no independent reason to believe such a God exists
Nothing seems to have a right to exist, and it seems possible that nothing could have existed at all; every proposed explanation faces its own difficulties
Module 3
Is Math Discovered or Invented?
Mathematics could be fictional, physical, mental, or Platonic
Fictionalism says math is invented, while the other views treat it as discovered
Mathematics surprises us with unexpected results, and exploring it feels like discovering a world with its own reality
Mathematical facts such as 2 + 2 = 4 appear objective because people agree about them and permanent because they remain true over time
Mathematical discoveries can be unexpected and reveal complex, significant patterns, suggesting that mathematics has a reality of its own
Physical things exist in space and time and have tangible qualities such as shape, size, and colour
Mathematical facts such as 2 + 2 = 4 do not appear to exist in any particular location in space or time
Physical discoveries concern objects located in space and time, while mathematical truths do not appear to have specific physical locations
A perfect triangle has three perfectly straight sides, but no physical line is perfectly straight; geometry therefore seems to study something beyond physical approximations
Human minds could have evolved differently, but mathematical truths seem objective and permanent rather than dependent on how humans think
If mathematics existed only in human minds, mathematical truths would disappear when all minds disappeared, even though they seem permanently true
If mathematics existed only in individual minds, it would be difficult to explain how people share the same mathematical concepts and meanings.
If mathematics were only subjective mental constructions, there would be no objective standard for determining who was correct in a mathematical disagreement
Mathematical truths are discovered because they exist objectively and independently of human minds
Mathematics is invented rather than discovered because mathematical truths do not exist independently of human thought or conventions
Mathematical facts are abstract objects that exist outside space and time, independently of physical objects and human minds
If mathematics is discovered but is neither physical nor mental, Platonism proposes that it exists as an independent abstract reality
Plato argued that we understand and communicate about the world by grasping an underlying reality called the World of Forms
Forms are permanent, intellectually understood ideals such as Beauty, Goodness, and Justice, as well as mathematical concepts
Mathematical statements such as 2 + 2 = 4 are true, which seems to suggest that numbers must exist in some way
Mathematics is essential to our best scientific theories, so if science helps us understand reality, mathematics should also be considered real
It seems strange to claim that abstract objects exist outside space and time, and it is unclear what such existence means
If mathematical objects exist outside space and time, it is difficult to explain how humans can know anything about them
If realist explanations of mathematics lead to unacceptable or strange consequences, fictionalism may seem like the remaining alternative
Mathematics may have developed as a human creation to solve particular problems in specific historical and cultural contexts
Mathematics can be understood as a rule-based system, similar to chess, that humans invented and must follow to participate correctly
Mathematics is built from particular starting assumptions called axioms, but different axioms could produce different mathematical systems
If mathematics is invented, aliens might develop entirely different mathematical rules, raising the possibility that their mathematical truths could differ from ours
If mathematics is merely invented, it is difficult to explain whether fundamental truths such as 2 + 2 = 4 could genuinely have been different
Even if humans choose the axioms they use, the fact that mathematical exploration reveals unexpected truths suggests that mathematics may be discovered rather than invented
Module 4
What is Ultimate Reality?
Ultimate reality could be physical stuff, mental stuff, or something transcendent, such as God or the Real
Ultimate reality asks what is ultimately real
Fundamental reality asks what lies at the most basic level of reality
Metaphysics studies the nature of reality
Epistemology studies how we access and know about reality.
Everything is ultimately physical, a view supported by modern science and often considered common sense
A proposed full theory of everything based on quantum physics, evolutionary theory, information theory, and knowledge theory
New properties arise at a larger scale through the arrangement and interaction of lower-level components
Ex: Wetness emerges from interacting water molecules; living systems and economies also exhibit emergent properties.
Physicalism must explain whether consciousness is entirely produced by lower-level physical properties and their arrangements
Syntax concerns physical features of symbols, such as shape, size, and order
Semantics concerns what those symbols mean
Physical features of symbols are observable, but it is difficult to explain how meaning arises from physical properties
Physicalism might explain meaning through causal relationships between things and our thoughts or speech about them
Mentalism holds that everything is ultimately mental rather than physical
Berkeley argued that matter does not exist independently; reality consists of ideas in finite minds and the mind of God
We cannot think of an object independently of experience without imagining how it would appear in experience
When imagining a tree independent of experience, we may still only imagine how it appears to us, rather than grasping an underlying reality
Berkeley must explain the regularities and continuity of reality and how to distinguish reality from hallucinations
God's mind explains why the world remains consistent, why objects persist when unobserved, and why natural events follow regular patterns
Module 5
Are We Living in a Simulation?
Local doubt questions specific beliefs that may be false; global doubt questions whether all our beliefs could be false due to a grand deception
To ensure no false beliefs remain, we may need to examine all our beliefs rather than checking only the ones that seem questionable
Our experiences show us how things appear, but appearances can deceive
Epistemology asks how we can know what is really real
The possibility that our experienced reality is a simulation; if simulated worlds vastly outnumber the original world, we may be more likely to live in one
1. Consciousness can be simulated
2. Technology can simulate it
3. Advanced alien civilizations develop this technology
4. They run simulations
5. Countless simulations exist
Objection: consciousness may not be computable
Reply: consciousness arising in a non-simulated physical world is also difficult to explain
Objection: simulating billions of complex inner lives may require impossible computing power
Reply: advanced technology could use vast, currently unused computing potential
Objection: civilizations may not survive long enough to develop powerful computers due to threats like nuclear war or climate change
Reply: these survival problems may not affect every civilization
Objection: civilizations may have no interest in simulations
Reply: curiosity and scientific research could motivate them to run simulations
If consciousness can be simulated, advanced civilizations develop the technology, and they run countless simulations, simulated worlds could vastly outnumber original worlds, making it statistically likely that we live in one