Quote:
Originally Posted by Actor
I am still at a loss as to what you mean by "metaphysical reality". As far as I can tell metaphysical is a synonym for supernatural, meaning that "metaphysical reality" is an oxymoron.
Again I am still at a loss as to what you mean.
I.e., theism?
Define "efficient cause".
Define "final cause".
Because of DNA.
Define "essentialism". What is "the mind-body problem"?
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DNA can fall under the description of "goal directed"...
https://books.google.com/books?id=mn...rected&f=false
Causation and a hypothetical bronze statue of Darwin, e.g...the efficient cause of the statue is the
knowledge of the sculptor, the agent to bring about the whole process--some would say the sculptor himself, or Galileo pushing that rock off the cliff in your relativity example ...the material cause is the matter of the thing--the bronze...the formal cause is the shape--"form"--a statue of a man...the final cause for the bronze is the statue--the "ends" for which that particular bronze existed.
If A
regularly produces B, rather than C or D or no effect at all, then it may be said that something in the nature of A directs or points to B. Ultimately one can get to that "something" being provided to A via external intelligence. That got in the way of a mechanistic conception of the world, so "teleology" was supplanted by "teleonomy".
Mind/Body problem: Consider the sentence, "Actor likes to read in bed."
The shape of the symbols, the ink/pencil lead/pixels, the arrangement of the letters contain no inherent meaning in themselves. The physical activity of neural brain processes contains no inherent meaning in themselves. But we derive meaning from the sentence. The question has been asked for a few centuries. Rhetorically, how does the mind and body, physical and non-physical (meaning) interact?
