What, Why & How do we Know ?
Having been slightly side-tracked by the TERF-wars again after reading Matthew Burgess “Smart SpaceTime”, it’s 12 days since I last posted. Lots of email and forum traffic on discussing and promoting the works of Robert Pirsig and Iain McGilchrist (and Dante, and Spinoza, and …) but no posts or reviews, even though I have been … Continue reading “1920’s Reading and More”
Arthur Eddington has been on my reading list for a decade or two, since he was so often cited as the person who had first gotten to grips with the new physics and its communication to a wider real-world audience, beyond those minds engaged at Copenhagen / Paris and in the Solvay conferences. I happen … Continue reading “Eddington and the Real World”
Just a holding post – McGilchrist’s latest has kinda brought a long and winding agenda to a culmination. Firstly, I said it in my previous TMWT summary post, The world-view forming is really what has been called Natural Theology since William Paley gave a name to the interminable God vs Science debates, as old as … Continue reading “Must Write”
A Summary of Iain McGilchrist “The Matter With Things” My writings on Iain McGilchrist’s TMWT, and TME (The Master and Emissary) before it, are many, but unfortunately that means that no single post, since my reading of TMWT, gives any introductory overview for a new reader. So here goes: What is the matter with things? … Continue reading “What is the Matter with Things?”
Added Bergson’s Creative Evolution to my reading list after finding so many references in McGilchrist’s latest. And had also noticed lots of cross-links between Bergson and Whitehead / James through an active “fan” of Bergson on my timeline in the last couple of years (Emily Herring). Keep coming across references to him having been the … Continue reading “Henri Bergson – Note to Self”
I’ve now read the whole of Part 1 of “The Matter With Things”, including but not just the summaries. As advertised it is a thorough collection and organisation of scientific and empirical evidence and argument for left and right hemisphere dysfunctions and their interconnections, genetic and physical, indicating their quite distinct “normal” roles, hemispherically deficient … Continue reading “Is McGilchrist Getting Ahead of Himself?”
Recent reads of Carlo Rovelli and Sean Carroll have been ultimately disappointing, but don’t get me wrong … Helgoland (2021) – by Carlo Rovelli Staggering Implications – Rovelli Without Whitehead (AJOwens Nov 2021) Mach, Bogdanov, Nagarjuna and Rovelli (May 2021) Classifying an Unread Book (May 2021) and, The Big Picture (2015) – by Sean Carroll … Continue reading “Deutsch over Rovelli and Carroll”
Very difficult to have conversations at the limits of fundamental physics. Physicists are obviously very attached to which parts of fundamental physics – and deep understanding thereof – are considered “fixed” in their firmament. And that’s true even if they appear open-minded on philosophical discussions. It’s impossible for all of us to have the same … Continue reading “Metaphysics<>Physics Caricature”