Philosophical Speculations

Here are two simple questions - when you form the picture of triangle by way of thinking, what is the meaning you perceive in the triangle-form? Do you suppose the meaning you perceive is essentially different than what I perceive? Let's say, for purposes of this example, the meaning I perceive is ...

Ashvin, Mathematics is possible because thought forms associated with mathematical objects can be represented on a piece of paper without ambiguity. That is not the case with the perception of red colour. What are the thought forms associated with seeing red? I think two people, unless ‘like-minded’...

1) What is the relationship of perception (sense-impression) to cognition (meaning)? Are they dependent on each other and, if so, in what specific ways? Has that relationship remained static or changed over human history? Ashvin: We could talk about specific relationship between two entities in a m...

‘Survival’ is the cornerstone of Dawinian theory of evolution. Organisms struggle to survive and reproduce. Conscious experience must have some survival value, otherwise consciousness couldn’t have evolved. This is a strange way to understand life. I can’t be sure about other organisms, but at least...

I'm referring to the contours of our physical body and its organs, processes, etc. I thought that was what you were referring to also. Sure ... so-called 'corporeal construct' would be short-hand for all that, which is all phenomenal representation of deep primal idea construction in uncaused, irre...

Consciousness having a hidden mathematical structure is an intriguing idea but I don’t see how Gödel’s theorem and Idealism can be connected. Incompleteness theorems applies to formal systems where the primitive symbols have no connection with the world of experience - the symbols are not ‘about any...

For the record (but not really germane to the topic - just saying one needs a better analogy), there is nothing "unnatural" or "mysterious" about so-called imaginary numbers (or particularly "real" about so-called real numbers). I get your point. There is nothing myste...

Now, the aim, or what I propose should be the aim as it is the natural unfolding of experience, is to integrate rigorous sense-world knowledge with rigorous knowledge of spiritual realms. They are, in essence, one and the same. Agree with the essence of your points, but I am sceptical about ‘rigoro...

Excellent analysis, Shajan. I don't see any way of getting away from the dualism of "what MAL is" and "what MAL does" (thinks, imagines, creates, dreams, wills). Thanks. I think dualism is a reflection of what we are as meta-conscious life forms, but we could transcend our duali...

Conceiving the universe as composed of two distinct substances res extensa and res cogitans was essential for acquiring reliable knowledge. Mind-matter division was an important step forward in man’s quest to understand the nature of reality. There were gaps in the Cartesian world picture, but they ...