bobcat
Well-known Member
- Location
- Northern Calif
Calling all SF philosophers. 
I suppose one would start with the meaning of a concept, and I guess the simple definition might be generally agreed on mental representations of things. But do they actually exist, or do we classify things for the sake of communication and to know how we interact with or think about them and relate to them? Are they just nebulous representational things that exist in our head?
What is truth? What is justice? What is normal behavior? Where does our atmosphere end and outer space begin, and where does our solar system end. Aren't they just conceptual? We know what inches and miles are, but aren't they just a distance we have assigned a label to?
At what exact point did our remote ancestors become "human" rather than an evolved ape. It seems that we apply categorical distinctions to something, and then use that criteria to identify things. When does our hand become our wrist or our arm?
We think of vacationing in nature, but are we not nature? Is our solar system and the universe not nature ..... or is nature just an invented concept with fuzzy boundaries? If we cut two pieces of lumber and put large dowels between them, we call it a ladder. But if we arrange that same lumber differently, it is now a house, a chair, or a boat. It seems that everything is just composed of smaller parts, and things inexplicably would go in and out of existence when we add or subtract atoms.
Do concepts physically exist, or is everything in the universe one singular thing that gets divided or combined, and then assigned an arbitrary definition that only carry distinctions in our mind?
I suppose one would start with the meaning of a concept, and I guess the simple definition might be generally agreed on mental representations of things. But do they actually exist, or do we classify things for the sake of communication and to know how we interact with or think about them and relate to them? Are they just nebulous representational things that exist in our head?
What is truth? What is justice? What is normal behavior? Where does our atmosphere end and outer space begin, and where does our solar system end. Aren't they just conceptual? We know what inches and miles are, but aren't they just a distance we have assigned a label to?
At what exact point did our remote ancestors become "human" rather than an evolved ape. It seems that we apply categorical distinctions to something, and then use that criteria to identify things. When does our hand become our wrist or our arm?
We think of vacationing in nature, but are we not nature? Is our solar system and the universe not nature ..... or is nature just an invented concept with fuzzy boundaries? If we cut two pieces of lumber and put large dowels between them, we call it a ladder. But if we arrange that same lumber differently, it is now a house, a chair, or a boat. It seems that everything is just composed of smaller parts, and things inexplicably would go in and out of existence when we add or subtract atoms.
Do concepts physically exist, or is everything in the universe one singular thing that gets divided or combined, and then assigned an arbitrary definition that only carry distinctions in our mind?
