Category: Philosophy

  • Understanding the fifth dimension

    I have discussed before how the universe is made up of more dimensions than we are usually aware of. We are aware of the three spatial dimensions, and of time but in the backwards direction only. That is not because of any inherent aspect of the universe, it is simply a limitation of our human…

  • Does an objective universe exist?

    If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, does it still make a sound? In my paper on multiple dimensions (Ideas on Consciousness) I point out that one attribute of a dimension is that it is necessary for a physical object to exist. For instance, an object needs to exist in…

  • Ideas on Consciousness

    A new Approach to the Consciousness-Mind-Body Problem by Philip Braham Introduction In modern philosophical theories there is an assumption that consciousness is an activity of the brain. One accepted theory is that the brain is a machine and that what we call consciousness is an attribute of the mechanism of the machine. There are many…

  • The myth of science

    I’ve written many times before about science and what is called the philosophy of science. That is, the rules of science, the scientific method and the assumptions that scientists make when they do experiments. Nowadays an understanding of real science is becoming more and more important as ‘science’ (or what is referred to as science)…

  • Numbers and words

    There’s an old Jewish joke of the man who sends his son to school – presumably at some expense – so that he could become successful. When the son returns home the father asks him what he has learnt: “We learnt that if I have two apples and Greta has three apples we have five…

  • The problem of mind

    Any study of modern theories of philosophy of mind makes for rather depressing reading. Modern philosophers are of the view that the mind is not separate from the body and that our intuitive feeling that the mind is something apart the brain is misleading. Some of these ‘explanations’ seem to describe the mind only in…

  • Science and Religion

    We are often told that science and religion are mutually incompatible. The reasoning goes that religion is based on faith and science is based on facts and experimentation. I’ve even heard it said that religious people should not be employed in scientific establishments because scientists endeavour to find the truth, whereas religious people simply attribute…

  • On Belief in God

    Belief in God is nowadays seen as an antiquated view. After all, hasn’t God been replaced by Science? Everything, so we are told, can be explained by science or if not it will be understood by using the scientific method. There was a time when people felt as if they were in the hands of…

  • Scientific impartiality

    There is a view which is expounded, predominantly by Atheists, that science is objective and impartial. I was told by a member of a skeptics association that peer review guaranteed that science was impartial. Apparently Richard Feynman said that Philosophy of science is as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds. Of course the difference is…

  • The brain, logic and moving to a real understanding

    Its often said that human beings are logical and the brain works by processing information. To understand why this is so wrong we should start by understanding what logic is. Formal deductive logic works as follows: If A is so and B is so then C must be so. For instance, if A (All cars…