How Things Work – A Brief History of Reality
Book I – Dualism (Descartes & Modern Science)
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Tuesday, January 11, 2022
“Most people believe the mind to be a mirror, more or less accurately reflecting the world outside them, not realizing on the contrary that the mind is itself the principal element of creation.” - Rabindranath Tagore
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
The purpose of Book I (Dualism) is to establish dualism as the primary factor in human development in terms of its application through reason and logic, therefore making it the essential foundation for recognizing and establishing our physical and non-physical perceptions of reality. However, as human consciousness evolved, so did our understanding of dualism. Descartes’ mind-body dualism represents the current incarnation of this ubiquitous influence on human consciousness. Descartes separates reality into “physical reality,” which he called “body” that is recognizable and measurable through our physical senses, and “non-physical reality,” which he called “mind” that is responsible for our “interpretation” of that physicality, or what we call “the real world.” Descartes establishes that “mind” is not the same as “brain,” because mind functions outside of any physical parameter or construct.
“However, the practical impact of abstract mathematics was so overwhelming in its results that it became accepted as ‘real’ in the new sciences.”
Ultimately, this becomes manifested as a complete separation between the “real” physical world of the senses, which becomes science, and our “a priori” knowledge and understanding that interprets and gives meaning to that physical world, which evolves into Judeo-Christian theology. Ironically, the same metaphysics used to support mathematics is the same metaphysics used to support theology. However, the practical impact of abstract mathematics was so overwhelming in its results that it became accepted as “real” in the new sciences. Paradoxically, becoming its bedrock principle of certainty.
“…it developed modern science based on the scientific method; utilizing a logical process involving complete objective evidence gained through reason, as demonstrated by inherent self-evident truths, employing the tools of mathematics and direct experimentation.”
Descartes’ work has directly influenced our current reality in three critical ways. First, it developed modern science based on the scientific method; utilizing a logical process involving complete objective evidence gained through reason, as demonstrated by inherent self-evident truths, employing the tools of mathematics and direct experimentation. Second, it supports the metaphysical foundation for institutional Judeo-Christian theology within the Roman Catholic Church, and eventually throughout all Judeo-Christian institutions. And third, it unites the two competing philosophies of Rationalism and Empiricism into a common bond of accepting self-evident rational truths, based on objective supporting evidence, as proof for the existence of God, the universe, and natural human rights.
“In science, this would lead to Einstein’s theories of relativity and the birth of quantum mechanics.”
Descartes had essentially transformed all previous physics and metaphysics into a new modern form of understanding; reinterpreting Plato’s and Aristotle’s original concepts and redefining our past view and understanding of reality. In science, this would lead to Einstein’s theories of relativity and the birth of quantum mechanics. In theology, it would become foundational in supporting theological concepts such as the “Logos” and the “Holy Trinity” as rational demonstrations for the existence of God and the spiritual truths of Christianity. Historically, the unification of a rational approach to gaining knowledge based on empirical evidence became the battle cry for two previously opposed philosophies known as Rationalism and Empiricism.
“Historically, the unification of a rational approach to gaining knowledge based on empirical evidence became the battle cry for two previously opposed philosophies known as Rationalism and Empiricism.”
The “Age of Reason,” or “The Enlightenment,” served as the womb in which the conception and birth of a new nation was manifested, catapulting a set of new ideas, values and propositions into the reality of the world. Most of these new insights were related to the acceptance and promotion of two critical possibilities for making the world a better place: science and religion. These two now seemingly opposite realities would become manifested though the establishment of a new possibility in the world: The United States of America. This new nation represented a monumental transformation in human consciousness resulting in a transformation of reality. The United States would become the fountainhead for a new modern world based on a new modern science and an evolving Judeo-Christian theology.
However, we will first consider Descartes’ powerful influence on modern science.
CONSIDERATION #13 – Descartes and Modern Science
Descartes’ Influence on Science
“With me, everything turns into mathematics.”
– Rene Descartes
Descartes sought to establish a unified science that would answer all questions, regarding all subjects, related to all possible human knowledge; based on a single method of reasoning that could be effectively applied to produce reliable results by anyone. The key to this new method was mathematics. Descartes argued that by utilizing the methodology found in mathematics, the natural sciences could obtain the same level of clarity and certainty found in mathematical proofs. It essentially moved the natural sciences, and even the metaphysics behind mathematics, from the category of philosophy and metaphysics to the category of physics, now called science. Science encompassed the entire physical world, which Descartes defined as “extension.”
“Unlike ideas, dreams, or Mind, physical reality occupied space and could be directly calculated and measured.”
Descartes saw physicality as something that could be measured because the essence of being physical was extension. Physical, or “real,” things have extension in space and can be measured in terms of length, breadth, and depth. This three-dimensional reality perfectly reflects the metaphysics of geometry, which is precisely what Descartes intended. Extension in geometry is manifested through points, lines, and planes, which are all themselves metaphysical constructs. However, for Descartes, the entire physical world and everything in it consisted of “Body” which was measurable. Space was also body. Descartes did not see space as “empty” but consisting of a permeable fluid. Therefore, the “space” between bodies was also measurable, which turns out to be true. Unlike ideas, dreams, or Mind, physical reality occupied space and could be directly calculated and measured. This was a foundational principle for the new modern science.
“In terms of the new science, the universe was rational because it followed ‘scientific laws,’ previously considered ‘divine truths…’”
Another foundational principle for the new science was that the world was not only rational, but comprehensible.This allowed those practicing the new science to have faith that they could in fact discover absolute truths regarding the nature of reality. In terms of the new science, the universe was rational because it followed “scientific laws,” previously considered “divine truths,” that were consistent within its manifestation. This meant that nature could not only be understood by human beings, but directed, influenced, and even dominated by them.
“For the first time, we could tinker with the machine of existence.”
Descartes argued that our world, or reality, operated much like a machine. It consisted of almost endless interconnected parts all operating efficiently together in order to produce a consistent and recognizable reality. All we needed to do was define the parts and understand how they worked within the entire system. For the first time, we could tinker with the machine of existence. This was a compelling new kind of power. This mechanistic world view would have a major influence and impact on western science, medicine, and technology.
“The idea of the scientist as a completely ‘detached observer’ has become a bedrock of the modern scientific method.”
The final, yet critical, aspect of the new science, considered vital to Descartes, was the importance and necessity of the investigator being completely detached from the investigation itself. The idea of the scientist as a completely “detached observer” has become synonymous with the modern scientific method. A scientist should bring nothing to a question except awareness, with no prejudices, personal preferences or influences. Once again, the pure logic of mathematics became the tool of reason necessary for such observations and investigations.
“Using doubt to arrive at complete certainty, Descartes undermines the traditional Aristotelian method of attaining knowledge through the senses, by doubting those very senses.”
Descartes’ revolutionary approach to problem solving, which became the Scientific Method, reflects a break between traditional Aristotelian thought and the new Continental Rationalism that had spread throughout Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Using doubt to arrive at complete certainty, Descartes undermines the traditional Aristotelian method of attaining knowledge through the senses, by doubting those very senses.
“For the Rationalists, if a person could intuitively understand basic principles, like Descartes’ axioms of geometry, they could deduce the truth about anything.”
Continental Rationalism held, like Descartes, that human reason was the basis of all possible knowledge. For the Rationalists, if a person could intuitively understand basic principles, like Descartes’ axioms of geometry, they could deduce the truth about anything. The trick was to turn the problem into a mathematical equation. This rational, logical, methodical process of investigation and experimentation led to the greatest expansion of knowledge in science, medicine, and technology in recorded human history.
POSTSCRIPT
As human beings we have a tendency to assume that our current view of reality has essentially always existed. This is not true. Our concept and experience of reality has evolved and developed over thousands of years to become what we perceive today as natural, and to some extent even obvious. However, our basic premises about this reality are deeply influenced by the past.
“We have forgotten the rich history, experience and critical lessons of our past; leaving us lost and disconnected in the absolute truth of our own complete certainty…”
We do not naturally perceive or experience this connection unless it is handed down through tradition or taught historically as part of an education system. Most importantly, we no longer understand how the past was perceived by those living in the past. There is an overwhelming predisposition for attempting to understand the past through the lens of the present; causing us to sever the roots of our own reality. We have forgotten the rich heritage, experience and critical lessons of our history; leaving us lost and disconnected in the absolute truth of our own complete certainty – believing it to be superior to, divorced from, and completely unrelated to any other possible interpretations.
The truth is, we have cultivated our reality over centuries, and Rene Descartes was the philosophical farmer who first sowed the seeds of our present-day modern scientific reality.
Next week we will consider Descartes’ argument for God and how Cartesian Rationalism supports Aristotle’s original concept of an Unmoved Mover – Setting the stage for the influence of Deism in the “New World.”
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