Re:Consciousness: The Mind Messing with the Mind
by vinceguidry on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @12:03PM
(#12043957)
You're focusing too hard on the "existence" part and not hard enough on the "thing" part.
If humanity died tomorrow, nobody would be around to call the planet "Earth". Earth is merely a concept held in the minds of people. The concept consists of properties, only some of which involve the physical aspects. For example, lots of other planets are physically present, but only one we call Earth, because we live on it. Should we not live on it anymore, why would anyone bother to call it by a name.
In that sense, sure, Earth would cease to exist if we stopped living on it.
The problem with defining existence as only involving the physical is that it yields a world in which nobody can make sense of anything. You can't simply boil everything down like that and actually live in that world. The very second you started thinking, you'd start ascribing properties to objects that aren't merely physical, recreating the entire debate.
Before you consider existence, think about what "thing" means.
If humanity died tomorrow, nobody would be around to call the planet "Earth". Earth is merely a concept held in the minds of people. The concept consists of properties, only some of which involve the physical aspects. For example, lots of other planets are physically present, but only one we call Earth, because we live on it. Should we not live on it anymore, why would anyone bother to call it by a name.
In that sense, sure, Earth would cease to exist if we stopped living on it.
The problem with defining existence as only involving the physical is that it yields a world in which nobody can make sense of anything. You can't simply boil everything down like that and actually live in that world. The very second you started thinking, you'd start ascribing properties to objects that aren't merely physical, recreating the entire debate.
Before you consider existence, think about what "thing" means.