Physics and Common Sense
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 16 (February):295-311 (1966)
| Abstract | In this paper I set out to solve the problem of how the world as we experience it, full of colours and other sensory qualities, and our inner experiences, can be reconciled with physics. I discuss and reject the views of J. J. C. Smart and Rom Harré. I argue that physics is concerned only to describe a selected aspect of all that there is – the causal aspect which determines how events evolve. Colours and other sensory qualities, lacking causal efficacy, are ignored by physics and cannot be predicted by physical theory. Even though physics is silent about sensory qualities, they nevertheless exist objectively in the world – in one sense of “objective” at least. | |||||||||
| Keywords | Common Sense Dualism Epistemology Mechanism Perception Phenomena Explanatory Gap Physical Object Physicalism | |||||||||
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Nicholas Maxwell (1966). Physics and Common Sense. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 16 (February):295-311.
Nicholas Maxwell (2002). Science and Meaning. The Philosophers' Magazine (18):15-16.
Barry Smith (1995). Common Sense. In The Cambridge Companion to Husserl. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Common Sense (1995). Barry Smith. In Barry Smith & David W. Smith (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Husserl. Cambridge University Press.
Leonard S. Carrier (1981). Experience And The Objects Of Perception. Washington: University Press Of America.
Michael De Medeiros (2010). Common Sense. Weigl Publishers.
Martin E. Lean (1953/1973). Sense-Perception And Matter: A Critical Analysis Of C. D. Broad's Theory Of Perception. Ny: Humanities Press.
Timothy L. S. Sprigge (1966). The Common‐Sense View of Physical Objects. Inquiry 9 (1-4):339-373.
Jacob J. Ross (1970). The Appeal To The Given: A Study In Epistemology. London,: Allen &Amp; Unwin.
Michael G. F. Martin (2002). The Transparency of Experience. Mind and Language 4 (4):376-425.
Brigitte Falkenburg (2011). What Are the Phenomena of Physics? Synthese 182 (1):149-163.
Agustín Vicente (2006). On the Causal Completeness of Physics. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 20 (2):149 – 171.
Jody Graham (1997). Common Sense and Berkeley's Perception by Suggestion. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 5 (3):397 – 423.
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