Topics Mind

Question is the existing reality of a thought dependent upon our mind or upon on our external world?

Accepted:
November 21, 2013

Comments

Not an easy question to respond to!

If, by 'thought' you are referring to what persons think about (as in: I am thinking about math), then because it seems as though we thinking persons can think about the world around us and about ourselves and abstract objects (as in mathematics), then the truth of what we think about the world and ourselves and abstracta (e.g. math) will (I suggest) very much depend on how things are. I might think I am an expert in mathematics, but it turns out I am rubbish. The 'reality of [my] thought' that I am a math expert does not depend upon whether it is true or false, but the consequences of its being true or false might be quite significant in reality.

Some philosophers (such as myself) are prepared to go in what must seem like a hopelessly mysterious direction. So, some of us treat the objects of our thinking to be propositions or abstract (non-concrete) states of affairs. For example, i hope to live in a universe in which there are unicorns, while my friend Judy does not. This may be understood as there being an abstract state of affairs:

Human persons living in a universe in which there are unicorns

Which I hope obtains (or is true) and Judy hopes is not true or it does not obtain.

This position (historically linked to Plato) holds that truths and falsehoods about reality should be understood in the obtaining or not obtaining of states of affairs. So, to employ the terms you suggest, I propose that (assuming our universe contains no unicorns, alas), the following state of affairs does not obtain:

Human persons living in a universe in which there are unicorns

And this truth, assuming it is true, is not dependent upon your mind or mind. It does depend on the "external world" in the sense that if a single horned horse showed up in our world with tears that could heal us, then the above state of affairs would obtain (and it would be true we are living in a universe with unicorns, whether or not we believed it or were skeptical).

Question is the existing reality of a thought dependent upon our mind or upon on our external world? Accepted:November 21, 2013

Question is the existing reality of a thought dependent upon our mind or upon on our external world?

Accepted:
November 21, 2013