These viewpoints are closer than they look. Nor of course, by its own logic, can they claim any truth for their position. Such people, by the way, never behave as though there was no reality. Meanwhile, on the other hand, there are philosophers of the humanities who think that there is no such thing as reality, since it’s all Made Up Miraculously By Ourselves (MUMBO): naïve idealism. In reality, we participate in the knowing: there is no ‘view from nowhere. These are usually biologists you won’t find many physicists who would think that. Some scientists, whether they put it this way or not when they are asked to reflect, still carry on as if there just exists a Reality Out There (ROT), the nature of which is independent of any consciousness of it: naïve realism. In the last century or so, there has been a tendency, at least in popular discourse, to pull reality in opposing directions. So, complexity is the norm, and simplicity represents a special case of complexity, achieved by cleaving off and disregarding almost all of the vast reality that surrounds whatever it is we are for the moment modelling as simple (simplicity is a feature of our model, not of the reality that is modelled). That is because what we are dealing with are, ultimately, relations, events, processes ‘things’ is a useful shorthand for those elements, congealed in the flow of experience, that emerge secondarily from, and attract our attention in, a primary web of interconnections. However, Ian suggests that relationships are primary, more foundational than the things related: that the relationships don’t just ‘connect’ pre-existing things, but modify what we mean by the ‘things, which in turn modify everything else they are in relationship with. How these things are related is viewed as a secondary matter. Reductionism envisages a universe of things – and simply material things at that. The Means of Approach: The World Reduced: What can we say about the form, the structure and nature of this world?.What paths should we follow in approaching the world?.
What means do we have at our disposal in approaching the world?.The Three Main Questions The Two Volumes attempt to answer: If you’re interested in philosophy (specifically epistemology), the philosophy and limitations of science and what reality is really like.
I would highly recommend checking that book summary out before jumping into this book as it builds on many of his ideas from that.
Iain’s previous book The Master and His Emissary is a fascinating exploration into the why our brains are hemispherical and the difference in function of these hemispheres. You can tell this book was 10 years in the making and I can safely say, it was worth the wait. The Matter with Things is a monster of a book, it’s so big that it’s broken into two chunky volumes. The Matter with Things Volume 1 Book Summary:
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