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In the time of Empiricism, the philosophers George Berkeley and John Locke proposed something similar. I believe it was called it immaterialism, or the idea tha

In the time of Empiricism, the philosophers George Berkeley and John Locke proposed something similar. I believe it was called it immaterialism, or the idea that nothing exists without being perceived. Berkeley went further saying that objects only exist in the mind, or something like that.

fragsworth 11y ago
They're not saying "nothing exists without being perceived", because the probabilities of things at the quantum level all do exist. It seems sort of unfortunate that physicists would call these quantum probabilistic behaviors "not reality", because they are just as real as anything else.
- hkailahi 11y ago
  Right I'm aware of that. I just thought it was an interesting parallel. Locke based his works off of the physics known at the time (Newton, etc). His theories were later definitely refuted by advancements in physics. Though it wasn't his intended meaning, it is interesting at least to see similar language being brought back by physics.
a_e_k 11y ago
One of my favorite authors, Jorge Luis Borges, wrote a short story, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," based on Berkeleyan philosophy. I thought again of this passage when I read the headline: "Things duplicate themselves on Tlön; they also tend to grow vague or 'sketchy,' and to lose detail when they begin to be forgotten. The classic example is the doorway that continued to exist so long as a certain beggar frequented it, but which was lost to sight when he died. Sometimes a few birds, or a horse, have saved the ruins of an amphitheater."
_0ffh 11y ago
There's a fun Limerick by one Robert Knox inspired by one of Berkeley's arguments about what happens to objects when they are not being perceived: There was a young man who said, "God Must think it exceedingly odd If he finds that this tree Continues to be When there's no one about in the Quad." REPLY Dear Sir: Your astonishment's odd: I am always about in the Quad. And that's why the tree Will continue to be, Since observed by Yours faithfully, GOD. Edit: Formatting (newlines)

fragsworth 11y ago

They're not saying "nothing exists without being perceived", because the probabilities of things at the quantum level all do exist. It seems sort of unfortunate that physicists would call these quantum probabilistic behaviors "not reality", because they are just as real as anything else.

hkailahi 11y ago
Right I'm aware of that. I just thought it was an interesting parallel. Locke based his works off of the physics known at the time (Newton, etc). His theories were later definitely refuted by advancements in physics. Though it wasn't his intended meaning, it is interesting at least to see similar language being brought back by physics.

a_e_k 11y ago

One of my favorite authors, Jorge Luis Borges, wrote a short story, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," based on Berkeleyan philosophy. I thought again of this passage when I read the headline: "Things duplicate themselves on Tlön; they also tend to grow vague or 'sketchy,' and to lose detail when they begin to be forgotten. The classic example is the doorway that continued to exist so long as a certain beggar frequented it, but which was lost to sight when he died. Sometimes a few birds, or a horse, have saved the ruins of an amphitheater."

_0ffh 11y ago

There's a fun Limerick by one Robert Knox inspired by one of Berkeley's arguments about what happens to objects when they are not being perceived: There was a young man who said, "God Must think it exceedingly odd If he finds that this tree Continues to be When there's no one about in the Quad." REPLY Dear Sir: Your astonishment's odd: I am always about in the Quad. And that's why the tree Will continue to be, Since observed by Yours faithfully, GOD. Edit: Formatting (newlines)