The Enigma Of The Universe : Fundamental Questions @ HereNow4U

We may perhaps begin our discussion with an examination of the experimental character of reality- When we speak of the object of (metaphysical) experience, we refer to it as reality (or ultimately real) or as "being", "what is", "what truly exists". When we say that something is or has existence, we generally mean that it is an object for the knowing consciousness and that it has its place in the system of object which is cognised by an observer. Thus we have (a) an observer and (b) an object of metaphysical experience and "the questions involving the relationship between the two have haunted the philosophers and the scientists alike from the dawn of reason," says Lincoln Barnett.^[1]

The fundamental questions about the nature of reality remain the same from one age to another: the ultimate radically divergent answers^[2] to the problem also remain the same in principle, but the point of view from which the problem is attacked varies with the age and also with the aim of the investigator. Surprisingly, however, there exists a fair amount of similarity not only between the answers given by different philosophers but also those given by scientists.

Broadly speaking we can divide all their views into two doctrines:

Idealism^[3] is the doctrine that all reality is mental. It asserts that there is no reality outside consciousness and all experiences are only the modifications of our own consciousness. Nothing exists but state of consciousness. Amongst the philosophers who support this doctrine are: Plato, Leibnitz, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Hegel, etc. Amongst the scientists who support this view are; Sir A.S. Eddington, Sir James Jeans, Hermann Weyl, Ernst Mach, Raymond Poincare, etc..
Realism is the doctrine that the fundamental character of the real is its independence of any relation to the experience of a subject. It asserts that what exists, exists equally whether it is experienced or not. Amongst the philosophers contributing to this doctrine are: Democritus and the Greek atomists, Aristotle, scholastic philosophers, Rene Descartes, Bertrand Russell, etc, while some of the scientists supporting this view are: Newton, Bohr, Albert Einstein, Hisenberg, Whittaker, Reichenbach, C.E.M. load, Sir Oliver Lodge, Prof. Henry Margenau, the Soviet (Materialist) Scientists, etc..

Some Philosophers have established "scepticism"^[4] by asserting that nobody can know the true nature of reality, the reality according to them is an Unknowable.

Footnotes

The Universe and Dr Einstein, p. 20

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The famous scholar of the philosophy of modern science Prof. Henry Margenau clearly expresses the view: "It is well-known that the scientists, at least in those fields which we call the exact science, agree on matters falling in their specific domain but hold widely differing views with regard to reality."- The Nature of Physical Reality, p. 12

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The term "Idealism" is used in metaphysics as well as in ethics, but has different meanings. In metaphysics, it asserts the doctrine that all reality is mental while when it is used in ethics, it is concerned with the moral ideas. In the present book, the term "Idealism" is used in its metaphysical meaning.

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Scepticism, also sometimes called Agnosticism, is found in different forms in different philosophers from Phero (Died 270 B.C) to the modern Philosopher Hume. Even after Hume, we find this view in the philosophy of the famous modern philosopher Herbert Spencer, who is also considered to be scholar of science. He writes: "In all directions the scientists bring him face to face with an insoluble enigma. He learnt at once the greatness and the littleness of the human intellect-its power in dealing with all that comes within the range of experience, its impotence in dealing with all that transcends experience. He, more than any other, truly knows that in its ultimate nature nothing can be known”-First Principles, p.56.

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