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Time for philosophy to rule once more…it's been too long under denial

Science is so lost. It has been nearly 2500 years since Greek ideas were formulated by the philosophers and thinkers and, halted by the dark ages one may be forgiven for thinking that we have picked up where they left off so many years before. Sadly it is quite the reverse. Plato and Socrates have become categorised and compartmentalised. They are The Arts. They are The Languages. They are Humanities. Referrals to Archimedes on buoyancy and Aristotle on motion are made within Physics and we say “thank you very much” for thinking about this so much but the essence of the marriage between Science and Philosophy has been forgotten. Physics can address the Hadronic universe around us. Even to the point of offering us a key to unlock the evolution of the massive universe of which we are a part and this is the “New Physics”. But what then? Sometime Physicists are going to have to address the questions that they have been conveniently avoiding. The questions regarding consciousness. The massless elements of the universe. The un-testable theories. Why is it that in Science we have accepted that a theory that cannot be investigated physical through experiment is something that will never have a proof. Socrates and Plato would have reeled at such a thought. There has been no progression in thoughts and ideas as to the essence of reality and existence since the age of Ancient Greek Philosophy. In fact it would not be an overstatement to suggest that our ideas have back-tracked and Greek philosophy is not ignored so much as it is denied.

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” Socrates, in dialogue with a companion proposes that in the pursuit of knowledge there exists the eye and the mind. As a shadow or reflection is an image of an object to the eye, so an object seen by the eye is an image of reality and therefore conclusion to the mind. Physics addresses well what the senses can detect and do tests upon but modern Physics seems to skirt around the issue that all of these test and investigations and so called proofs are deduced by the eye and not the mind. Physics in it’s true for is the pursuit of knowledge and truth outside of our existence as human beings. Therefore Physics will never fulfil its purpose as long as Physicists refuse to incorporate philosophy into their theory and proposal. Is the human kind capable of understanding itself within the universe from a perspective that is outside the realms of human existence? Humans are as much a part of the universe as a star or a table or a plant or a planet. Humans are made from hadrons and electrons. We can never begin to answer this question (which also means we can never write off the question) until we know what other aspects of existence make humans up. If humans are made from the same stuff as a star or a table (which are also made from hadrons and electrons) then humans would not think and reason as they do. Therefore it is without doubt or question that there is some other aspect contained by or around the human body that is responsible for thought and reason. As nothing is outside the realms of the universe then what the nature of this aspect is must be as much a part of the universe as anything else contained within the universe. It must follow the universal laws of conservation as all other contents of the universe do – meaning it may not be created or destroyed, only transferred from one form into another. It is the role of Physics to address the issue of consciousness because without knowledge of this Physics can never achieve its role. It is apparent that modern Physics is too reliant upon experimental investigation and widely accepts that if something cannot easily be experimented upon, due to its inability to be detected by the five human senses directly or via imaging technology, then it is not something that should be incorporated into the purpose of Physics. How oxymoronic that something which Physicists deem not to be the purpose of Physics can actually prevent Physics from fulfilling its ultimate purpose.




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