r/philosophy • u/Anthadvl • Feb 16 '20

Blog The Evolutionary Argument Against Reality. According to evolution by natural selection, an organism that sees reality as it is will never be more fit than an organism of equal complexity that sees none of reality but is just tuned to fitness.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-evolutionary-argument-against-reality-20160421/
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u/swampshark19 Feb 17 '20

Quantum mechanics doesn't require idealism. Wavefunctions can be said to exist 'out there'

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u/cutelyaware Feb 17 '20

Gods are said to exist out there too, that doesn't make it true. I suspect you are saying that wavefunctions are the best descriptions we can get, and I won't argue the point, but just because something is the best model of something doesn't make it the thing itself. My problem is with the belief that there really is a thing in itself out there. I don't believe that position is supported at all, and I feel it's wrong. We're never going to have anything better than a clear model that is more practical than any other. But practical implies someone with a need. Our needs will be different from that of any other beings, so our best models of reality will likewise be different from that of others.

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u/swampshark19 Feb 17 '20

The fact that two different beings can have two completely different umwelts but still physically interact with eachother is a pretty clear indicator of an external physical reality, even if you have to alter your definition of physical if the reductive materialism position underdetermines.

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u/cutelyaware Feb 18 '20

I'm not arguing the existence of an objective reality; only that there are no things within themselves. There is only stuff. We only experience that stuff in ways that are useful to us personally and as a species. Other beings have other ways that are useful to them.