KARL JASPERS FORUM

TA61 (Andemicael)

Commentray 15 (to R4)

( TIME AND MIND )
by Serge Patlavskiy
August 2004, posted 4 September 2004

[Andemicael, R4]

"PERSISTENCE [1] By definition: A persisting entity does the following two things: 1. It moves through time in the forward direction. 2. It maintains its length, width, height, mass, etc. (Note: A persisting entity maintains its physical characteristics *while* it moves through time.)"

[Serge Patlavskiy]

There are no physical characteristics unchangeable with time. Therefore, the "persisting entity" does not exist. The only possible "persisting entity" is our Reality as a whole.

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"[2] Objects in the real world do neither of the above two things. Real-world objects do not "persist."

[S.P.]
Does this mean that there is some "imaginary world", or "parallel reality"? If "yes", then it sharply contradicts my view, according to which there are no "parallel realities" - all phenomena belong to one Reality we live in, including the phenomena (objects) that we cannot explain yet.

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"THE DIMENSIONALITY OF THE WORLD [3] Entities in the physical world are not 3-dimensional; they are 4-dimensional. (They exist within a 4-dimensional spacetime structure.) The mind perceives 3-dimensional slices of these 4-dimensional objects."

[S.P.]
The idea of 4-dimentionality does not follow from the author's theory - he has taken it from the theories of others. As to me, entities possess no immanent characteristics. They are we, the theorists, who decide on the characteristics those entities acquire during the process of cognition, including their dimensionality.

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"THE MIND [5] The mind can be described as an "entity." Although it is an "entity," it is not physical."

[S.P.]
Absolute nonsense ! Nothing can be described as an entity and stay to be an entity ! The entity, after being described, immediately transforms into the <object of cognition> with such or other acquired properties. So, there are no entities as such; every entity, per se, is the <cognitively independent entity>. Therefore, there is no such special and describable state as "entity state" which may be regarded in contrary to the "physical state".

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"THE PRESENT [6] The mind is an entity that persists. The "present" is the mind. The "present" is therefore an entity that persists.(1)"

[S.P.]
I believe that the mind in nor the entity nor the kind of a thing. Therefore, the "present" is not the mind, nor the entity that persists.

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"[7] I indicate above that persistence is a type of motion. In my paper "Temporal Passage," I represent the mind's persistence visually as rightward motion across a timeline."

[S.P.]
It is by no means permissible to use geometrical notions when representing the mind's persistence or something of the sort. The mind (consciousness) studying, as I feel it, requires its own notional base to be developed and used.

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"SUBJECTIVE TIME [8] The flow of consciousness can be thought of as a sequence of mental states."

[S.P.]
I can well agree with this.

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"Each state in the sequence necessarily persists for a duration greater than zero."

[S.P.]
It depends on from which point of view this process will be observed.

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"THE BIG BANG THEORY [9] The Big Bang is not an "event in time."

[S.P.]
Then we have to stop talking about it as a bang. It is something another, but not a bang.

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"Time does not exist at the big bang singularity. In the mathematical representation of spacetime, space and time exist after the big bang singularity, but not at the singularity itself."

[S.P.]
Nor time nor space exist even now - they both are the constructs of subjective experience.

[Adhanom Andemicael]

"NOTES 1. To claim that the "present" persists is simply to assert that the *mind* persists."

[S.P.]
Well, but it is not enough clear what it is all for.

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Serge Patlavskiy

Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/spatlavskiy