Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

beneath the surface of reality that gives rise to the qualities we perceive. We could add that even if all we know of things is their appearances and qualities, that does not make them nothing!

In the atomic theory, the idea of saying an object is solid and extended in space is rather misleading. It is now understood that objects are mostly empty space. As the nature of physical matter has been further examined it is very difficult to perceive it as in any way solid or ‘real’ in the way in which the common-sense view of reality understands and perceives it. A quality of solidity and extension is therefore more of an ‘emergent quality’. (We will get to emergence later in the work.) As such, the division of qualities into intrinsic and emergent (primary and secondary) has largely been abandoned as the nature of the physical world has been explored by science. (Even John Locke, who seems to have upheld the belief in primary and secondary qualities, also appears to have thought that at some level there is no distinction.)

Science functions on the common-sense assumption that there is an objective external reality, which for the most part, can be analysed without considering the impact of the observer. The universe as a whole is looked upon as a closed system as if its observers are outside of it. The current scientific view of nature has lead some to speculate that thought and ‘matter’ may not be different in principle. Both seem to be forms of energy. All of the views we’ve examined above tend to divide reality into an observer and an object of observation.

28