| Title | "The World is an Egg" |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Realism, Mathematics, and the Thresholds of Difference |
| Contributor | Jeffrey A. Bell (author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.21983/P3.0032.1.11 |
| Landing page | https://punctumbooks.com/titles/speculations-4-speculative-realism/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Copyright | Bell, Jeffery A. |
| Publisher | punctum books |
| Published on | 2013-06-05 |
| Long abstract | To most people, the question or problem of realism—realism taken here to mean that there is a reality independent of our awareness or consciousness of this reality—is neither a question nor a problem; it is simply taken for granted. It is one of the unques-tioned assumptions of daily life. When I leave the house, there is no question my laptop remains where I left it and will be there upon my return; there is no question that there were many things in existence before my birth and that there will continue to be many things after my death; and finally, there is no question that there was a wealth of things in existence—stars, planets, dinosaurs, etc.—before the emergence of conscious, inquiring human beings. In our daily lives, therefore, to be a realist is a matter of common sense.1 When we begin to ask what it is that is real, however, or when we seek to determine whether our judgments regarding the nature of reality are correct or not, we begin to enter a quagmire of difficulties that have beset philosophers since the beginning of philosophy itself. |
| Page range | pp. 65–70 |
| Print length | 6 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |