1. Metaphysics Part I

2. The Concerns What are we referring to when we use the word “reality?” What is the nature of “reality?” Is there a difference between the ways things appear and the ways things actually are? What questions, if any, remain after science has asked/answered faculty questions? What are the states of permanence and change?

3. What are Some Important Beliefs about your Experience of Reality? The physical world “out there” is roughly similar to the ways I perceive and experience it. When we die, that’s not just it. My significant other loves me and is faithful to me. There is a God who intervenes in the world. Life has some kind of meaning or purpose. The universe conforms to the laws of physics and/or logic. My sense of myself is roughly accurate.

4. The Nature of Reality and our Experience of It If every thing in the universe changes, then every thing is in a constant state of change. If every thing is in a constant state of change, then no thing remains the same for any period of time. If no thing remains the same for any period of time, then at any given moment our conscious experience is of things as they were and not of things as they are. If at any given moment our conscious experience is of things as they were and not of things as they are, then our experience of “reality” is an experience of an idea and not of an experience of physical fact. Therefore, if every thing in the universe changes, then our conscious experience of “reality” is an experience of an idea not an experience of physical fact.

5. If I am a “thing” in the universe, then I am in a constant state of change. If I am in a constant state of change, then I do not remain the same for any period of time. If I do not remain the same for any period of time, then I experience my existence as it was and not as it is. If at any given moment, I experience my existence as it was and not as it is, then my experience of my existence is the experience of an idea and not of an experience of physical fact. Therefore, if I am a “thing” in the universe, then my experience of my existence is the experience e of an idea and not an experience of physical fact.

6. If I have of an experience of some “thing,” then there is some “thing” that exists. If some “thing” exists, then it is not in a state of change. If a “thing” is not in a state of change, then that “thing” exists as a physical fact. Therefore, if I have an experience of some “thing,” then that “thing” exists as a physical fact. If I am a “thing” in the universe…..

7. Ontology: The Study of what is Most Fundamentally Real (Questionnaire) What is not real? What realities can be reduced to more fundamental realities? What is fundamentally real? Your body. Your mind. Einstein’s brain. Einstein’s ideas. Electrons. God.

9. An Ontology with & without God God: God: The omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omnipresent uncaused cause of all things. The only non-contingent entity in the universe. Everything that happens happens for a purpose. Many events simply happen and do not have a purpose. Human beings are completely physical beings. Humans have a nonphysical mind. Everything that happens in the universe (including human actions) is determined and inevitable. Some events are not determined.

10. Science Psychology Politics Art History Law Is understanding reality important?