the world is the possibility of thought
the notion of thinking outside of the world may on the face of it strike one as a
reasonable thought
some philosophers - Plato for one - made a career of it
nevertheless it is clear on reflection to be impossible
but what such a notion leads us to is the question
if you cannot get outside of it to define
how then do you define?
how that is do you define the world?
my argument is we can only work from the inside
for all intents and purposes - and in a strictly logical sense - there is no outside
we cannot - to get right to it - define the world
we can only define what is in it
the world is our domain of definition
outside of the world there is no such question
no definition -
thought I have argued is reflection
and reflection is to make - to have pictures
ideal pictures
pictures - only of what is
we cannot conceive what does not exist
still the question - what is it that exists?
the fact of this question tells us
the answer - any answer is a question of possibility
there are that is possible answers to this question
possible pictures
these pictures - conceptions
can only be what is
what is - from an epistemological point of view is a matter of uncertainty
it is the question of knowledge
how and what it is we know
granted the world is
the issue is characterization
and the issue cannot be settled in the way we might wish
that is - objectively
for we have no way of assessing metaphysical characterizations
and by this I mean total views
what test is available?
granted we establish internal criterion in the form of logic
but logic only really decides sensibility
different world views can be offered
and if they are sensible from a logical point of view
then they are possible accounts
from an epistemological point of view
the world is possibility
how to decide between possible accounts of the actual
what possible epistemological world can rightly be given the status of actual?
as I put it above
there is no objective test here
objectivity is a notion that can only function in house
there is no view from the outside
of course - what happens is we make the outside
that is we decide what is in and what is out of the world
for instance - Plato excluded the sensible world from his version of the real
the situation is - at this level
we are best to regard the enterprise as interesting and useful
but not in fact resolvable
the answer is
we do not know
we have possible accounts
and these are all worthy
their actual value is a question of their utility
and this of course is finally a meta decision
what counts as useful
convention
based on necessity or its perception is the best we can do
the content of our possible accounts of the world or of parts or regions of the world
is simply a question of invention
and skillful use of what is epistemologically available
the point being
our conceptions are made out of what is given
perhaps ideas from one context adapted to another
or even the generation of new languages and hence concepts
to describe what we are presented with
invention
what is possible in thought
is only what is given in the world
what this amounts to is
what we can make
in ideal terms
of the non-ideal reality
the reality that is unknown
yet always and only
the object of knowledge
