[Advaita-l] Fwd: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Natural Realism & Contact theory of Perception

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

Where the below discussions have taken place??  In some other group??  

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar

-----Original Message-----
From: Advaita-l <advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> On Behalf Of Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2019 8:56 AM
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Cc: Venkatesh Murthy <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Fwd: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Natural Realism & Contact theory of Perception

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Namaste

Great scholars may try to prove Reality of outside world but they all miserably fail without exceptions.

Why? Because if objects are Real it brings a Duality of Observer and Observed object.

Therefore we have to reject this and accept Jagan Mithyatva.

On Tue, Dec 3, 2019 at 11:50 AM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l < advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: Chittaranjan Naik <chitnaik at gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, Dec 2, 2019 at 10:55 PM
> Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Natural Realism & Contact theory of 
> Perception
> To: भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत् <bvparishat at googlegroups.com>
>
>
> Namaste Sri Pattanayak-ji,
>
>
>
> I read Boyer’s article. I will have to read it again to get a full 
> grasp of the recent approaches in the philosophy of science that the 
> author is referring to, but I believe my first reading is sufficient 
> for me to make a broad comparison between the article and my book.
>
>
>
> 1.      While Boyer’s article and my book both draw from Vedic sources in
> our endeavors to provide viable explanatory accounts of Direct 
> Realism, the goals of the two are vastly different. The main goal of 
> Boyer’s article seems to be to justify Direct Realism as a valid 
> premise of science given that this premise has been challenged by both 
> philosophy and the counter-intuitive theories of science itself which 
> scientists have been compelled to build in the areas of Quantum and 
> Relativity physics. The aim of my book is different. It is to 
> establish Direct Realism as part of a larger enterprise aimed at 
> reinstating the Vedic worldview in the contemporary world.
>
>
>
> 2.      Boyer’s article does not attempt to remove the main hindrance that
> stands in the way of postulating a Direct Realism thesis in any 
> meaningful
> manner: the almost ubiquitously held belief that our perception is 
> occasioned by a stimulus-response process. For, as long as the 
> physicalist stimulus-response theory of perception is held to be 
> valid, it would logically result in a dualism of a *phenomenal world* 
> and a *non-linguistic world bereft of the datum of consciousness*. The 
> espousal of the stimulus-response model of perception would therefore 
> logically lead to Representationalism (or Indirect Realism) and not to 
> Direct Realism. This is not a problem with the Boyer article alone; I 
> find it characteristic of all Western attempts to postulate Direct 
> Realism, perhaps because the stimulus-response theory of perception is 
> deeply ingrained in the Western tradition from the time of Aristotle. 
> In consideration of this factor, my book makes the theory of 
> perception the main focus of the book, or of the endeavor to posit 
> Direct Realism. It addresses the very possibility of Direct Realism rather than focus on the ontological features of reality.
>
>
>
> 3.      Boyer’s article tries to introduce *Structural Realism / Ontic
> Structural Realism* as possible avenues for postulating a kind of 
> Direct Realism, the main argument for it being that even though 
> scientific theories may not be able to speak validly about the 
> descriptive aspects of reality, there is a structural continuity in 
> science and, in consideration of the fact that scientific theories do 
> work, it would be reasonable to assume that this structure represents a legitimate structure of reality.
> According to me, this argument does not hold because as long as the 
> stimulus-response theory of perception is held to be valid, the 
> reality that we can perceive, or form a conception of, would be a 
> reality presented within a *phenomenological enclosure* having the 
> brain as its physical substrate. The structure that Boyer talks about 
> would then not be a structure of reality but a structure of the 
> presentative field of the phenomenological enclosure correspondent to 
> a structure in the non-linguistic external world. In other words, it 
> would result in Indirect Realism and not Direct Realism.
>
>
>
> 4.      Again, Boyer’s article does not mention whether it accepts
> Cartesian dualism or rejects it. It may be noted that both 
> contemporary philosophy and science reject Cartesian dualism, so much 
> so that to even speak of the self as a distinct substance has become 
> anathema. It is for this reason that all speculations and explorations 
> in the field of both philosophy and science predominantly look towards 
> neuroscience for a solution to the ‘problem of consciousness’.  Even 
> Chalmers, who claims consciousness to be non-reductive, considers the 
> physical universe to be a closed system (displaying causal closure) 
> and says that we must look for the causal mechanisms of the subjective 
> features of the field of consciousness in the physical substrate of 
> the brain. According to me, it would be a futile exercise to attempt 
> to incorporate the *Three Levels of Vedic reality*, as Boyer’s article 
> attempts to do, into any theory of science without first addressing 
> the question of whether the self is a distinct substance or not. The 
> question of the unity of objects with a transcendental Consciousness 
> arises only at the fourth level – the level of Turiya or 
> linguistically at the level of Para-vak – whereas at the level of a 
> transactional reality, reality does appear as a duality of 
> conscious-self
> (purusha) and inert- matter (prakriti) and a theory that seeks to 
> explain reality must address this level of reality too. Otherwise, to 
> speak of incorporating Vedic conceptions of reality while remaining 
> silent on the modern proclivity to reject Cartesian dualism would 
> amount to a mere pretense. In my book (Chapter 4), I have explained 
> why it is necessary to consider the self as a separate substance; 
> while this may not constitute a formal proof of the existence of the 
> self (I hope to take up that topic in my next paper/book), I have 
> shown how by not considering the self as a distinct substance, it 
> leads to all kinds of logical conundrums, essentially of the kinds that beset Representationalism.
>
>
>
> 5.      My book does not attempt to delve into the ontological features of
> reality as Boyer’s article does. The main reason for it is that I find 
> the ontology already provided in the Indian tradition to be 
> comprehensive. For example, the twenty-four tattvas of Samkhya provide 
> the basic material constituents of the universe, the seven categories 
> (or padarthas) of Nyaya explain the irreducible logical compositions 
> of the complex objects that constitute the furniture of the world 
> formed through admixtures of the twenty-four tattvas of Samkhya, and 
> Vedanta provides the nature of a Transcendental Reality and its 
> relation to the universe and to the conscious beings that inhabit the 
> universe. I do not believe that the scientific model is anywhere close 
> to providing such a comprehensive view of reality.
>
>
>
> 6.      Boyer’s article tries to incorporate the Vedic conception of *Three
> Levels of Reality* without consideration of the praxis of the Vedic 
> logical tradition. For example, he refers to the problem of defining 
> what individual objects are, or of identifying what the thingness of a 
> thing is, but these kinds of problems are really self-inflicted 
> problems inasmuch as they arise from the Western tradition (i.e., 
> since the time of Descartes and British Empiricism) having rejected 
> the categories. Even though the categories of Aristotle – the 
> Predicamentia, as they were called – were not as well defined, or as 
> well argued for, as the padarthas of the Indian tradition were, they 
> had still provided a logical foundation to explain how ‘thingness’ may 
> be apprehended but the rejection of the categories has left the 
> Western tradition – and unfortunately the field of contemporary 
> discourse which follows in the footsteps of the Western tradition – 
> without a foothold to comprehend even basic things like object-hood, 
> etc. If we are to truly draw from the Indian Vedic tradition, we 
> cannot afford to ignore the padarthas which form the bedrock of the 
> Indian logical tradition. In my book, I have included a section (in 
> Chapter 4) on the categories (padarthas), and, in Chapter 8, I have argued from a logic based on the categories to counter the main objections raised against Direct Realism.
>
>
>
> 7.      While Boyer mentions *Logical Positivism* and *Kuhnian revolution*
> in his article, he doesn’t seem to consider the ramifications that the 
> work done by the Logical Positivists and Thomas Kuhn would have on the 
> attempts to incorporate Vedic conceptions in a unified theory of 
> science. Both the Logical Positivists and Kuhn held that the empirical 
> observations of science are theory-laden by the symbolic framework 
> within which scientists operate and that when the basic parameters of 
> the symbolic framework change, it would result in the rise of a new 
> paradigm that would be incommensurable with the old paradigm. 
> According to me, it is naïve to undertake a project to combine Vedic 
> conceptions of the universe with those of science without first 
> ascertaining whether the two paradigms are commensurate with each 
> other. Indeed, in my book (Part II of the book) , I have shown that 
> the scientific experiments conducted to measure the velocity of light 
> with respect to an observer are theory laden with the assumptions of 
> the physicalist framework of science, primarily with the assumption 
> that a measuring instrument is equivalent to an observer, and that the 
> velocity of light measured between an object and the observer is 
> false. The measured velocity of light is actually the velocity of 
> light between one object (the source of light) and another object (the 
> object illuminated by the source of light) and not between an object 
> and the observer as is believed by scientists. I have proposed a new 
> experiment in (Part II of) my book to actually verify whether the observation of an event in space is instantaneous or whether it occurs after a time-lapse.
>
>
>
> 8.      The entire phenomenon of paradigms and the incommensurability
> problem is, according to me, a result of the Western tradition not 
> having a culture of pramanas. I believe there is a good opportunity 
> here for the scholars of the Indian vidyas, especially Nayyayikas, to 
> put the entire framework of science under the lens of scrutiny of a 
> philosophical investigation based on the principles and methods of 
> Nyaya Shastra. I am convinced that if this is done, it will not only 
> give rise to a new discipline – which we may call the Nyaya Philosophy 
> of Science – but also demonstrate that the Indian logical tradition is 
> not dead, that it has the potential to forge new frontiers of knowledge.
>
>
>
> I would have been more comfortable if someone else had provided the 
> comparison between my book and that article, but yours was a 
> reasonable request all the same as it allows me to let the members of 
> this forum know where I am coming from in writing the book. Thank you 
> for showing interest in my book.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Chittaranjan
>
>
>
> On Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 8:01:46 AM UTC+5:30, Deva Pattanayak
> wrote:
> >
> >  The direct realism may be  related to the sixth sense. A tiger is
> lurking
> > around before one actually spots it in a forest.
> > Here is a quote from an article by R.W. Boyer, that I came across 
> > which I have attached for your reference.
> >
> >   "Again, in completely holistic Vedanta all objects and observers 
> > are nothing other than the universal Self. That ultimate reality is 
> > said to
> be
> > directly verifiable in unity consciousness as the simultaneity of 
> > part/whole, reductivism/holism, individual/universal. It is 
> > expressed simply and fully in the Vedic statement: “Aham Brahmasmi 
> > (Brihad-Aranyak Upanishad, 1.4.10)  "
> >
> > How do you view your work in relation with this paper by Boyer? A 
> > brief one page reply will be much appreciated and open up for furthe
> discussions.
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 29, 2019 at 1:32 PM Chittaranjan Naik 
> > <chit... at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> "It would also mean that the finite time taken for light to travel 
> >> from
> a
> >> distant star to our physical eyes is not part of the perceptual 
> >> process
> and
> >> that the physical bodies we possess somehow do not interfere in the 
> >> perceptual process."  This is from Naik_ji 's writing.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I would like to clarify here that this statement was made in the 
> >> context of Direct Realism and what it entails. For the thesis of 
> >> Direct Realism
> to
> >> stand, we would need to posit a theory of perception in which the 
> >> world would be transparently revealed to the percipient, that is, 
> >> without the transforming mechanisms of the gross body interfering 
> >> in the perceptual process.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> It may be noted that the Indian theory of perception offers such a
> model.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Chittaranjan
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Thursday, November 28, 2019 at 10:57:12 PM UTC+5:30, Deva 
> >> Pattanayak
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> "It would also mean that the finite time taken for light to travel 
> >>> from a distant star to our physical eyes is not part of the 
> >>> perceptual
> process
> >>> and that the physical bodies we possess somehow do not interfere 
> >>> in the perceptual process."
> >>> This is from Naik_ji 's writing. This example of delayed 
> >>> perception of star light is not only based on science, but the 
> >>> part that is left out
> that
> >>> the star knew that so many light years later some one will be
> observing the
> >>> light.
> >>> Actually the net perception is a shuttle combination of what has 
> >>> happened in the past as well as what is there to come.
> >>>
> >>> While comparing western philosophy with that of Indian philosophy, 
> >>> it
> is
> >>> perhaps important to bear in mind that in the west  the reigning
> mentality
> >>> is to make a new beginning rather than stay pinned to  many ideas 
> >>> of
> the
> >>> past that are not relevant today  or even true. The winning 
> >>> mentality
> for
> >>> mankind should be that  it is ok  to try new things without 
> >>> invisible strings of the past.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Sat, Nov 2, 2019 at 7:46 PM Hari Kiran <kiran.v... at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Pranaams to all,
> >>>>
> >>>> We are happy to announce the 8th book published by Indic Academy 
> >>>> written by Chittaranjan Naik..
> >>>>
> >>>> Members of the list interested in reviewing the book for 
> >>>> publication
> on
> >>>> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.indictoda
> >>>> y.com&data=02%7C01%7Cbhaskar.yr%40in.abb.com%7C168bbd364a8d4542ac4508d77d20bfdc%7C372ee9e09ce04033a64ac07073a91ecd%7C0%7C0%7C637115451938391802&sdata=SNi7gYxtE4TKu2%2F3VwSZyRtqAPuVikhB4AT8fHS28DE%3D&reserved=0 may please write to us at nam... at indica.org.in and we will send you a review copy.
> >>>>
> >>>> Regards
> >>>>
> >>>> Hari
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.i
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-Venkatesh
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