Monism (Agnosticism)

by dhw, Friday, January 04, 2013, 12:36 (4343 days ago) @ David Turell

ROMANSH: Now I happen to think that monism is a better description of the universe than either dualism or pluralism. [...] When science looks at the world it takes on a pragmatic pluralistic stance (I think) while recognizing underneath the world is monistic in nature. Thoughts?-DAVID: I don't know which science starts with your definition of monism. I get all tangled up in these philosophic terms.-So do I. If we argue that the universe is composed of energy, we have monism. But if we argue, as David does, that energy comes "in different forms, as matter and mind", we have dualism. If we argue that there are different forms of matter (or different forms of mind), we have pluralism. The more ...isms we play with, the less clear the picture seems to become. I'm reminded of Osbert Lancaster's comment on John Ruskin, "whose distinction it was to express in prose of incomparable grandeur thought of an unparalleled confusion."