Philosophical Models of Reality and the Cosmos

The Relationship Between Reality and Appearance

This section examines two perspectives on the connection between what is real and what we perceive.

A) Divergence: Reality Differs from Appearance

• Skepticism: We are prisoners of appearance and cannot know authentic reality.

B) Coincidence: Reality Equals Appearance

• Phenomenology: There is nothing more to reality than what appears.

Contributions of the Presocratics

• Trust in reason and the human ability to understand and explain the world.
• The concept of a primary force or substance, even if conceived with a material character.
• A predominantly materialistic conception of the universe, although the idea of a guiding spirit appears.
• The universe is an ordered cosmos, not chaos, which allows for the explanation of its apparent diversity.
• The first brilliant insights into a mechanistic universe.

Newtonian Cosmology

• Heliocentrism: The sun is the center of the solar system.
• Elliptical Orbits: Planets move in elliptical orbits.
• Homogeneity of the Universe: The universe is uniform on a large scale.
• Universal Gravitation: A single law of gravity applies everywhere.
• Infinite Universe: The existence of an infinite and largely empty universe.

Aristotelian Cosmology

• Geocentrism: The Earth is the center of the universe.
• Circularity of Movement: Celestial bodies move in perfect circles.
• Heterogeneity of the Universe: A distinction between the sublunar (terrestrial) and supralunar (celestial) realms.
• Terrestrial Gravity: Heavy objects naturally move towards the center of the Earth.
• Finite Universe: The universe is finite and does not recognize the existence of a void.

Realism vs. Idealism

Realism

This philosophy gives priority to things. It is a natural, spontaneous attitude with confidence in the organs of knowledge.

• It assumes the existence of the world.
• Knowledge is an immediate grasp of the object; things are as they appear.
• The subject has a receptive attitude.
• The real is intelligible in itself.
• One knows things in themselves.

Idealism

This philosophy gives priority to consciousness. It is an artificial, voluntary attitude critical of the organs of knowledge.

• It questions the existence of the external world.
• The immediate object of knowledge are the ideas constructed by the subject.
• The intelligibility of reality comes from the subject.
• We know things through our faculties.

Platonic Cosmology

Plato's model of the cosmos involves several key components that work together to create the ordered world we perceive.

The Demiurge

Order can only come from an ordering intelligence, which Plato calls the Demiurge. The Demiurge is not a creator god but a divine craftsman who expresses the eternal Ideas upon matter.

The Substrate: Matter

The Demiurge's intelligence acts upon a pre-existing, eternal matter. This matter is ordered by the Demiurge according to a model.

The Ideas as Models

The Ideas are necessary as models for the fabrication of the world. Every intelligent being that makes or builds something does so according to a plan, and for the Demiurge, this plan is the realm of eternal Ideas.

Space

A pre-existing empty space also exists, which serves to place and distribute the Demiurge's work.

In summary, the Demiurge is like a "baker" who makes things with the "dough" of matter according to the "mold" of the Ideas.