Q&A: Syntheticity
Syntheticity
Question
Can the Rabbi point me to articles in which you discuss / prove that all of our basic assumptions are founded on intuition, and not, for example, on the facts that we see or feel through touch or sight or logic?
Thank you
Answer
I don’t have any. See the books Two Carts and Truth and Not Stable. This is self-evident and doesn’t require any discussion.
Discussion on Answer
Intuitions are based on the basic assumptions, not the other way around.
The basic assumptions are based on “concepts,” which are emotional-perceptual structures formed in a very complex way by primary processes that we are not aware of.
First, there is an assumption here that sight (and the senses in general) reliably reflects reality. Beyond that, the main claim is about generalizations (all laws of nature are generalizations, and as such none of them is a product of observation).
That’s exactly what I want to understand—why should I say that the assumption that the senses reliably reflect reality is a mistaken assumption?
Who said it’s a mistaken assumption? It’s an assumption that has no empirical basis; rather, it is an assumption of reason (intuition).
Oh, I understand.
Thank you
Sorry for my ignorance. To me it isn’t so self-evident. I want to understand: when I see a cup and touch a cup, for example, I know there’s a cup here by virtue of sight, etc. Where and why do I need to arrive at intuition? After all, if I see it or touch it, it must be here and exist, no?