Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained?
- YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
- New Trial Member
- Posts: 0
- Joined: January 15th, 2016, 8:28 pm
Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained?
And i don't mean that it can't be explained by the lack of information.
I have adapted the belief that everything has an explanation, but i'd like to know if there's a thing that can't be explained.
I prefer something small.
I have adapted the belief that everything has an explanation, but i'd like to know if there's a thing that can't be explained.
I prefer something small.
- BelieveNothing
- Posts: 103
- Joined: January 24th, 2013, 6:17 am
- Location: 2nd cloud from the right
- Contact:
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
There are no final answers, there are only questions.
Brevity is good but I for one can't explain your faith.
Brevity is good but I for one can't explain your faith.
Reality is not all in your mind.
- Scribbler60
- Posts: 176
- Joined: December 17th, 2015, 11:48 am
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
The true position of an electron around a nucleus of an atom.YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY wrote:And i don't mean that it can't be explained by the lack of information.
I have adapted the belief that everything has an explanation, but i'd like to know if there's a thing that can't be explained.
I prefer something small.
That, apparently, is something that can only be measured as a set of probabilities, not an actual point in 3-dimensional space.
I encourage physicists to chime in on this one if I have it wrong.
- BelieveNothing
- Posts: 103
- Joined: January 24th, 2013, 6:17 am
- Location: 2nd cloud from the right
- Contact:
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
I'm sorry, but I think "measured as a set of probabilities" is a good explanation, so what exactly are you saying can't be explained? Granted some things might be unknowable in simple terms but its likely that all true explanations are inevitable. No?Scribbler60 wrote: The true position of an electron around a nucleus of an atom.
That, apparently, is something that can only be measured as a set of probabilities, not an actual point in 3-dimensional space.
I encourage physicists to chime in on this one if I have it wrong.
-- Updated February 7th, 2016, 3:42 pm to add the following --
I guess explanations can defy logic.
Reality is not all in your mind.
- ThamiorTheThinker
- Moderator
- Posts: 281
- Joined: October 21st, 2015, 9:07 pm
- Favorite Philosopher: Yoda
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
Define "small", then I'll try to think of something that can't be explained.YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY wrote:And i don't mean that it can't be explained by the lack of information.
I have adapted the belief that everything has an explanation, but i'd like to know if there's a thing that can't be explained.
I prefer something small.
- Greta
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6466
- Joined: December 16th, 2013, 9:05 pm
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
I cannot truly communicate how it feels to be me. I cannot describe all my attributes and internal sensations, although theoretically I could cover much of the ineffable with math. Yet even if my communication was perfect, the interpretation of my words would vary.
In a sense we each live in a bubble, a self contained universe, and never the twain shall (quite) meet.
In a sense we each live in a bubble, a self contained universe, and never the twain shall (quite) meet.
This space left intentionally blank.
- ThamiorTheThinker
- Moderator
- Posts: 281
- Joined: October 21st, 2015, 9:07 pm
- Favorite Philosopher: Yoda
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
Also, I would like to know if you are wondering whether or not a higher-dimensional being - or any being which has access to a perspective we cannot have by our nature - can explain a concept, idea or abstract object. This is vital to the outcome of this discussion, for if we don't define what is doing the explaining, we can't provide a comprehensive answer to your question.ThamiorTheThinker wrote:Define "small", then I'll try to think of something that can't be explained.YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY wrote:And i don't mean that it can't be explained by the lack of information.
I have adapted the belief that everything has an explanation, but i'd like to know if there's a thing that can't be explained.
I prefer something small.
Likewise for the inquiry of " what is meant by 'explain'? ". Does explanation require internal comprehension, i.e., must the explainer/interpreter be able to understand and relate to the concept or thing it is explaining?
- Venividivici
- New Trial Member
- Posts: 7
- Joined: March 17th, 2016, 10:21 pm
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
The origin of gravity
-
- Posts: 2039
- Joined: February 27th, 2016, 3:10 am
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
Language is neither big or small. I cannot touch it yet it resides in all of us. It is the very thing that allows yoy to ask the question you have and the very thing behind every communicable thought. It cuts us off from everyone and allows us to create knowledge.
I exist be cuase of language. Without language there is no "I".
Does that fit the bill or is it too "literal"?
I exist be cuase of language. Without language there is no "I".
Does that fit the bill or is it too "literal"?
AKA badgerjelly
- LuckyR
- Posts: 2615
- Joined: January 18th, 2015, 1:16 am
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
Please explain to me what the weather is going to be tomorrow.
"As usual... it depends."
- Poiesis
- New Trial Member
- Posts: 0
- Joined: May 10th, 2016, 10:45 am
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
I would think that if we're searching for something that can't be explained it would need to be something that is beyond both our capacity and ability to explain.
If we're wondering whether or not the true position of an electron around a nucleus of an atom could be explained, for example, we have to consider that there are combinations of words and phrases that can explain this. Perhaps we don't know of what those exact words and phrases might be, but it still means that it can be explained.
What we'd then be looking for is something beyond representation. Something that could not be explained by any proxy that is a word or number, or other representation.
The representation does the explaining (or, perhaps, illustrating) but it doesn't point us to what is beyond what it represents. Perhaps there isn't anything at all.
If we're wondering whether or not the true position of an electron around a nucleus of an atom could be explained, for example, we have to consider that there are combinations of words and phrases that can explain this. Perhaps we don't know of what those exact words and phrases might be, but it still means that it can be explained.
What we'd then be looking for is something beyond representation. Something that could not be explained by any proxy that is a word or number, or other representation.
The representation does the explaining (or, perhaps, illustrating) but it doesn't point us to what is beyond what it represents. Perhaps there isn't anything at all.
- ThamiorTheThinker
- Moderator
- Posts: 281
- Joined: October 21st, 2015, 9:07 pm
- Favorite Philosopher: Yoda
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
I like your use of the phrase "that could not be explained by any proxy". Nietzsche would agree that language and semantics are games of metaphor and representation. Words, he thought, are not meant to reveal realities, but rather to translate them.Poiesis wrote:I would think that if we're searching for something that can't be explained it would need to be something that is beyond both our capacity and ability to explain.
If we're wondering whether or not the true position of an electron around a nucleus of an atom could be explained, for example, we have to consider that there are combinations of words and phrases that can explain this. Perhaps we don't know of what those exact words and phrases might be, but it still means that it can be explained.
What we'd then be looking for is something beyond representation. Something that could not be explained by any proxy that is a word or number, or other representation.
The representation does the explaining (or, perhaps, illustrating) but it doesn't point us to what is beyond what it represents. Perhaps there isn't anything at all.
-
- Posts: 4662
- Joined: June 15th, 2011, 5:53 pm
- Favorite Philosopher: Eratosthenes
- Location: UK
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
The mental mechanism by which things are explained.i'd like to know if there's a thing that can't be explained.
"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea." - Eric Cantona.
- Rr6
- Posts: 1034
- Joined: April 5th, 2015, 2:20 pm
- Favorite Philosopher: R. Bucky Fuller
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
Ultra-micro gravity ergo mass-attraction i.e. no one knows why mass attracts, only that if it did not, Universe would not exist.
The egg inverts to create the spinal chord. Why does the genetics of egg invert?
Mass-attracts INward towards other mass. Maybe it has to do with some aspect of spin, that two masses share.
r6
The egg inverts to create the spinal chord. Why does the genetics of egg invert?
Mass-attracts INward towards other mass. Maybe it has to do with some aspect of spin, that two masses share.
r6
"U"niverse > UniVerse > universe > I-verse < you-verse < we-verse < them-verse
- Mugglegum
- New Trial Member
- Posts: 12
- Joined: September 12th, 2016, 2:20 pm
Re: Is there anything (small or big) that CAN'T be explained
LIGHT
It starts as a carrier wave for energy; ie from the sun to its planets. Once it is stripped of energy, it carries on in a straight line forever.
It has no;
Dimentions.
Energy.
Diffuses in an atmosphere.
Reflects when it strikes a mass.
Carries information from its source.
When we walk along a path next to a body of water, we see the light from the moon reflected from the water, this path follows us as we walk on.
Can anyone explain what it is compose of, and how it travels billions of light years through space.
It starts as a carrier wave for energy; ie from the sun to its planets. Once it is stripped of energy, it carries on in a straight line forever.
It has no;
Dimentions.
Energy.
Diffuses in an atmosphere.
Reflects when it strikes a mass.
Carries information from its source.
When we walk along a path next to a body of water, we see the light from the moon reflected from the water, this path follows us as we walk on.
Can anyone explain what it is compose of, and how it travels billions of light years through space.