points at the common mistake of viewing special observations as more real than the phenomenological observations.

#5 -
Jonathan Pageau // The Existential Delight Podcast

Existential Delight


PhiloSign
9 days ago
At 6:20 Jonathan says how the solar system is an abstraction, because it cannot be experienced (phenomenologically).

This reminds me how the American logician C.S. Peirce divides scientific observations into two categories:

1) Phenomenological observations (our everyday experience, which is the object of inquiry for philosophy)
2) Special observations (the use of observational instruments like telescopes, through which the observations in sciences like physics or chemistry are done)

Jonathan points at the common mistake of viewing special observations as more real than the phenomenological observations. This is putting the cart before the horse. Namely, even the observation through telescope is embedded in the phenomenological observation. Therefore, the phenomenological observation is primary. There is no way to escape from this fact. That is why we must have a robust understanding of our everyday (phenomenological) experience and perception of the world.
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