Internal and External World?

Question

Hello, my name is Prof. C Lawrence Hansson I was born on September 14th, 1963 in London, England. I am a prominent Australian Philosopher whose research centers on Philosophy of the mind. I am currently a Professor of Philosophy and lecture Philosophical Science at one of Queenslands most prestigious Universities. Today I am conducting a survey to see how much the community grasps philosophy. Internal and External World? Is there an internal and external world which we are not acquainted with and why? I would like to hear from anyone, regardless of age, gender or profession.

Answer 1

Is there an internal and external world? Well you be the judge, If i slam a sledge hammer down on your hand is it you or the hand that is hurt? The external is not separate from the internal only thinking makes it so. But they both exist as one there has to be duality in this world for it to exist right? Everything has an opposite hot has cold, life has death, if there is only external then how do you define it without a comparison? Furthermore how do you say I if there is no they? If you are just your body where do your thoughts originate? And a thought is not physical so how do you intend on explaining how it is not physical if there is no internal, thoughts show us there is an internal so that we may delve deeper to see if there is something deeper inside, but here is the key There Must Be A Desire To Know First! You must be PROVOKED. Can you prove there is internal? I say nothing on it instead i ask you to prove the external without the internal. Each thing is a complimentary of the other there are a myriad of complimentaries.

Answer 2

Seems that we have yet to resolve the problem of mind and matter and determine what is the cause of reality -- spiritual consciousness or energy-matter-space-time universal interactions.

So both our internal and external worlds are not fully acquainted and most of the people are willing to work with quasi knowledge of them and side step the finer distinctions.  Letting them slip into a mysterious abyss seems to be more efficient to our physical resources and also less frustrating to our feeble minds.

Answer 3

Hello, I am ... well, never mind. One of the basic principles of rational thought (about the external world) is that you don't have to care who I am to make a judgment regarding what I am saying.

I could be an ignorant toddler, barely able to reach this keyboard. If nonetheless, I type out "Mount Everest reaches an elevation of 29092 feet above sea level," that statement is just as much right or wrong as if it came from a prominent geologist, or Edmund Hillary, or a lecturer at one of Queensland's most prestigious universities.

Suppose I want to know how far above sea level Mount Everest reaches in miles. Ah, since I already have the feet figure, the mile figure is not a matter of measurement, but of computation. The miles figure is almost exactly 5.5. To be precise, it is 5.5 with a remainder of 52 feet. Was that calculation a matter of the "internal" or the "external" world, professor?

Well, in fact I used a paper and a pen. I could have used a calculator, had I had one handy, but I grew up in a generation that didn't yet rely upon electronic contrivances. I could have done it in my head, "internally," had I been a little bit better at these things than I am. But would that have made the truth involved an "internal" one?

I might have gotten myself mixed up with matters of intangibles such as social conventions. It is a convention that there are 5,280 feet in a mile.

But -- here's the biggie -- is it a "convention" that 5280 x 5.5 = 29040. Or is it a "discovery"? and, if the latter, is it a discovery of an external or an internal sort.

Answer 4

State-specific awareness obtains for humans in their lower beta wave and higher gamma wave states.

To know both is scientifically verifiable and methodologically doable.

Iteratation in each, even by biofeedforward, develops two specific inner awarenesses.

Each state is categorizable, and each when properly applied commits no category error of assuming or projecting its awareness onto the other.

A generally similar set of awarenesses is found in clinically split-brain (severed corpus callosum) patients...although the beta and gamma wave states are not in most respects analogous to the left and right brain differences.

Externality is data-processing-based, both consciously and subconsciously (e.g., the effect of gravitation is subconscious knowledge and awareness).

Re such externality, e.g. the world of the honeybee is partially unknown to humans, specifically the ultraviolet spectrum; likewise, higher sounds for bats, smells for dogs, etc.

Re internality, if a person's outer waking awareness is basically centered in the beta wave mode, she has no awareness of higher gamma insight and creativity.  To purify and access same, she might perfect her Vipassana meditation, whose accomplished practitioners are measured to reliably enter into high gamma seconds after beginning their routine.  Jung-Beeman and Kounios (2004) offer some explanation re high gamma creativity re the coordinating activity of the anterior superior temporal gyrus.

Saint Teresa of Avila's "Interior Castle" protocol and Saint John Climacus' "Ladder of Divine Ascent" offer Western Christian approaches toward high gamma mentation, and even beyond.

Henry P. Stapp, Ph.D., in his "The Mindful Universe," offers the basic quantum mechanical proof, of which e.g. Dennett (1991) was unaware, in DD's somewhat psychologistic (i.e., biased) attempt to reduce all mentation to merely kantian 5-sense-processes per physiology.  Stapp notes that, in standard quantum mechanics, a standing wave function (which includes e.g. divine Mind) may decohere (step down, move into particularity) without activating either physical energy or physical matter (mass).  This Mindfulness is presumably what e.g. Saints Teresa of Avila and Tibetan Buddhist Vipassana practitioners encounter, as more coherent levels of inner and finer energies, which have demonstrable results (e.g., telepathic exchanges with "helper Beings," remote viewing a la Swedenborg re the Stockholm fire, and the like).

Answer 5

Internal World vs. External World, eh, Dear Professor?

Well, ahem, one thing that might come to Mind, or the Philosophy thereof (ehe-ehe-ehe), is that a person A may perceive *himself* to be X, Y, and Z while nobody else in the External World perceives person A to be ANY of X, Y, and Z.  Then we have got a little inconsistency, don't we, Respected Professor?

Oh, and conversely, it's entirely likely in this silly world that while person A Internally knows himself to be X, Y, and Z, he has purposefully fooled those External to himself into believing that he is instead neither X, nor Y, nor Z but Q, W, P.  This would all look fancier in Greek letters, I know.  But, I'm not into that fancy-shmancy "professor stuff" now, am I? ;)

Answer 6

Hello, Professor! This is SUCH a great question! Here are my thoughts (followed by some idea of whom I am):

There are indeed internal aspects of the internal world which Cartesian model in epistemology doesn't really seem to express well, primarily that of the subconscious as well as the random flashes of insight that people may not be completely aware they are experiencing. The internal world--one's thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and relationships to others--is hidden behind a cloud of amnesia much of the time, as we forget that which we believe to be important while at the same time acting directly counter to what we know to be right (in an extreme example).

The external world that we perceive--society as a whole and the world around us--also has a hidden dimension, in that people are unlikely to tell us when we are doing something wrong until it passes a certain discomfort threshold for them. It is thus hidden completely from us. We also do not necessarily know what's happening outside the range of our senses. Thus, hidden as well.

This would suggest that indeed, there are aspects of both with which we are unacquainted, yet which undeniably exist because they can be measured. The real question is one of whether or not our internal world's hidden aspects are truly internal, or if they are external because we must rely on an external gauge by which to measure them. Our trust in such a gauge is certainly an internal choice, but by using a gauge, does it negate that which is being gauged as internal and force us to recognize it as external, in spite of its origins?

This is a question I can't answer, and one I've given considerable thought to at times.

My name is Red Heron (a pseudonym which I use to retain my privacy). I was born on August 14th, 1974 in Ogden, Utah. I am neither prominent nor expert in anything, but I have had a wide range of personal experiences in my life, ranging from philosophical through scientific and into the paranormal. As such, I have entered the clergy of my religion, being that it does not discourage actively searching for the truth in all things, even while using partial truths to instruct people in their own searches for truth.

However, earlier this year I had a heart attack (yes, I'm not quite 34 as of this writing). I am therefore on Yahoo Answers because I'm recovering and find it difficult to relax when I have nothing to do. Other than a course in critical thinking, I have never completed any formal philosophical training. What I know comes from online sources, or interactions with other people.

Answer 7

I would think that the internal world is the world as we live it inside of ourselves. I know I do a bunch of crazy things when alone, but people always forget that others do those same things.  Internal worlds are the worlds we see fit to be ours and ours alone, perhaps allowing a few close others to glance upon it rarely.

External worlds, however, are the worlds we maneuver around. The worlds we live in. The worlds our internal structure is attempting to grasp.

I think that would also mean that external worlds are the makeup of many internal ones.

Well, that's my shot at it.

Answer 8

I am Immanuel Kant from Königsberg, Ostpreussen. Deine Frage ist an und für sich BS