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Full Idea
I believe that common sense is right in regarding what we see as physical and (in one of several possible senses) outside the mind, but is probably wrong in supposing that it continues to exist when we are no longer looking at it.
Gist of Idea
Visible things are physical and external, but only exist when viewed
Source
Bertrand Russell (The Ultimate Constituents of Matter [1915], p.123)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Mysticism and Logic' [Unwin 1989], p.123
A Reaction
This remark (in 1915) is a bit startling from a philosopher well known for his robustly realist stance. Just one of his phases! It seems very counterintuitive - that objects really exist externally, but only when viewed. Schrödinger's Cat?
7545 | Visible things are physical and external, but only exist when viewed [Russell] |
7546 | A man is a succession of momentary men, bound by continuity and causation [Russell] |
7547 | Matter requires a division into time-corpuscles as well as space-corpuscles [Russell] |
7548 | Classes, grouped by a convenient property, are logical constructions [Russell] |
7549 | If my body literally lost its mind, the object seen when I see a flash would still exist [Russell] |
7550 | We could probably, in principle, infer minds from brains, and brains from minds [Russell] |
7551 | Matter is a logical construction [Russell] |
7552 | Six dimensions are needed for a particular, three within its own space, and three to locate that space [Russell] |
7553 | Sense-data are purely physical [Russell] |