Monism vs. Dualism
Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Dualism: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05169a.htm
and on Monism: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10483a.htm
This is a slippery subject because of all the ambiguities. I only want to make one point today.
Well, several:
On the other hand, if there is only one kind of thing, one original substance of which all things are made, then how can there be any distinctions between anything and anything else? Stuff, meet Stuff. He lives over there next to Stuff.
With this in mind let's take a look at physics--specifically electrons. You cannot carve your initials into an electron to make it different from all other electrons. Quantum mechanics tells us that if you swap or interchange two electrons, the resulting universe is exactly the same...except that the phase is multiplied by -1. Well, never mind that bit. Swap two pairs and the universe is exactly the same as it was before you did any swapping, is my point. So electrons are sort of monistic in the sense that they are all identical. You could say there is only one electron, repeated many times (and going backward in time in the case of positrons). But at the same time, because we have these wonderful things called time and space, these electrons can be distinguished from each other by their locations.
Now that's deep.
2. Monotheism and dualism don't mix very well. If you say that: (1) YHVH is all-powerful, (2) YHVH is good, (3) YHVH created the rest of the universe (i.e. the parts that are not YHVH), (4) YHVH is the only creator, (5) evil exists, (6) YHVH doesn't like evil, (7) YHVH doesn't create what YHVH doesn't like, then I think we have a contradiction.
I thought I had more to say about that but right now I can't express it. I imagined taking a sheet of paper, which represents the universe, and drawing lines down the middle to represent such dualisms as Good vs. Evil and Heaven vs. Earth. I imagined showing that there's no way to do that consistently with all the usual assumptions. But the logic of it now escapes me. I believe that the attempt to mix monotheism and dualism is also called "the problem of evil."
If anybody makes comments on any of this, quite likely they will be talking about something completely different from what I had in mind. That's what I get for writing a few paragraphs instead of a book.
and on Monism: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10483a.htm
This is a slippery subject because of all the ambiguities. I only want to make one point today.
Well, several:
- Neither monism nor dualism can be right.
- Monotheism and dualism don't mix.
On the other hand, if there is only one kind of thing, one original substance of which all things are made, then how can there be any distinctions between anything and anything else? Stuff, meet Stuff. He lives over there next to Stuff.
With this in mind let's take a look at physics--specifically electrons. You cannot carve your initials into an electron to make it different from all other electrons. Quantum mechanics tells us that if you swap or interchange two electrons, the resulting universe is exactly the same...except that the phase is multiplied by -1. Well, never mind that bit. Swap two pairs and the universe is exactly the same as it was before you did any swapping, is my point. So electrons are sort of monistic in the sense that they are all identical. You could say there is only one electron, repeated many times (and going backward in time in the case of positrons). But at the same time, because we have these wonderful things called time and space, these electrons can be distinguished from each other by their locations.
Now that's deep.
2. Monotheism and dualism don't mix very well. If you say that: (1) YHVH is all-powerful, (2) YHVH is good, (3) YHVH created the rest of the universe (i.e. the parts that are not YHVH), (4) YHVH is the only creator, (5) evil exists, (6) YHVH doesn't like evil, (7) YHVH doesn't create what YHVH doesn't like, then I think we have a contradiction.
I thought I had more to say about that but right now I can't express it. I imagined taking a sheet of paper, which represents the universe, and drawing lines down the middle to represent such dualisms as Good vs. Evil and Heaven vs. Earth. I imagined showing that there's no way to do that consistently with all the usual assumptions. But the logic of it now escapes me. I believe that the attempt to mix monotheism and dualism is also called "the problem of evil."
If anybody makes comments on any of this, quite likely they will be talking about something completely different from what I had in mind. That's what I get for writing a few paragraphs instead of a book.
posted by Rod Schmidt at 9:23 PM
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