Re: Physics is a human construct

["Michael N. Monce" <mnmon@conncoll.edu>]

On Thu, 14 May 1998, Bob Sciamanda wrote:

> Re: your math friend's comment:  When one says that mathematics is a
> human construct he does not thereby imply that we can change the list of
> prime numbers!  Mathematics, like physics, is a human description of
> reality.  It is the description (ie. Mathematics or Physics) which is
> human, not the reality being described.  (I think this is where I depart
> from the postmodernist school,  although I can never stay awake long
> enough to understand such needlessly complicated philosophic ramblings.)


	There is one aspect of this debate that has always puzzled me.
The debate seems to assume that the human mind is somehow disconnected
from the reality, or nature, that it is attempting to describe.  IF one
accepts that the mind is product of complex biochemistry and
electrochemical processes, then, perhaps, the models we think up are
merely a reflection of the actual physical processes.  In other words,
since the mind is a physical process, this may affect the contruction of
the models we come up with to describe physical processes esternal to
ourselves. 


			Mike Monce
			Connecticut College