Fundamental Concepts Analysis

"The aspect of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. The real foundations of his enquiry do not strike a man at all." - Wittgenstein

Modern scientific models are largely predictive rather than explanatory. This programme will enumerate the most basic concepts, observations and logical inferences required to derive the current 'best in class' world view. By considering the meaningfulness and inter-relationships of the concepts involved, we hope to find a more explanatory version of these models. Through this process, we aim to derive a clearer understanding of the fundamental concepts in physics and philosophy (e.g. time, matter, space, consciousness).

It is a significant philosophical challenge to clarify our fundamental concepts and determine the relationships between them, but from the work we have done so far it seems not only do-able but fundamentally valuable. As an example of this utility, we can argue that from the fact that we experience the world in terms of complex persistent structures that there must be persistent rules that determine the properties of the fundamental elements from which the structures of experience arise; from this we can infer that there are ultimate answers to the fundamental questions, and that absolute truths exist.

In doing such work we are following in the tradition established by a long line of innovative philosophers and scientists, including Descartes ("I should consider that I know nothing about physics if I were able to explain only how things might be, and were unable to demonstrate that they could not be otherwise. "), Eddington ("...all the laws of nature that are usually classified as fundamental can be foreseen wholly from epistemological considerations...") and Feng Yulan ("...I have in my Hsin Li-hsueh deduced all the metaphysical ideas and concepts of Chinese philosophy as logical implications of the statement that something exists...").