List, Since my youth I've been interested in what was once called the 'new physics', especially cosmology and quantum theory, from an amateur's standpoint, perhaps beginning in middle school when my older brother, Richard, gave me a book, *The Boy Scientist (A Popular Mechanics Book)* by John Bryan Lewellen (1955). In my reading concerning quantum theory, every once in a while I come across this quotation by Max Planck.
“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” (*The Observer*, January 25, 1931) Planck expanded on this idea in the course of his work. For example, in a 1944 lecture): “There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind -- this mind is the matrix of all matter.” (*“The Nature of Matter”* (Das Wesen der Materie), Florence, 1944) Of course each time I read such quotations I can't help but think of this famous Peirce quotation. "The one intelligible theory of the universe is that of objective idealism, that matter is effete mind, inveterate habits becoming physical laws." CP 6.25 It would appear that both thinkers saw Mind as the ultimate foundation of Reality including, of course, our experience of it, and that matter only makes sense within that framework. In short, both argue that the existence of matter presupposes mind, ". . . the matrix of all matter” as Planck put it. So it would appear that Planck, the so-called 'father of quantum theory', and Peirce, the 'founder of philosophical pragmatism' (and 'founder of semeiotics' -- at least the triadic form of it) both advanced this idea, yet from somewhat different standpoints: Planck from investigations at the forefront of the physics of his time, Peirce from the forefront of investigations into logic as semeiotic. Peirce developed his position via a comprehensive philosophical 'system', incomplete as it may be in certain regards. For him, mind and matter are not separate 'substances' (which is dualism) but, rather, proceed along a continuum, matter appearing as the more fixed, habitual form of mind’s activity, mind being more 'fluid' (while his *semiosic synchecism *allows for the evolution of both and together). To me, Peirce’s view on the matter seems more 'naturalistic' than Planck's as he places the primacy of mind within an evolutionary cosmology, while Planck attributes it to a singular conscious source. As is well known, they both characterized themselves as theists, although it can be argued (and I do mean both pro and con) that each saw God/Mind as a unifying, rational, ordering principle of the cosmos and less the anthropomorphic deity of traditional theology. And both emphasized that science and religion needn't be in conflict, for Planck because he considered that they deal with different aspects of reality: famously, science with the *how *of things, religion with the *why *of them. I'm not sure at the moment how I'd characterize Peirce's position on this matter. Any thoughts there? As I see it, and in a nutshell, for Planck mind/consciousness is an irreducible *point d'origin* that underlies all physical existence. For Peirce it is the ongoing, universal, continuous, semiosic process from which matter forms. Planck’s vision is more reflective, leaning towards personal metaphysical assertions; Peirce’s vision is semiotically structured, mind seen within a more fully developed, detailed, and considerably more systematized account of cosmic development. As always, I'd be interested in what forum members think about any of this matter of Planck and Peirce seeing mind as primary, matter secondary Best, Gary R
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