Voyage through philosophers-1

Bro. Joseph Ettolil

III  Philosophy

Thales visits CERN…

Confused with the question of one and many, Thales of Miletus, the pioneer of Western thought, gave an answer that water was the fundamental principle of everything seen in the cosmos. Water, which can exist in all different states of matter and which is also the principle of life in the living organisms, is the one principle behind the visible plurality. He conceived earth as superimposed on water. After Thales, many have addressed this problem. Some regarded material stuff, air, fire etc. as the ultimate explanation. It will be of great interest to guess what Thales would have answered to the same question if he were living today. From the most primitive conception of earth as a flat body floating over water, we have now come to an age where we conceive earth as a tiny piece which belongs to larger systems such as Solar system, Milky Way, Galaxy, cluster of galaxies, universe and probably a multiverse. With the scientific knowledge of today, he would never have regarded water as the fundamental principle of the universe.

If Thales were living in this age, he could have given a more scientific outlook in to this age old problem. He could have given an answer relying on the Standard model of the universe. He could have said that Quarks, Mesons or Leptons are the fundamental building blocks of the universe. But having in mind the developments in the field of Quantum mechanics he could have been in a dilemma whether the answer to the question shall be said basing on material reality or energy, since they are interchangeable. A grasp in to the fact that almost 96 % of the existing reality, which are in the forms of dark energy and dark matter, is unexplainable would have made him panic. Knowledge of dark matter and dark energy could have persuaded him to reformulate his question to be as ‘whether the observable or dark reality is the fundamental reality?’ Therefore the dilemma before the philosopher of the modern era is to find an answer to the question proposed by the modern science. Is it ever possible for a material reality (whether it be water, air, quark, leptons etc.) to be the fundamental principle of the 4% visible reality? (Since 96% is composed of dark matter and energy) Or what is that God Particle that lies behind everything- seen and unseen?