The Paradox of Reality - SL#7

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In today’s letter, instead of the typical “story, lesson, and resolution” framework, I want to ask you a question.

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Most of the content we consume is convergent, but what a tragedy, because our brain grows more when exposed to questions.

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In 1781, Kant introduced the idea of Transcendental Idealism in his Critique of Pure Reason.

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He argued that we can only know phenomena (our subjective experience of the world) but never noumenon (reality as it is in itself).

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But this observation raised a question: What, then, is noumenon?

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Twenty-six years later, in 1807, Hegel published his Phenomenology of Spirit, responding to Kant. He rejected the idea that we can’t reach the noumenon and instead argued that reality is rational and knowable. He saw reality as Geist itself.

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Geist is a German word that carries the meanings of ghost, spirit, and mind.

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Thus suggesting that the objective world is not hidden forever, but Geist itself becoming self-conscious through us.

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This is the context for today’s question, one of the most feared in philosophy, neuroscience, physics and beyond:

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Does mind create matter, or matter create mind?

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All the best,

Hugo Ares,
Student of life.

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