The Importance Of Physics

Knowing one's epistemological limitations does not remove them, and thus one must live without being aware of certain truths.  Even though I cannot know if many of my sensory perceptions are accurate (though the sense of touch does prove that physical matter exists [1]), I must still live in a world of numerous sensory details.  This much is unavoidable as long as one experiences human life.  Indeed, sensory perceptions are a major part of everyday life.  It would be irrational to ignore them or to dismiss them as irrelevant to human existence, even though they are at least partly matters of subjectivity and contingency that logic towers over.

Since the external world, whether certain aspects of it are real or merely perceived (with the perceptions themselves being real), is a world of physical environments and objects, any consistent behaviors of its matter falls under the domain of physics.  The laws of physics are epistemological inferior and metaphysically limited by comparison to the abstract laws of logic, but they are still integral to human life all the same.  The difference is that the perceived laws of physics are useful for little other than satisfying curiosity or enjoying mere practicality.

In other words, beyond learning about one's sensory perceptions without actually knowing to what extent they are accurate and beyond satisfying a subjective sense of interest (as well as clarifying popular misconceptions), convenience is the only serious point to investigating physics.  There is the fact that the laws of physics, however constant or universal they might ultimately be, are what all empirical matters (in the sense of repeatable sensory phenomena) reduce down to in scientific terms, but the inability to prove that the laws of physics we perceive correspond to anything other than our perceptions renders science one of the lowest categories of philosophy.

Still, physics pertains to numerous events we observe every day, with scientific laws like gravity playing integral roles in making the most basic physical activities possible.  The importance of physics in practical sense is that understanding our perceptions of scientific laws can aid in matters of safety, survival, and problem solving (in applicable contexts).  Truths about metaphysics are revealed by reason, but physics provides no small amount of experiential and theoretical subject matter to reason about.

Physics also has numerous practical applications and ramifications for human life.  That some objects and materials slide on certain surfaces more easily than others, withstand the elements more easily than others, or have other particular qualities is of no small relevance to how we live in spite of the epistemological limitations associated with our senses.  Everything from watching leaves fall from trees to starting cars to using electronics is a matter of physics, and some of these things are vital parts of normal life in many modern societies.

Practicality is not an unimportant pursuit as long as one does not exalt it above the more abstract, central parts of philosophy.  Science is not unimportant except when it comes to the core of rationalism, epistemology, and ultimate metaphysics.  Analyzing the explicitly scientific aspects of everyday sensory experiences, as opposed to the rationalistic and existential aspects of them, can provide both objective convenience in performing or understanding certain tasks and subjective satisfaction.  In order to understand the scientific side of daily experience, one must be willing to at least contemplate the most blatant laws of physics that can be observed by anyone at all with functioning senses.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/dreams-and-consciousness.html