Emy wrote:
How is an understanding of the results of acting on your volitions not an increment of understanding of the universe? Your volitions, actions, and the results of acting on your volitions are all encompassed by the universe.
Well, yes, technically this is true. However, I'm not actually understanding the results of my action
per se, I'm simply understanding the way my mind interprets the results of my actions. I know that if I act upon a certain volition, I will experience certain sensations. My basic point is that all understanding is confined to understanding of the self and how one's own mind works; knowledge beyond that is impossible. All we have to work with are our own thoughts and sensations, and all we have to analyze is how our mind organizes and interprets these sensations. In some ways, science (and maybe even logic itself) could be considered a specialized subset of psychology.
At any rate, it's not a question of actual understanding. We start with a bunch of "if->then" statements taken from experience, and generalize these into intellectual models. The models themselves are simply shorthand ways of conceptualizing a group of related "if->then" statements, some of which we can then test to further validate the model. At no point does "reality" ever enter the picture. I think the only way we'd be able to effectively salvage the concept of "truth" is if we simply consider it a synonym for "model that is effective", leaving out any mention of ultimately nonsensical concepts like "reality" and "objectivity".