An elementary proposition of Machism. Mach, in earlier times, claimed that the world is made up of sensations. To disguise the bold subjective and idealist point of view, he put forward the concept of “elements”. “Elements” according to him are subjective sensations of human beings, including color, sound, smell and heat. To disguise this, he classified elements as both physical and psychological. For example, when people notice the dependence relation between color and the source of light, color becomes physical. The connection of color with light is a problem of physics, and that of color with retina is a problem of physiology. Color is a physical element when connected to light and becomes psychological when connected to retina. According to Mach, physical and psychological elements are both interconnected, and are sensations. Mach, here, described sensations as “elements” to claim that his theory was a “new theory” beyond idealism and materialism…
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