For the sake of argument you are willing to keep atoms irreducibly, even though in the same reality in which there are no apples there are also no atoms, just quarks and neutrinos and a few 100 other “fundamental” particles.
What do we gain by deciding “for the sake of argument” to deny apples but accept atoms?
We gain simplicity of argument. The “messiness” of atoms is already enough for my argument that apples as discrete entities exist in the mind but not in reality; the reality of quarks, leptons and bosons (perhaps 16-18, rather than a few hundred particles) is even more “messy”, which makes my argument stronger, not weaker, but also more complicated to explain.
For the sake of argument you are willing to keep atoms irreducibly, even though in the same reality in which there are no apples there are also no atoms, just quarks and neutrinos and a few 100 other “fundamental” particles.
What do we gain by deciding “for the sake of argument” to deny apples but accept atoms?
We gain simplicity of argument. The “messiness” of atoms is already enough for my argument that apples as discrete entities exist in the mind but not in reality; the reality of quarks, leptons and bosons (perhaps 16-18, rather than a few hundred particles) is even more “messy”, which makes my argument stronger, not weaker, but also more complicated to explain.