Living in the House of the Bat Man

Language philosopher Bry Willis explores the philosophical concept that objective truth is a structural byproduct of language rather than a fundamental reality. Drawing on Thomas Nagel’s work regarding the inaccessible nature of a bat's consciousness, the author argues that humans cannot truly access the inner lives of others, instead relying on social coordination and shared models. This phenomenon is compared to a starling murmuration, where local interactions create the illusion of a single, purposeful entity that does not actually exist as a distinct subject. The source suggests that institutions and moral systems depend on this "statistical person" to function, treating compressed data as a concrete reality. Furthermore, the author posits that secular ideals like Reason and Science have simply filled the grammatical vacancy left by the death of God, acting as new anchors for authority. Ultimately, the text advocates for recognising that our perceived common truth is merely a result of local rules and conventions maintaining social coherence.👉 https://philosophics.blog/2026/06/02/living-in-the-house-of-the-bat-man/