Matter and Materiality

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* 1. Consider something "material" (a table, an apple, a teacup etc.) What is the main feature you think characterises it?

Its tangibility.

Its bulkiness and concreteness.

Its colour.

Its usefulness to do something.

Its dimensions and shapes.

Its possibility to be transformed into something else.

None of the above (please specify)

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* 2. Consider the "matter" of something material (a table, an apple, a teacup, etc.). What is the main feature you think characterises it?

Its tangibility.

Its bulkiness and concreteness.

Its colour.

Its usefulness to do something.

Its dimensions and shape.

Its possibility to be transformed into something else.

None of the above (please specify)

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* 3. Let's try a mental experiment. Think of a teacup and abstract all qualifications from it (its colour, shape, clay, chemical composition, etc.). How would you describe what is left?

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* 4. Let's pass to the structure of the universe. Do you think the universe is made of some sort basic stuff, like its bricks or minimal components?

Yes

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* 5. Let's assume that there is some "basic stuff" of the universe (a sort of original matter). What is that matter?

Atoms.

Subatomic particles.

Space.

Energy.

Quantum fields.

Original matter of the universe.

Void.

Darkness.

There is no matter at all.

None of the above (please specify)

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* 6. Consider this shared stuff of which the universe is made. How do you visualise it in you mind, if you think of it?

something bulky and concrete.

something dark.

something airy and vaporous.

something liquid.

something void.

something bright.

something invisible.

something electric.

None of the above (please specify)

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* 7. Please, describe in you own words this mental image of an original matter of the universe.

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* 8. Consider this original matter. What is the main feature you think characterises it?

Its tangibility.

Its bulkiness and concreteness.

Its colour.

Its usefulness to do something.

Its dimensions and shape.

Its possibility to be transformed into something else.

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* 9. In your opinion, what discipline studies what this original or "first" matter of the universe is?

Physics.

Mathematics.

Chemistry.

Philosophy.

Theology.

Meditation.

None of the above (please specify)

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* 10. What procedure you think can be used to gain some positive knowledge about this original matter, if any?

Physical experiments (particle colliders, etc.)

Mathematical calculations.

Thought experiments and mental abstraction.

Analogy with other material compositions.

Religious texts.

No positive knowledge of it can be gained.

None of the above (please specify)