Originally posted by JS357
Do these two types of existence correspond to body/mind (usually stated as mind/body but I am keeping to your ordering) dualism? If so, the "space" of physical existence is physical space and the space of abstract existence is the mind, which is itself abstract.
Interesting concepts, but no, that is not what I was thinking of. I was not including mind at all at this stage. I am saying that something like 2+2=4 is universally true and may be discovered independently, and was true before ever a human being existed. It is independent of time.
Similarly, the words in this post have meaning that is independent of the various storage mediums that are used between my brain, the computer and eventually all the brains that read my post. The information transmitted surely 'exists', but is not physical.
It would seem that the brain makes decisions and then the mind learns of it.
That is hardly a recent finding, and doesn't really need a 'study'. It is also entirely expected if you actually know much about how the brain works. Although for clarity you should say 'consciousness' not 'mind'. I actually like Sam Harris's discussions of the brain and how the consciousness appears to be in control but isn't.
I do want to get to the brain and how it works, but I wanted to settle the meaning of dualism first. If as you say it is inherently tied to the mind, then maybe my understanding of what dualism means may be wrong.