You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

Moliere

Comments

If that's the conclusion I should draw from what I said, I don't see it as of yet. Meanings aren't related to our capacities, so just because we have ...
December 14, 2016 at 03:34
OK. Then yeah, I certainly misunderstood them. That's fair. I agree. There's the ontological consideration, but also it seems an odd way to talk about...
December 14, 2016 at 03:15
They know what apple means. But maybe they don't know how to define a word, yet. They haven't reached the ability to begin thinking about their words ...
December 14, 2016 at 02:25
If someone uses the word "apple", then they are not defining it. They are demonstrating competence of the language, but they are putting the language ...
December 14, 2016 at 02:10
What were the two different propositions? To my understanding, propositions are generally taken as the content of certain expressions. No? Does the lo...
December 14, 2016 at 01:59
I don't think so. Meaning isn't the same thing as definition, so there's no need to say there are different kinds of meanings just because we define a...
December 14, 2016 at 01:47
Cool. Hold on there. A definition is not a meaning. A definition describes the meaning. When someone uses a word, they are not defining it. They're us...
December 14, 2016 at 01:46
How about both? I'd call the former a descriptive definition, and the latter an ostensive definition. So they are two different definitions of the mea...
December 13, 2016 at 23:40
No worries at all. Please question away -- I'm far from an expert on this subject. I probably know just enough to hurt myself, really ;). True. But th...
December 13, 2016 at 22:44
More just that language isn't something which is institutional, as "consensus" seems to imply to me -- though there are other ways to institute, of co...
December 13, 2016 at 22:41
"Definition" does not refer to consensus usage. The latter I've already assented to. I imagine what's throwing us off is this: But there is a differen...
December 13, 2016 at 12:21
I'm not sure what this is directed at.
December 13, 2016 at 04:07
Well, I don't want to boil semantics down to pragmatics, more than anything. So "attached" just means it's not merely the usage of an utterance which ...
December 13, 2016 at 03:54
This is not my account, but my understanding of your account. Just to be clear.
December 13, 2016 at 03:52
Yeah, as truth-bearers. And it would differ, at least from my understanding of Propositions, because the meaning is attached to utterances -- the exte...
December 12, 2016 at 22:55
It seems to follow from your theory of stipulation -- at least, that's the best interpretation I can come up with, given that meanings are mental/priv...
December 12, 2016 at 22:45
The latter.
December 12, 2016 at 22:38
As in, the whole process of definition relies on truth, so trying to define truth will necessarily result in circularity? Or just a general skepticism...
December 12, 2016 at 22:22
Sorry @"Mongrel" for the divergence. If you think it's not quite applicable, we could move this to another thread. My thought was that "meanings" coul...
December 12, 2016 at 22:21
Sorry I missed that. Off to work atm, but your reliance on "the meanings themselves" looks suspect to me. Will post more later, but that's likely what...
December 12, 2016 at 12:36
Why would you say say that? I mean, if people were rational, then perhaps that'd be the case. But there are people who desire harm, and not just as a ...
December 12, 2016 at 11:34
That argument makes sense to me. But it doesn't seem to answer the question, ya'know? It seems more like an argument for the possibility of answering ...
December 12, 2016 at 11:18
That depends on your definition. :D Stipulative definitions are stipulative. But definitions in the dictionary, at least if we follow the Oxford model...
December 12, 2016 at 11:17
http://hinterlandgames.com/ That's been the game I've played most recently. I have a thing for trying out survival games -- some of them aren't that g...
December 12, 2016 at 11:00
I suppose this is what I'm trying to get at -- your account seems to focus on what we would term are pleasures derived by satisfying needs and wants. ...
December 10, 2016 at 15:01
That makes a good deal of sense to me. Heh. I'm even anti-representaitonal in my thinking on knowledge, it's just that all the alternatives I've read ...
December 10, 2016 at 03:07
It's more or less how I think about truth, yes. But I think I've mentioned elsewhere I find most of the stuff I've read on truth confusing. So I just ...
December 10, 2016 at 02:42
I'd hazard to say that desire is more complicated than needs/wants, especially when needs and wants are imagined along a scale of intensity more than ...
December 09, 2016 at 22:56
A truthmaker is an entity which makes utterances true (or sentences, if you like). A justification is a reason to believe. Justification has precious ...
December 09, 2016 at 22:38
Well, one paper seems to lead to another: http://tedsider.org/papers/temporal_parts.pdf I suppose my initial guess is that I am not my body, but my bo...
December 09, 2016 at 00:01
I started reading this paper last night in response to your inquiry, BC: Quine's Identity, Ostention, and Hypostasis
December 03, 2016 at 11:46
But what if you thought neither? I think that's where the disconnect is. The skeptic doesn't believe either that we are in a dream or that there are i...
December 02, 2016 at 22:54
Granted Aaron R's rendition does say "if I were now dreaming" I've been making a weaker claim, though. A genuine ground for doubting comes about merel...
December 02, 2016 at 22:32
But then I would say you haven't responded to the skeptical argument. The skeptic isn't saying "for all I know I am the only existing entity", even --...
December 02, 2016 at 22:02
I don't think the argument from the OP leads to solipsism. Looking at it again: Support for P2 being that a dream is not distinguishable from existenc...
December 02, 2016 at 12:28
I suppose that would depend on how we cash out the terms "grounds for doubt" -- it would seem strange, I think, if a skeptic claimed to know, and on t...
December 02, 2016 at 04:10
I used to argue exactly this, but I think it's a mistake in reasoning. We can distinguish between dream and reality, but what this does not do is prov...
December 02, 2016 at 04:05
I wonder if this is something the dream argument needs to work. On the surface I would say no. Supposing there is no ontological dichotomy between min...
December 02, 2016 at 04:01
Not only is it ok, it's what I'd expect of a rational person. :D Indeed, wouldn't it actually be kind of irrational (just in the common use of the wor...
November 29, 2016 at 02:43
I think it depends on whether said meta-physician admits to having argued this or that based on, in some way, taste. There is nothing wrong with utili...
November 28, 2016 at 22:25
I suppose I would question your "considering that raw experience" line, first and foremost. But under the presumption -- I would say that epistemology...
November 26, 2016 at 15:56
Yes, that makes sense to me. From the brief description I don't find myself able to really grasp what he means by love-anger, myself -- but the other ...
November 20, 2016 at 23:15
In: Work  — view comment
I hate work. It's something I must do. And I've had a lot of jobs of various degrees of cool and suck, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter wha...
November 20, 2016 at 22:34
I tend towards the view that desire is primary and is productive, and lack is secondary. Lack comes about because the object of desire has been produc...
November 20, 2016 at 00:40
Seems to me to begin with desire. We don't even need continuity of self. Wanting something now is enough.
November 18, 2016 at 23:50
I would put it like this -- the view of materialism is one view which is compatible with absurdism, given certain perimeters to that materialism (such...
November 18, 2016 at 23:36
I tend to think of Nietzsche as a pragmatist on truth (if we had to place him in a category, at least). That which is true is that which is useful, mo...
November 18, 2016 at 23:03
Not necessarily, of course. There are things one let's go. But belittling someone or some condition strikes me as the sort of thing which people shoul...
November 16, 2016 at 21:07
How does that square away with this:
November 16, 2016 at 20:36
if it's any consolation, I'm still an American, even if I might contribute to the sentiments so referenced.
November 16, 2016 at 05:38