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TheMadFool

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Firstly, this world and this life we're living are such that we can't discern whether we're actual human beings or brains in vats. Call the experience...
August 17, 2020 at 00:10
I have a feeling this is not the nothing that creatio ex nihilo or ex nihilo nihil fit is referring to. What is something, here being contrasted with ...
August 16, 2020 at 17:12
It's entirely possible that the ability to doubt exists for no rhyme or reason but the way it has persisted in us must mean that it's useful in some w...
August 16, 2020 at 13:43
That describes doubt but doesn't explain its existence.
August 16, 2020 at 11:08
As I understand it, PB states that there are only two (bivalence) truth values viz. true and false and the LEM states that (p v ~p) which simply means...
August 16, 2020 at 09:51
What is nothing then? Even so, something would be impossible without nothing. Think of it...without nothing in which something can be placed, there wo...
August 16, 2020 at 09:27
Define brainwaves.
August 16, 2020 at 09:18
Yes, but suppose the world appears as it really is. Is there cause for doubt? In the transition from stranger to acquaintance to good friend a concomi...
August 16, 2020 at 09:17
That's one of the things that should keep us up at night. Skepticism is, quite literally, as essential as the air we breathe but then once reason step...
August 15, 2020 at 17:15
These other "methods" you mention still leave room for doubt, quite unlike the clout reason has in matters doubtful. Once reason settles a matter, the...
August 15, 2020 at 14:09
I know your views on such issues from your previous posts - don't have a name for it though. Anti-reductionism is how I would characterize your positi...
August 15, 2020 at 11:35
Thanks for the link :up: How do you suppose doubt began? To me, it's as basic to the mind as the cough reflex is to the body - it's part of our defens...
August 15, 2020 at 10:49
Going out on a limb here but I think the OP isn't about invidivual freedom vs state control as much as it's about exposing the cognitive dissonance lu...
August 15, 2020 at 07:38
Read above
August 15, 2020 at 07:08
The mind could be the brain so no issue there with physicalism. However, thoughts are evidently very different to brains - we can't touch them, we can...
August 15, 2020 at 07:07
@"apokrisis"@"Pantagruel"
August 14, 2020 at 05:48
@"apokrisis"@"Pantagruel" What about the contradiction if one opts for skepticism? 1. If I know The Problem Of The Criterion then I know I can know no...
August 14, 2020 at 05:33
Please understand the following 1. Given a scientific theory T, a prediction is made, say P. In other words : If T then P = T -> P 2. Observing P is c...
August 14, 2020 at 05:15
Agreed!
August 14, 2020 at 05:09
Well, that's true about particular individuals but surely you won't deny that knowing The Problem Of The Criterion involves, in terms of justified tru...
August 14, 2020 at 05:08
You mean to say that Carl Linnaeus knew, beforehand, what mammals/birds/reptiles/amphibians are? But the characteristic defining qualities (the criter...
August 13, 2020 at 17:57
Sincerest apologies but there really isn't anything you can say against contraposition or modus tollens in re its application in the scientific method...
August 13, 2020 at 17:28
@"Mww"@"Pantagruel"@"apokrisis"@"Outlander" For your kind consideration: The father of taxonomy Carl Linnaeus may have something to offer by way of a ...
August 13, 2020 at 16:01
Vague
August 13, 2020 at 13:46
1. What is the criterion of knowledge/truth you/we are using here? 2. Does The Problem Of The Criterion make sense to you? Let me have a go... Setting...
August 13, 2020 at 13:42
Yes. Go on...
August 13, 2020 at 13:25
Self-validation. Ok. I can go with that but what I want to know is does The Problem Of The Criterion make sense to you? It can only make sense to you ...
August 13, 2020 at 12:59
:lol: Thanks
August 13, 2020 at 12:52
This is what's intriguing because in math there's complete freedom - there is no necessity except that of logic - and we may begin with axioms that co...
August 13, 2020 at 12:29
It's possible that I've misunderstood. I'm interested in knowing where exactly I or others could've misconstrued Chisholm? Which parts of the above qu...
August 13, 2020 at 12:01
Well, I'm only guessing here but if you must talk about animals, notice that what they know we can know in terms of propositions e.g. wildebeest know ...
August 13, 2020 at 11:55
Please read this
August 13, 2020 at 11:32
See above.
August 13, 2020 at 11:27
@"apokrisis"@"Pantagruel" First things first. The three of us are operating under some criterion of knowledge/truth and I daresay it is exactly the sa...
August 13, 2020 at 11:26
The Problem Of The Criterion does the exact opposite I'm afraid - show you that it's impossible to know. That's where things get a little hairy - for ...
August 13, 2020 at 11:16
That's not what I said. There was, had to be, a criterion. How else would you know a proposition is true/false? We just didn't make that explicit for ...
August 13, 2020 at 11:12
Do you know that "...it is impossible to know it is true"? Since you have what you call a pragmatic criterion for truth, you must realize that it's se...
August 13, 2020 at 11:04
Not so. People were logical before Aristotle developed formal logic. However, that doesn't mean the principles of logic were different before and afte...
August 13, 2020 at 10:49
Are you thinking about something right now? Of course you are. Kindly quantify whatever it is that you're thinking about? Note that I'm not denying th...
August 13, 2020 at 10:11
Knowledge and truth are judgements - they need a criterion.
August 13, 2020 at 10:06
Ok. How do you know that this criterion for truth is correct? Methinks being pragmatic is just a cop out, another way of avoiding The Problem Of The C...
August 13, 2020 at 10:06
I'd like to contextualize this question not intraspecies, as comparative conduct within the human family, but interspecies, as comparative behavior be...
August 13, 2020 at 09:52
Thanks but I suppose you were being sarcastic. :smile:
August 13, 2020 at 08:16
Well, are you saying the natural deduction rules contraposition and modus tollens are wrong? :chin: Contraposition 1. P -> Q 2. ~Q -> ~P....1 Contrapo...
August 13, 2020 at 08:15
Yes, truth is different to knowledge but the point is truth precedes knowledge in the sense that before one can claim to have knowledge, truths must e...
August 13, 2020 at 07:15
Ok. I'd like you to have a look at the preceding post. I'll get back to the point made in your reply in a while.
August 13, 2020 at 07:11
To All: Roderick Chisholm's account of The Problem Of The Criterion 1. Go for Particularism i.e. answer question 1 first. We assume some propositions ...
August 13, 2020 at 07:08
Pragmatic, ok, but you still need a criterion for truth/knowledge.
August 13, 2020 at 06:52
Many truth claims. What criterion of truth are you using?
August 13, 2020 at 06:29
Why?
August 13, 2020 at 06:24