frank

Yea, I see what you're saying.

Typing on a phone with big fat thumbs

He meant that the two senses of "see" are already in the rules of language, and that this is supposed to support talk of sense-data. "Sense data" is t...

Yes. I think Ayers would say that whether there are two senses or not should be decided empirically. I like that.

Strangely enough, he's doing an argument from ordinary language use. Pared down, he's saying there are two senses of "see." 1. John sees a star. 2. Jo...

Somehow people do regularly distinguish real from unreal, for all practical purposes anyway. It's not merely a logical thing, it's more at the level o...

This is true. What it shows is that in order to live, you have to be irrational.

I have a thing where I lose confidence that the road in front of me will be there when I get to it. I think it's along the lines of OCD. I get through...

I know, they write operas about it. You just have to have tiny ears and they only last about twenty seconds. I was hoping they would dig up an empty b...

I haven't seen any scientists talk about "runaway climate change." I don't even know what that's supposed to be. There are positive and negative feedb...

I've been pondering for years the way the present situation is similar to the world prior to the collapse of the Bronze Age. One expert, Eric Cline, b...

Right. I don't think Austin is arguing with that, although it may seem that some posters in this thread are. He was taking issue with a theory of perc...

I don't think your perception is infallible. LSD is not a "true" hallucinogenic, which means you know at the time that what you're seeing isn't real. ...

You might believe the tree exists because a trusted friend told you so, and on the other hand, your perception might be delivering false information t...

Cool, thanks!

Confucius taught this. They call it "social magic." It starts with rituals, but there is also the performance. Confucius taught that you should learn ...

Yes. It's just that illogical doesn't mean unlikely, or even false. It looked to me that ordinary language was failing us in an ordinary language thre...

Silicon fluffball. Just what you need in a cold autumn day.

Oh good. :up:

It's not illogical. If you think it is, could you show how?

Whatever you may say about brain in vat, it's not illogical, and neither is indirect realism.

If you're contemplating the possibility that you're in the Matrix, you can. It's just a matter of imagination. There's nothing illogical about it. Des...

Ok. :smile:

How would you characterize his metaphysics?

Has anybody here actually read any Ayers?

I agree. I was responding to the view of the folks here on this thread. They think Austin's analysis of speech provides some foundation for something ...

I agree, but we don't learn that from analyzing speech.

I don't think it's a dismissal of Austin to fail to see anything of metaphysical import. I didn't think that was his goal. He can point out features o...

You can't ask if your cell phone is real?

What metaphysical truth do you see in that?

I was just trying to figure out what you were saying.

I really didn't see him as doing that at all. Interesting how differently two people can read the same paragraphs, huh?

I'm not sure what you're saying. Do you mean if everyone believed in God, that would make him real?

I just disagree that there are metaphysical truths we can pull out of the way we speak. It's frequently difficult to even pin point how our speech ref...

So if everyone says "God created the world in six days", would that reflect the mechanics of how the world actually works?

I don't think there are much in the way of metaphysical implications from Austin, do you? He's just pointing out the way we speak.

With the bed of rice, what kind of pillow do you use?

No, this bacteria that evolved in acidic ocean water, survived 2.7 bn years, through all the mass extinctions, including the one where the equator was...

Cyanobacteria can survive in water down to around a pH of 4. As all aquarium owners know, aquatic life forms adapt to changes in pH. What they can't t...

"we're all gonna die" never dies

:up:

I wonder if the "Guns vs. Homicide by state" graph is counting rifles that are used for hunting. That might help explain why increased gun ownership i...

:lol:

Now I'm gonna have to shoot you.

Do you know why they call those little fried corn balls hush puppies?

I agree. The outcome is: the actor is not the action.

Right, so Jim is a set of actions. Not one action.

Just because it's absurd doesn't mean it's not true. Yep, Francine was the result of a dalliance with a servant.

Do you see how there's a numerical problem here? One actor, Jim, performs three different actions: 1. Picking up the garden hose 2. Whacking the baseb...

Likewise the action is just the actor considered abstractly? Except one actor can do a wide range of actions, so you can't narrow it down to just one ...