frank

In that quote I think he's saying that when we turn the dialectic on itself we find that the synthesis (unity) is dependent on its negation: the disun...

:grin: Yes, I think that's what @"Pierre-Normand" was pointing out about my pillow example:

Hmm

When he's panicking, he definitely thinks the snake is dangerous. Other times, he may know the fear is irrational. He may even be a little baffled tha...

If Bob has an irrational fear of snakes, does he believe snakes are dangerous?

I can say that Obama might be a robot, but I can't say that Obama could have been a robot. Doesn't that show that the properties of the rigid designat...

:up:

I see what you're saying. So with that in mind, @"J" is right that I can't become Obama because there would be a conflict in necessary properties of m...

I think so, yes.

Right. Once I've picked out an object from the actual world, though many of its properties might be contingent, for my purposes they're essential to t...

I see what you're saying. There are definitely situations where concise, unambiguous language is required, like in the repair instructions for a space...

Science fiction is fraught with disembodied minds being transferred around, like an uploaded version of a person subsequently downloaded to a clone an...

Why do you say that's the real question? When Kripke says Nixon could have lost the election, would you say we need to know why he would say that? Wha...

It wasn't ad hoc. It's what I was thinking about from the beginning of our discussion. I really don't know how the world works. I normally think about...

Cool, so I'll give an explanation for why Kripke might be ok with the proposition that I could have been Obama. There are a couple of options for how ...

This isn't about necessity in general. It's that when I pick an object, like the pillow with the red button, I'm only looking at possible worlds where...

That's what Kripke is describing here in lecture 2: @"J" Would you agree that #6 of the theses explains how an object obtains necessary properties? It...

While looking for an online copy of N&N I can copy from, I came across this paragraph from lecture 3. It touches on the question of whether Kripke was...

I guess the wildcard is how you pick yourself out in (or at) possible worlds. If you identify yourself as the person with particular parents, then you...

I take him to be assessing the way a person normally comes up in conversation. He's analyzing the way we think and speak, not revealing necessity in t...

I don't think I'm contradicting Kripke. He would agree that essential properties are chosen in context, right? One could refer to an Obama who has cer...

The composition is a little barren, as if this food was served right before a virus wiped out the human population, leaving no one behind but a few ph...

I think you're insisting that a person who didn't have your history, parents, DNA, can't be you. That's a choice regarding essential properties. It's ...

If you're at the Overlook Hotel and you see people who shouldn't be there, you should question whether you're hallucinating.

There's a passage somewhere in the Old Testament that says there's no knowledge in the grave. Knowledge is about living, it's part of living, and that...

But riding a bike is partly a matter of muscle memory. I don't see how the knowledge that Tully wrote X is something about the body. It seems to be ab...

Knows is an intensional operator. That knowledge has this intensional aspect puts weight to the idea that knowledge is about a relationship between a ...

Aspirin makes the world disappear.

What's wrong with saying knowledge is a relationship between a knower and a proposition?

:up: Essence is the unchanging core of an object, the idea. Appearance is the transient expression of the core, alive in time, like music, unfolding o...

Imagine a point when there is unrest among the people, perhaps people in Chinese cities who aren't receiving public support because they have left the...

:grin:

This is the issue Kripke was addressing, yes.

You have candidates who were in charge of various provinces, and each is evaluated in terms of meeting public demands. The winner is chosen as the sup...

She lost the election, yes.

He eliminated himself. He decided not to run.

Could be. I think I could define myself Cartesian style, so I'm just conscious of various things. Combine that with a very fluid sense of identity and...

Ok. I was trying to explain that we don't eliminate people just because they fail. Failing is a valuable source of knowledge. A leader could become sm...

Rigid designation is just about capturing the way that we think, especially about alternate histories. Imagine I tell you that if Hitler had been acce...

Nevertheless, the problem you found is only associated with your own contrived system. The problem does not arise in electoral systems in general.

I disagree that it's misguided. It's true that one tends to live with unquestioning certainty, but doubt about foundations also arises spontaneously a...

Homemade chocolate icecream. 1. Get one of those Cuisinart icecream makers with the pot you put in the freezer. 2. Get a bunch of chocolate flavored p...

What you're describing is not similar in fundamental ways to the electoral system in my country, so you've succeeded in showing the weakness of an art...

One way to think of it in terms of needs. Think about the way we limit the freedom of individuals to protect society, as when we sanction theft. The n...

:up:

Suppose I know P, but I never act on it. How am I different from a person who knows P, but can't act on it? This is an old philosophical problem with ...

Good answer.

I don't think we can say cognition and behavior are identical. That makes no sense. What do you think is happening when a person grasps a concept?

But aren't concepts an aspect of engaging the world? Even if I was beheaded and one last concept passed through my noggin, the meaning of that thought...

Have you ever noticed the statue of liberty looks kind of trans? https://i.imgur.com/Mcq9Fxe.jpeg