Ludwig V

No, I think that our limits to modelling, extrapolation and forecasting do not show anything about free or constrained choices, because actions are a ...

H'm. I thought you would throw the results of sub-atomic physics at me - that apparently solid object is mostly empty space. But you are right. You ar...

I'm surprised. Could you explain why? That's odd. The surfaces of the objects around me look as if they are continuous. You said:- Only if space is in...

Yes, they limit us, but the also, at the same time, they give us opportunities. "From a contradiction, anything you like follows." Calling that streng...

OK. That seems clear enough for now. I won't argue about words. What empirical data do you have in mind? You seem to be saying in the first quotation ...

At first sight, that seems to be true. But is the impossibility of imagining a round square based on trying to imagine such a thing and failing? We fr...

Like Augustine and most of Socrates' interlocutors, I can participate in normal life, but that doesn't mean I can give a definition. The language-game...

Yes, and they are less than persuasive for that reason. However, I think that while fatalistic determinism is easy to confuse with causal determinism,...

The orthodox articulation of the debate requires either positing free will as a magical kind of cause that is causally determined and/or a gap in caus...

That seems reasonable. But the question arises whether we can imagine something that is logically impossible. Philosophical practice says no, we can't...

Thanks for the thought. As it happens, I do understand. If one tries to respond to everything, it quickly becomes too much (and I, at least, get muddl...

Yes. I am neither physicist nor mathematician, and I'm not sure that a bystander like me has a proper basis for an opinion. But after the discussions ...

They can if they are infinitely small. Is it possible that you can imagine that? Is there any argument that will settle the issue either way?

So the humans are entities created by the software? Then how are they not real people and not simulations of anything? Quite so. But my experience is ...

You are missing a trick here. Sure, the final arrangement rocks and dirt is not of any interest. But the outcome of the causal sequence of events in a...

Assuming you maintain a constant speed, you will pass 200m at 12:00:20, as you point out. That is also the point I was after. One might think that the...

The problem is that people don't distinguish between different ideas about determinism. Saying "there are certain days next year when it will rain" an...

There isn't a problem with specialist terms. But "cogent and useful" is both cogent and useful as a definition of "make sense". I would rather not hav...

When I first saw the phrase "countably infinite", I thought that was absurd, and I still think it is an unfortunately ambiguous description of what it...

Surely you don't mean that love or concern may never shows themselves in any actions at all? The moral worth of that is, let us say, debatable. There'...

I don't think that either of them suggests that space or time may be discrete. In any case, you seem to accept that that's a different topic. That see...

Your argument doesn't prove that.

Of course. But concern, love, intention and judgement are all realized in actions. If you had said that living in that way was a better form of life, ...

Yes, of course you are right. It is no more help than saying that a table is an object. I was trying to re-instate the line between, let us say, a mat...

That's just about where I'm at. That's why I'm taking an interest in this thread, but not adopting a position. I do have various theories, but none of...

I'll think about that.

@"fishfry" will speak for himself. But I think the point is that, even a convergent sequence, which does have a limit, does not have a end or last ste...

Well, I can see that there's a difference, but let's not get picky about language. Values are related to action in a way that facts are not. That's th...

Yes. But the difference is that a reasoning chain justifies its conclusion, whereas a normal, non-reasoning chain does not.

I think that is what Searle is saying. Except that he doesn't consider raising an arm to be "the exact same thing" if it is done by you or me and if i...

Have you never done something that you didn't want to do - sometimes something you had decided not to do? You may have felt that you did it without de...

You may or may not be right about those empirical claims. I wouldn't know. But do they constitute an argument for believing that determinism is true? ...

Does the difference matter?

Genuine=Not simulated. If I'm experiencing fear, the fear is real. But my point is that the recognition and the reflex response are both the fear. Bot...

So Thompson's lamp is not merely physically or metaphysically impossible, but logically impossible. But which is not defined.

I don't see that the disposition to help people in need, to pursue beauty and truth, to eat drink and be merry, to sleep well at night can be put on a...

Yes, of course. That's why, when I do something for those reasons, there is no compulsion, no restriction of freedom - except in the sense of opportun...

I'm afraid there was a typo in my last post. I posted "Infinity is certainly not a concept", which is rubbish. I meant to post "Infinity is certainly ...

I'm missing something here. When I step on a step, do I step on the whole step, or just a part of it. When I sit on a chair do I sit on the whole of i...

Here's what I don't get about determinism. That process may determine my decision. But how does it force me to do anything? What sense does it make th...

I don't like "more important" or "highest". Everyday mundane reality is important, not "low". You seem to be trying to say that our values cannot be d...

But there is a conceptual link between danger and fear that makes it hard to understand what recognizing a danger could be if one didn't fear it. I ho...

Yes, but once you have defined your half, you can treat it as a unit and define a half of a half... and repeat indefinitely. What limits that process?...

I looked at your post again, and now I see better what you - and @"Astrophel" - are talking about. I got distracted by the question of freedom. Yes, t...

Code which is influenced by chemistry. Good luck with that. That's just a version of Laplace's demon. Hand-waving. That's just a lot of hand-waving. I...

I hope you are not winding me up with that question. I certainly am extraordinarily complex, but I am also certainly not a toy. Partly, its a question...

Yes, that's right. But that form of determinism does not amount to anything that could threaten freedom. There's a difference between being able to de...

I don't think a proper critique requires the critic to set aside their opinion. But it does require a willingness to engage with the opposition. I thi...

If I say that Hesperus is Phosphorus, I am saying that they are the same object (heavenly body). If I say that Ringo Starr is Richard Starkey, I am sa...

I was not expecting that response. I don't know what to say. So I'm absolutely delighted! That's why their chatter is endless. Truth is, I don't know ...