Not quite right. For me, a cause must be prior to its effect (except when it is part of a causal analysis) and a distinct entity. So I interpreted "pr...
Because considering a variety of cases in terms of similarities to and differences from the central case helps one to understand it. We focus on the "...
"Later" is a long time. How long would you wait? For me, it will always seem more likely, and always possible, that any putative first cause will turn...
That could work if a religion primarily of practice works. Depending on the details of the practice, that could be an intellectually respectable way t...
Fair enough. That may be true. I only wanted to say that what happens after you swallow the pill is not determined. It depends on you (not in the sens...
This is an interesting argument. Another attempt to co-opt and transform a familiar sceptical/atheist position. But if natural selection is to priorit...
Quite so. But Tertullian already co-opted that problem. "I believe because it is unbelievable." Well, all sorts of tactics work - even the traditional...
The puzzle that strikes me is why he thinks his approach might change the mind of an atheist. Agnostics may be more open to it, though this one certai...
We certainly have tools to assess hypotheses and we certainly use "know" when we have discovered it. Knowledge isn't truth; it is applied when someone...
Careful, now. If you say the Big Bang is the known starting-point of universal creation, you are saying, not only that it is the starting-point of uni...
I was surprised to discover when I first ventured into this on-line world, that many people seem to be dead serious about the arguments. Which is not ...
Ineffability is a popular topic in this argument. I wish I could wave my hand and abolish it, But that would be to rely on a rather primitive version ...
I'm not sure what doing metaphysics is. It seems to be simply discussing issues in first-order mode - using terms rather than mentioning them. One cou...
It is a tempting hypothesis and could be particularly useful when we want to link incommensurable theories. But I wouldn't be sure unless I had some e...
Yes, I agree. But that means whenever we think we have found a first cause, we must ask ourselves whether that is due to the limitations of our tools ...
Not really. My first question would be to find out which concept of God is at stake. When I say "the concept of God is incoherent", I usually have in ...
I must have missed something. I thought you were saying that while first causes must exist, there were no existing examples. I accept that there are f...
For me, since I think that the concept of "God" is incoherent or perhaps empty, I'm inclinced to think that no-one, including me, knows that God exist...
I'm sorry for the confusion. I'm still working out how to deal with situations when several people are involved. Yes and no. There are two modes of ex...
There's a puzzle. I don't think that idea of a cause that is self-explanatory makes much sense. It doesn't seem to fit with your idea of causality. Is...
I can see that your definition is constant. But it's empty. People will look for something. I think you are understating the case. Proving a negative ...
It depends what you mean by "true first cause". In certain traditions of philosophy, free will is the traditional cause of actions (as distinct from e...
Quite so. That's why some of the thinking that's going on in the depths of physics, beginning to open up the inevitable and obvious questions around t...
I seem to have happened on this thread at a moment of agreement. Congratulations to both of you. Can I just check that I've understood correctly? I in...
I got involved in this because I'm interested in the debate about religion. We've ended up with the connection to epistemology, probability theory and...
Well, that certainly seems to make sense. But that may be stereotyping, No doubt you will feel that it makes sense also that I have no background what...
I'm not sure what you're getting at here. There's no doubt that many beliefs are held, but not on rational grounds; that doesn't mean the people who h...
Not necessarily. I prefer an overview of what's happening. When I understand that, I might do a bit of tidying up, but only if it serves some purpose....
I don’t see any problem with that. As you point out we manage perfectly well with no fine line between “red” and “violet”. Picking out and sorting thr...
There's an awful lot packed in here. What makes equally balanced agnosticism "true"? I can see what makes a 90 degree angle a right angle, but that do...
OK. It seems that nothing hangs on what we say, so we don't have to say anything. The difficulty with the third truth value is that it is very hard to...
Thanks for all these snippets. I was worrying about anti. Those two meanings combined didn't make any sense. But that explanation works perfectly. (My...
Yes, of course. I didn't mention that, for me, "" and "faith" are very closely related - and "erusr" and "loyalty" are as well. OK. There is good reas...
Yes. it is. So I went back to the discussion you were quoting from. I guess "insist" in this context sounds pejorative, so I won't insist on that word...
It seems to me that what is important and valuable in this thread is the recognition that the traditional binary position that either God exists or it...
I don't understand the Ancient Greek word, which means "godlike" in Homer, but "contrary to God" in writers that I know nothing about; they are clearl...
People often assume that "everybody" uses the word in the way that they themselves do, and I'm not surprised that you find cases like those in the SEP...
That remark was a bit off the cuff and I'm prepared and happy to be wrong, if I am wrong. I found myself picking up breadcrumbs. Put it this way - I r...
I agree that does matter. But it does not mean that my life began my DNA was formed. I've tried endlessly to make a discussion with you, but you endle...
I need to revise the first sentence. The original gave the wrong title for the lecture. The correct title is:- The title of lecture VI is "Technical a...
I'm not sure I have starting-points as such. I'm just interested to understand what's going on here. I guess you're telling me that emergence only exi...
I expect you know that idea is about 300 years old. Berkeley articulated and defended it. It drove people crazy then. Nothing changes. Curiously enoug...
I had forgotten that passage. It is brilliant. Thank you for reminding me. Doesn't that intuition depend on a specific interpretation of "completely n...
I suppose that Anscombe's multiple descriptions of a single action would correspond to the fact that politics is everything, and art is everything, an...
Wouldn't that be a metaphysical or ontological identity? It's no help when I bump into a long-lost friend. My point is that how I know is also an impo...
I'm sorry I didn't notice your reply for so lon Maybe we can say that it works on the reward principle, not on some reality principle. (But reward has...
Come to think of it, there is a live issue where this might be relevant. At present, it tends to focus on Searle's Chinese room argument. It is the re...
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