It certainly does. If it does anything, it emphasizes difference in the interpretation of "interpretation". The difficulty is that sometimes interpret...
Thanks. There's no smoking gun. One sign may be an undue willingness to find other people's opinions dogmatic. Another is undoubtedly avoiding engagem...
There are two problems with this perfectly reasonable idea. Both are already at work in our world. I don't argue that the project is hopeless, only th...
It seems, after all, that we do have similar aims - escaping from the infinite hierarchy. That has to be promising. I'm afraid I find myself a bit con...
All of the approaches I suggested come down to "This is what I do!" (Wittgenstein) or Hume's version (in response to the problem of induction), that e...
I don't disagree with most of this paragraph, including this sentence. I wasn't suggesting that the continuous battle MUST be a permanent state, just ...
I realize that you've had a long dialogue about this already. Perhaps you're bored with it. But if I'm right that psychopathic behaviour is part of th...
I don't have an issue with that. But there is another point to take into account. Some people talk about "hinge" propositions - ideas around which the...
Not if you count the witnesses described in the Gospels. Of course, those are not unbiased sources. But one of the awkward issues around these old and...
I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean. Is it something like "the importance of truth is not at issue" (which I agree with)? But surely it'...
Well, it's certainly true that we can't ensure that a member of every group - sex/gender, race, class, religion, profession etc. etc. can be in the ro...
Excuse me for butting in, but may I ask whether there is a reason why you only recommend scepticism about powerful large entities - not that that's in...
I can't see how we would ever be able to find out. On the other hand, being regarded as a person and, in my opinion, learning to be a person both requ...
I'm surprised that the doctors were shocked. I've heard of this phenomenon before. Indeed, I once knew someone who had this condition diagnosed. There...
Both of these are important and complicated issues. But daunting. It would be interesting to undertake it, but if I ever do, it will have to be later....
I agree, of course, that If I lose my brain, I cannot think of myself as me. But it would be a very delicate balance to produce exactly the right brai...
He doesn't. I assumed it was an error. It's complicated. My heart pumps blood; I don't. My kidneys filter my blood; I don't. My muscles move my arm, f...
It's a common error. I was educated on texts that were derived from manuscripts, which meant that I had to deal with the science of variant readings. ...
There are some complications here, but that is at least close to what I’m trying to say. I think we are already agreed on a similar argument in relati...
Well, you're not wrong. My use of "governed" was not satisfactory. But your introduction of "emergent" is part of what I'm trying to say. Emergent pro...
That's not untrue. But philosophers and other academics tend to forget that the nervous system not only passes information to and fro, but also contro...
You are quite right that reduction is a complicated topic. But one thing it clearly means is leaving out what's irrelevant - and that means "irrelevan...
That's true. The problem is that physics defines itself in such a way that it cannot recognize anything else. So friendship, love, hatred, tyranny, de...
This illustrates the depth and complexity of our disagreement. The sun does go up and down, from the point of view of the surface of the earth. It cou...
I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by "this type of notion". But I am sure that the senses do not systematically deceive us. I'm also sure t...
This goes way beyond my criticism of Hume for his atomistic idea of experiences. Logical atomism is a different issue, and I'm not aware that anyone t...
I'm afraid I got confused by your post. In the beginning, you say:- But by the end, we have:- I agree with the first quotation, but not with the secon...
That's a lot to respond to in your posts. It's an impressive extended argument. I don't pretend this is comprehensive. This is just a series of commen...
That's right. The difficulty is to see exactly what "how" means and to understand that asking such a question means rejecting Hume's idea of atomistic...
Wittgenstein, as so often, has it right when he says:- I would only want to add:- First, it's not just about the future and the past. There is much ab...
I'm afraid I do have a problem here. I don't disagree with this, but I don't understand what "validates the necessity" means. That's fine, except that...
I think Hume would agree with you. But he does say something to the effect that we discover from experience that there is a "pre-established harmony" ...
I'm not trying to defend Hume, just to understand him. All we've got is what he wrote and I don't think those texts have the answers to your challenge...
Yes. One of my points was precisely that he ends up ignoring the sceptical argument that he has so vigorously defended. However, his actual policy is ...
I'm sorry if this is a bit off-topic and I promise not to pursue it. What you say is true. But I can't resist pointing out that Hume makes a lot more ...
I didn't mean to be too dismissive because I hadn't read the article carefully enough to be sure. I was very surprised that the homunculus turned up. ...
Very interesting. The idea that feedback loops are critical to understanding what goes on seems absolutely right to me. Certainly they make all the di...
Language is very complicated indeed. But if philosophers don't pay close attention to complexities, they will develop distorted and partial views. But...
Yes, and I find myself in the grip of incredulity when confronting some sceptical writing. The complication is that incredulity and, indeed, attitudes...
I agree with this. You are right that we are far too casual about what it means to imagine something. These situations are never articulated fully and...
I didn't mean to imply that everyone will necessarily act on every belief they hold. I meant only that a belief is available to the believer to act on...
I agree, except that I pretty sure that the "might" is definitely over-cautious. But that thesis needs more detail, which I can't at the moment provid...
There's nothing wrong with what you say, so far as it goes. But language has other important uses, admittedly always in communication, but still... Th...
I've also been inactive for a while. but you certainly had a better reason for being inactive than me. My reason was that I got fed up with some of th...
Maybe that's so. It would certainly help. But I think we are agreed that people often feel guilt and shame about mistakes and errors or whatever we ca...
OK. I see. I agree that the sentence/proposition/statement "S believes that p" on its own does not convey that you are convinced of anything. But If y...
Part of what I was trying to say is that mistake and error are different. I'm not sure that I was right to say that lacking relevant information is an...
I'm not sure that getting something wrong because the information you have is lacking is exactly a mistake, though it is certainly an error. Either wa...
"He is sufficiently justified in believing that p" conveys that you believe he has sufficient proof and that you are not convinced that p is true, whi...
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