NotAristotle

Hmm, so you think there can still be truth in a meaningful way even if determinism is true?

To assume that I am both conscious and just a physical thing and then to conclude that consciousness is just a physical thing would surely be begging ...

Can you say more as to why determinism undermines truth or falsity? Can't why I say something still be true or false, I'm just determined to say what ...

:lol: good point!

I think the analogy to water breaks down because water just is that arrangement; it is that physical thing. On a physicalist ontology it is acceptable...

I just want to point out that I think this is not exactly the hard problem, rather it is what Ned Block has articulated to be the "harder" problem of ...

:up:

If physicalism is just an epistemological paradigm and not an ontological commitment, that takes a lot of the wind out of its sails, don't you think s...

I think the hard problem is not answering why consciousness is a physical manifestation, but why a physical manifestation should result in consciousne...

Consciousness... describes the organism as a whole. sure is a mode of biology. sure is what he is doing. sure I'm happy to concede all of those points...

Okay, but then I would ask you what about organisms is so special and different than other matter/energy arrangements that makes organisms conscious? ...

I would think that the difference is that one is a subjective experience while the other is objective biological material; seems to me like a signific...

My understanding of the hard problem of consciousness is that it is a problem for a physicalist. Why is it a problem? Because the physicalist has not ...

I think a wise person will seek wisdom. They will strive to know wisdom and to learn it. A mathematician strives to know math and excels in math. So, ...

Metaphysics, Book I, 981a (25-30).

According to The Philosopher, "...yet we think that knowledge and understanding belong to art rather than to experience, and we suppose artists to be ...

It seems to me that if anything has extension, or is solid, then it must be infinitely divisible. But I don't see why that's a problem.

I hope you do not mind if I am a bit argumentative, but if space is something in the universe, then it must be somewhere, right? But where is space?

When I wrote these two objections, I thought to myself, "well these objections are quite good." But now that I reflect on the first I think to myself,...

Here is another objection to ancient atomism that I think I came up with, but maybe I heard it somewhere I don't really recall... Atoms are either som...

Here is an objection against ancient atomism that I have heard: Ancient atomism postulates two things - 1. atoms, and 2. void. Now, between atoms ther...

Here is an interpretation of Aquinas' first way in argumentative format: 1. There is motion. 2. Motion is a kind of change. 3. Change is the actualiza...

Well, what do you say wonderer1, is the BiV brain different than a real brain by having more parts or by having fewer parts? wonderer1: I should rathe...

That sounds right to my ear wonderer1; BIV perception would have to be the same as real perception, given that BIV perception is the same neuronal act...

You are saying that a BiV brain is different than a real brain, I think. But then tell me this, is BiV perception the same as real perception?

Exactly. That's what I am thinking too -- if the empirical evidence that establishes BiV is accepted, then why is any other empirical evidence ignored...

If a neuroscientist gave you evidence that a brain could not be stimulated in such a way so as to produce simulated percepts, would you be convinced t...

Let's suppose I am a brain in a vat, but I have fully functioning eyes. In front of me is a green screen. Still, a scientist stimulates my occipital l...

I do not believe BiV is possible. I believe semantic externalism doesn't prove that BiV is impossible; I think BiV is impossible for other reasons.

I think the point NOS4A2 was making (correct me if I'm missing the mark NOS4A2) is that someone arguing for BiV faces a dilemma. If the person is awak...

If it's a body in a vat we're getting a lot closer to reality. And is this body actually fed pizza, etc. But then it would just be experiencing realit...

I agree with you, but that's different than saying that if semantic externalism is true then we cannot be brains in a vat. Except that the "real tree"...

Yep, so let's say you unvat the brain and give them eyes, a nose, etc. And you say to them "that is a tree." And they're like, "yeah, I know." And the...

Agree.

Would you mind laying out the argument as you see it, and we can both evaluate whether it is valid (or unsound by being question-begging)? In the earl...

But he assumes that we are not BiV in proving it. Isn't that begging the question?

2 is question begging. If semantic externalilsm is true, we could still be BiV.

It seems to me that Putnam's argument is question-begging. SEP seems to basically agree. https://plato.stanford.edu/Archives/spr2009/entries/brain-vat...

I agree with everything you quoted. I admit it is a high bar. But no, I do not think it is advocating for pacifism.

"Do not resist an evil person" is an assertion that is made in the context of discussing "an eye for an eye." I think it is important to properly inte...

I'm a Catholic Christian and here are my views. Christ is unique; Christ is unlike anyone. His mission was to save, no matter what the cost, even at t...

Humility is another virtue of the philosopher. It's important to acknowledge, at least to oneself, when one's own views are contradictory or inconsist...

That being the case, I don't necessarily think someone should be criticized for not being able to articulate their view well. Like you said, understan...

Doesn't semantic externalism require some kind of distinguishability? If BiV is phenomenally the same as not-BiV, then I don't see how semantic extern...

To be clear, we live in the real world; we are not living in a simulation. Nick Bostrom's simulation argument is the one I am familiar with. According...

That's what I'm sayin!

Additionally, transparent argumentation makes for a more productive argument because one's views will be more clearly presented and because the actual...

Transparency is important in argumentation because it leads to truth and is an example of the virtue of courage.

Abortion is always wrong. It's not complicated.