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:smirk: Happens to the best of us!

I'm not familiar with the term "scientific miracle." Probably I should be, but could you explain it for me? Thanks.

Concerning 1., the further assumption you need is that physical laws, were we to understand them completely, would explain the purported miracle. I'm ...

Indeed. The physicalist dream is that one day we'll have robust reductive explanations, and that these will make sense of any and all phenomena, inclu...

I’m not a physicalist, but you’re asking what I think the strongest arguments for physicalism are. Currently, there are two: The very successful use o...

This would make a fascinating thread -- invite people to describe, as best they can, what their personal "stream" is actually like.

One of our most important living philosophers, David Chalmers, has published a recent book that deals with this, and many similar questions about tech...

And this is good, sensible place to leave it. I have trouble with the idea of "objective consciousness" but it may be just the terminology; now, thank...

I think the problem is something like this: You want to say that “Consciousness can only be identified through behaviors” and also “Therefore, anythin...

I don’t think that’s right. We also place a lot of emphasis on what kind of thing it is. If you ask a non-philosophical friend what the major differen...

Well, no. The analogous question with "12" and the brownies would be, "How do we know that 'cat' represents those furry critters we like so much and n...

Quite right, and we’re miles (and decades) away from being sure about any of this. While I can’t know what the subjective experience of a given someth...

The controversy centers on whether part of the meaning of the word “cat” is indeed that a cat is an animal, or whether words like “cat” are rigid desi...

And that is the key difference between a computer and a human. For a computer, there's nothing more the file could be. It isn't "like anything" to be ...

What we want to understand is how "a physical thought" could "describe a fictional brilliant detective." Referring to Popper again, he would say that ...

Right, that's the problem. It's a kind of reductio ad absurdum, because we know that SH can't be all those things, since he doesn't exist in the mater...

Well said, and Nagel is great on this.

I too think that consciousness is likely a physical (specifically, biological) phenomenon, but we're being awfully sloppy here, in our talk about what...

My concern, reading this, is more about what's allowed in than what's left out. Are you wanting analytic "truth" to refer, arbitrarily, to whatever ma...

Thank you for directing us to these essays. I'm reading Simpson now . . . and coincidentally, the group biography "Metaphysical Animals" which focuses...

Yes, well put. By introducing the idea of reasons, or reason as a faculty, rather than causes or preferences, we enter a different way of thinking, on...

. Perhaps that's why Davidson was so keen to equate it with nontranslatability; at least this is something you can demonstrate. But he also maintained...

Thanks for introducing me to a new word! Yes, there's a difference between having the courage of your convictions and being convicted beyond the shado...

I was afraid someone would ask me this! The question has occupied me throughout my life, and I don’t know the answer. But since you’ve only asked for ...

That works for me.

I think what you say about brute facts is correct, but it raises an interesting question in this context. Your other two examples -- about the words i...

Hmm, I'm not sure I get your meaning. Isn't it perfectly true that, if only a few people decide to make exceptions for themselves and do whatever they...

But this is the Kantian problem of universalization. I have to first accept that my actions can serve as a "maxim" for others, before the general fate...

Fair enough.

Well, but that's just it -- you don't. We stipulate that your listener can't tell the difference. You may have the intention, but it's not expressed. ...

Coincidentally, there’s an article in the new Phil. of Science by Lorenzo Lorenzetti called “Functionalism, Reductionism, and Levels of Reality” that’...

Okay, forget the OL response, which isn’t really important. The question remains, ”If I promise you something but have no intention of delivering – th...

Easily. If I promise you something but don’t mean it – that is, I’m lying – this use is indiscernible (in that moment, and assuming a talented liar) f...

Thanks for wading through this with me. It does seem obvious that some kind of one-to-one correspondence, a la Tarski, would help bridge the gap betwe...

Coming in a little late on this, but help me out: I know you can't mean, literally, that everyone agrees that coffee is delicious. So what is the use ...

My sentiments exactly! But I think this is one of the great benefits of doing this kind of intensive and text-based discussion: You understand from th...

If not an entire garment! Yes, enough of meta-ethics for now.

Just a general comment on where this argument has gone. Clearly, there’s a strong sense on the part of many of us that a statement like “You shouldn’t...

Glad my post was helpful. Yes, I think you’re on the right track, and let me say again that I am not Prof. Logic and can easily get muddled up myself....

Moliere, I echo Banno's appreciation for your careful reading. As Banno says, there’s a lot in your post to think about, so just a couple of initial r...

I think Kuhn -- perhaps sensing the possibility of Davidson-style objections about translatability -- preferred to compare the concepts rather than th...

. . . and I'm probably missing some. To be sure, a ritual for American vegans on Thanksgiving! Free the turkeys . . . While I slept my tofu-heavy slee...

Very helpful analysis. A lot of people do seem to overlook or forget that Davidson doesn’t dispute conceptual relativism on the grounds that conceptua...

Yes, that’s the key issue. Davidson says it very simply and effectively: “Strawson’s many imagined worlds are seen or heard or described from the same...

This would indeed be the best way to salvage Kuhn’s argument. I’m sure Davidson’s insistence on the co-variance of concepts and language was, in part,...

Ahah, I see. Thanks for the clarification. Argumentation is possible within the "world" made possible by articles of faith, but the articles themselve...

I agree, it's tricky. I think the question is whether adding "It is true that . . . " to a statement adds or changes anything of substance. In a non-n...

No, it makes sense. The claim would be that the statement "T is a normative fact" states something non-normative, something factual, because it's a cl...

Oh, OK, so you meant that "T is a normative fact" is a non-normative fact. Got it.

Yes, I figured you didn't mean the scientists themselves thought this way. But it still remains important, I think, not to separate self-understanding...