Yes,that's exactly the point I'm making. Metaphysical arguments cannot say anything meaningful about the soundness of their premises. They may well ma...
Yes, if I understand what you're saying correctly, then one could relate Quine's perspective (Duhem was very much more restricted in his scope, of cou...
I'm going to echo what Srap and Ciceronianus have said because I think it's really important but keeps getting passed by in these types of discussion....
It depends what you mean by 'meaningful'. In Carnap's sense it means 'has some inter-subjective sense'. By that definition then yes there is a test an...
You could do, but you have three options; 1. All metaphysical statements are thus rendered meaningless (which is self-referential, this being a metaph...
No, at least not one that can be demonstrated to correspond to anything externally meaningful. I'm no high level logician, but I'm aware of at least f...
At the level of basic correspondence, I presume it is on the basis of the utility of my interactions with the world (which are based on my model of it...
I'm going to just come out and vote for yes, I've had enough of this shillying about trying to be equivocal about it. What we commonly refer to as "We...
But this is begging the question. Carnap proposes that arguments for various metaphysical positions are irrational and you respond by saying that they...
I see. Well, the way the world actually is (which is what I'm metaphorically referring to as the library of the world at large) is important in that i...
I think the process of arguing something helps one to get the proposition in a useful place in one's own library, rather than just shoved in a room fu...
Yes, I think it's evident that it is (if it exists at all). It seem plain to me that "the way the world actually is" and "the way i think the world ac...
Sorry, I don't completely understand your meaning here. Are you implying that there might not be a "library of the world at large", or suggesting a so...
Sorry, couldn't resist the temptation. The apposite Ramsey quote (yes, I have a collection of Ramsey quotes on my computer...) “The chief danger to ou...
Indeed, I don't think this is far from Peirce's equation of logic with ethics and aesthetics in that all are normative descriptions, not universal tru...
I don't know what websites you've been visiting, but I'm not going to deny the evidence of your own experience. Maybe it's the internet, more than the...
In terms of the separation, yes, although, as I have mentioned in my responses to @"John Doe", we yet again encounter the problem of interpretation. B...
Yes, this is how I like to treat philosophy, like a work of art, it either means something to you personally or it doesn't, but like art, there'll alw...
I don't know if you read different threads to me, but I think that's overly magnanimous. I'd rather your generous optimism than my bitter misanthropy ...
It's an interesting article, but it touches on much of the same problems as I think Wittgenstein was trying to avoid (certainly in his later works). T...
I think you're right about the narcissistic self-aggrandising nature of certain types of philosophy. But I think there are a few caveats that I would ...
I think you're misunderstanding the point I'm trying to argue. The point I'm trying to make is that discovering 'truth' or even approaching any kind o...
Absolutely. My main point here is to question the use this constraints-based approach is being put to (not is usefulness, which I don't doubt, just it...
We must determine that we would know a creator if we found one (if not, the entire search is pointless). We have certainly looked in many places for a...
How does this work? What is it about my equating trivial decisions with decisions about a philosophical journey which prevents me from understanding y...
All these types of question seem to be quite well accepted and yet I'm still in the dark as to what the question of purpose would even mean for a crea...
Look, there's no point in us arguing about it when we can easily settled the absolute, final and unequivocal Truth of the matter by simply asking Davi...
I don't understand the distinction you're trying to make here. Say I have a preference for vanilla ice-cream. I don't choose this preference (at least...
Yes, if God is the answer, then we have one extremely convoluted plan. Reminds me of the ways in which the villains would try to kill James Bond, they...
You've slipped in the word 'indefensible' here without justification. What grounds do we have to suggest that it is 'indefensible' I believe there are...
Exactly. This is what I was trying to convey. The author selects from meanings which already exist (or are implied by existing uses) that will communi...
God created the earth in 6 days 6000 years ago and in doing so constructed it in such a way as to appear much older to our limited technology. What's ...
Right, so the word already had a meaning before the author writes it. It has to, otherwise the author would have no reason to select it. If the word h...
How is the fact that it evidently doesn't work, despite 2000 years of trial, not an inherent flaw. If someone gave me a new phone and it didn't functi...
You seem to be missing out an entire, crucially important stage and that's what I'm trying to ask you about (and I think that's what Banno's trying to...
So how is combining with others who feel the same and using whatever emotional means are at your disposal to influence those in power not one of the t...
Not with equal veracity they can't. The poor are not definitively descended from other poor people. Black people are pretty definitely descended from ...
So if I stole your wallet from you you wouldn't 'demand' it back, you wouldn't be able to utter the expression "give me back my wallet!" without feeli...
To simplify, if your father stole from my father such that now you are now rich and I am poor, how is my contention that my poverty is caused (at leas...
The point is, what in all of this is 'psychological'. People who have been affected by slavery as a consequence of their heritage tend to be poorer wi...
Yes, and slavery obviously had impacts on the descendents of slaves in addition to the slaves themselves. The first generation faced resentment and bi...
As I said in my original post, are you suggesting that it is not possible for historical events to have a continued real impact on people in contempor...
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