Metaphysician Undercover

No "balance" as it appears to be used in this thread means equal proportions, or in the case of a system, equilibrium. In order that a group of entiti...

I know the difference between an open system and a closed system. This makes no difference to whether or not a system, as "a system" has an internal b...

It's quite clear, from his distinction between "subjective certainty" and "objectively certain", that Wittgenstein begins with an assumed separation b...

I offered a brief starting point. Time as a concept is derived from our apprehension of a separation, division, between past and future.

Can you describe this "need" for me? If mathematics prior to the 19th century got along fine without speaking about the infinite, where does this need...

Then what do you think a system is? I think a system is a whole, which is composed of parts. And, for the parts to exist as a whole it is necessary th...

Sophisticat is in complete denial of the reality of human ignorance. 'There's nothing unknown out there, we already know it all.'

OK, welcome to the club. Have you read the thread?

Following a rule allows one to be judged by others as correct. It obviously does not provide what is necessary for certainty of the subjective type. A...

I don't see why Purgatory doesn't solve the problem. The time spent in Purgatory varies according to the individual. Two similar people will spend a s...

This is not conducive to certainty though. One could look at contradictory rules, and correctness could be obtained by following either one. Now all t...

Fishfry, you appear to be very sensitive. From my experience, if someone points out to you, your misguided way, you take it as an insult. This is phil...

A system is necessarily stable. That's what being a system is, a whole with temporal extension, and to exist as a whole requires stability in the rela...

Says it all.

The Trump deal. Take the money. Let the company go bankrupt. Creditors don't get paid because the money's been taken.

I find that hard to imagine, Mathematics for Mathematics. What would this consist of, people studying and producing mathematical principles just for t...

I agree that correspondence with the real world is not accidental, and these principles are adopted for usefulness. But I don't think that any non-use...

Thank you for clarifying that. So your point is that there is no disagreement concerning the meaning of the words, the disagreement is about something...

If you allow that disagreement can be meaningful, you open the abyss of meaning without agreement. This is how we defend ourselves against the nonsens...

Objects existing in relationship to each other are objects existing in relationship to each other. If physics uses contradictory premises concerning o...

Then it would be impossible to create a reasonable hierarchy like you were talking about, if the meaning of tight and loose could vary. Of course we c...

The point is that your description of the distinction between "loose" and "tight" does not provide us with an indication as to what these terms really...

I haven't got any questions for Mr. Pigliucci at this time, but I have some suggestions which may be useful to help facilitate the success of this pro...

We agree to an extent, but you seem to have some ambiguity. Material connection is what makes parts into an object, and when its an object, you say th...

I don't see how this could be true. There is nothing to validate the collection as a "collection" without a representative. In both your examples, the...

I haven't followed the thread, but I'll comment on this. The point I make, and I believe this is consistent with Wittgenstein when he says that a conc...

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I'll try to stay on track. I tend to think that this is not a very good representation of what an object, or "unit" re...

Right, that's why I say you're a magician. You claim that you can point to any random objects, and say those objects make another object, a whole. You...

By showing me the apples you are not showing me the "totality object". This you would show to me in your explanation of "part-whole relationship", etc...

I see each apple as an individual object. The claim that an apple is an object is justified by sense perception of its existence separate from other t...

In any sense, even the sense of a practising doctor, practise gives a person experience, making one stronger in one's capacity to carry out that exerc...

Care to explain what you think is the difference between these two? I cannot perceive any immaterial things by looking around me. So looking around me...

The "nothing moves itself" premise is a common starting point for numerous arguments concerning the nature of the immaterial, dating back to Plato. I ...

Yes, now that I think about it, the premise must only apply to material things. Premise one starts with "look around you". We cannot see immaterial th...

We don't know how immaterial things act as causes, only that they do. So we can't make any such assumption.

No. I am saying that the soul might be moved by some other immaterial thing. You only approached an inconsistency with 1 by saying that the soul moves...

Working makes one stronger, "practise makes perfect". So exercise, which is practise, builds strength; and strength is good. The benefit of practise i...

You need not conclude that 1 is false. The argument takes the observation that movements of the body (or the parts of the body which originate the mot...

I don't see how that's an adept analogy. Metaphysical principles are based in how one apprehends the nature of reality. Chess is a game which we can c...

Lies and deceit do not tell others what you are thinking. And if lies and deceit are what makes other politicians bad, Trump is clearly not any better...

Correct, under your definitions, I refuse a 'tribe" as an object. If we are to consider a "tribe" as an object, the relations between the members are ...

I've read the op, but as I've said, I don't agree with your principles of categorization. I think your expressed principles display a lack of understa...

OK, since a "tribe" is meant to be an object, you are defining "object" with these principles. Accordingly, an object is a whole, composed of the tota...

I'll grant you that as true. But the point is that there is ambiguity as to what "||" signifies. So, we must be careful not to equivocate. That's righ...

There are reasons why those mistakes, of lying and witness tampering were made. Those mistakes are only made when the person is already guilty.

No they do not exist. In the common usage of the word "exist", which I am familiar with, fictional things do not exist. Nor do love, justice, and othe...

Yeah, that sounds just like Trump ... "please, don't do me any favours, just do the right thing"... when "the right thing" is always defined by what i...

The point is that the symbol "||" refers to a different situation in S||S than it does in A||B. Therefore the rule produces ambiguity in the use of th...

Uh huh, tell me another. A big, bright and bold, vicious circle justifies nothing. That's one of the things I'm objecting to. By common usage of the w...

It's one thing to assert "I know..", but I'm asking how do you know that. That's the point. if you are creating subclasses of existents, and placing t...