Metaphysician Undercover

If Chinese leaders had world domination as a goal, they might actually be able to achieve it. They don't though, unlike Russian leaders.

That's to prevent dolts from going in there and doing irreparable damage. (I'll advocate for you too -- for a fee.)

So if words are about things, what sort of a thing is a hypothetical cat?

OK, but it's an example which you posted for some purpose. So the point is, the phrase you posted "the cat is on the mat", is not really about any cat...

This is not true. When you state "the cat is on the mat" here, you are posting that phrase up as an example. I really don't believe that you are sayin...

Right, if we're going to take a look at how people deceive us, we ought to do it in a way that doesn't stress us out.

There is a lack of motion in eternalism. You would have to turn to something outside the block universe as the source of any perceived motion within t...

I suggest we all immerse ourselves in serious (I mean SERIOUS!) metaphysical issues to avoid the disease of the idle mind.

I think he goes even further than this, suggesting that since it is a hopeless task, we ought not even try to define ethical words like "good", instea...

Roger Stone. Any relation to you?

That was an analogy, not an attempt to change the subject.

Until you either recognize, or disprove, my claim that there are two distinct types of referring, your propositions remain meaningless and nonsensical...

Indeterminate means having no fixed value. So consider this analogy. Some one asks you what time it is. By the time you say what time it is, it is no ...

Newtonian relativity. Inertia is frame of reference dependent. There is no absolute rest. It has nothing to do with an overarching time perspective, w...

Keep in my, that at 75 he is asking those questions. He provides no answer to them at 75. To answer these questions he draws the analogy of two pictur...

All things change place as time passes, it's a premise of relativity. If moving means that one cannot measure duration, then time is indefterminate.

No I disagree. In the appropriate context, showing someone your cat is referring to your cat.

He's saying, that if his knowledge of what a game is, is equivalent to an unformulated definition, then he ought to be able to formulate that definiti...

It's not analogous unless you are claiming that the distance between yourself and the tree is indeterminate. And that's not what your claiming, becaus...

Notice that at 75 he asks the following question concerning knowing what a game is without being able to say what it is: "Is this knowledge somehow eq...

The point is that there is a multitude of possible amounts of time between the first point and the second. Therefore the amount of time between those ...

There is a beginning point, and an ending point to the time period being measured. One clock measures that time period as 500 hours. Another clock mea...

I don't see why presentism requires a preferred reference frame. When we as human beings meet together, and communicate, we call this the present. We ...

I never said anything about "psychological time". I'm talking about time itself. From the human perspective, time is indeterminate.

I know, but the human perspective gives us the potential for infinite frames of reference. Therefore from the human perspective, time is indeterminate...

If I assumed a "Master Time", then I couldn't conclude that time is indeterminate. The Master Time would necessitate a determinate time. So, remove yo...

It's indeterminate because from every different frame of reference there is a different amount of time between the two points. Therefore there is no f...

OK, let's look at it from that perspective then, one type of referring, but two types of referent. How would we determine a "successful reference"? Su...

So I may conclude that from the point in time when Bob left, to the point when Bob returned, the amount of time which passes is dependent on one's fra...

What do you think "time elapsed at a different rate" means? Suppose you and I meet. It is the present when we meet. Then we go our separate ways, and ...

Yes, you referred to a subject, "your cat" without physically pointing to anything, or physically showing anything. But we never physically point at a...

I believe that what is said here, is that to "see" a sample as a sample of a universal, rather than as a particular, might be said to "see" the sample...

I think that "refer" is a complex word with a lot of different uses. It is most commonly use in relation to a subject matter, rather than a physical t...

I already did, pointing, touching, taking one's hand and guiding that person, etc.. I could list more, but there's no use. Instead of recognizing that...

I have noticed that we do agree at a few points, but then we go in different ways.

I don't see how the reading on the clock has anything to do with whether or not the present exists.

I see that he has now moved from describing ostensive definition as a demonstration of how words are used (at the beginning of the book), to this poin...

Are both clocks at the present when they are reunited? The time displayed on the clocks is irrelevant to presentism, so long as the clocks always rema...

Try looking at it this way then. From your perspective, all you know about me is the ideas that you have of me. You assume that there is a material me...

Yes, but the point is that if you were seeing in your head, some relational dissimilarities between A and B, and you were not seeing A and B as differ...

Language works to direct a person's attention in the desired way because of consistency in usage.

What qualifies as successful reference is having directed the person's attention in the desired way.

No it does not, because someone can be talking about something and the other person have no idea of what the thing is which is being talked about. So ...

I didn't say that you cannot reference through language, I said that language is not necessary.

Talking about something does not qualify as successful reference. That's the point Reference is to direct one's attention. So the "successful referenc...

"Pointing", it's your example, but you seem to think pointing is "sign language". So consider taking one's hand and placing it somewhere to feel somet...

You don't think "different" has a cogent meaning? How would you judge that A is different from B if "different" did not have a cogent meaning? That th...

Nixon is a family name. It's not a matter of saying I wish I had called my son Nick instead of Dick.

If you have read Plato's "Republic" you will understand that he introduces "the good". Though it is often presented as Plato's "idea of good", it is n...

I'm not interested in your unrealistic definition "logic". Any instance of reasoning is using logic. So answer the question, if it's not a logical jud...