You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

Metaphysician Undercover

Comments

My point is that "the natural numbers" is defined in such a way that is impossible to count them all. No matter how many you count, there will always ...
February 21, 2017 at 13:00
Some theories are false. It's very hard to convince the people who believe in false theories, that they are false. That's life. It appears like your s...
February 21, 2017 at 03:49
There is no highest number, that's what makes the set of natural numbers uncountable. If I could identify the highest number, we could count to it, an...
February 21, 2017 at 03:30
This is questionable though. We can understand time as discrete units, or we can understand time as a continuity. We can also understand it as some ki...
February 21, 2017 at 03:05
Here's a question then. Do you think that there is such a real thing as a continuity, and if so what would be its nature? Remember the premise, it can...
February 21, 2017 at 02:40
This is exactly the problem with the Zeno paradox of the op. Zeno's premise is that space is continuous. Then he introduces mathematics to deal with t...
February 21, 2017 at 02:31
That's a very simple question to answer. The highest number is the one that's not capable of being counted. Again, you are saying that because it is p...
February 21, 2017 at 02:27
Aletheist claimed that. Fallacy of composition.
February 20, 2017 at 20:55
This is a textbook case of the fallacy of composition. And, you've also forgotten one premise here, that any particular natural number has numbers hig...
February 20, 2017 at 20:48
I agree that there is an important difference between natural integers and real numbers, and even an important difference between rational numbers and...
February 20, 2017 at 20:40
Yeah sure, that's the name you gave instead of the name "countable". But I'm not sure that I would agree with the assumption that there is a substanti...
February 20, 2017 at 20:17
Infinite: endless. Countable means capable of being counted. If it cannot be counted, as is the case with something infinite, or endless, it is not ca...
February 20, 2017 at 20:10
Oh I see, you're talking about the principles. They're made by human beings as well, creative expressions of human language.
February 20, 2017 at 15:56
What, robots and iPhones are not made by humans? What are they made by, robots?
February 20, 2017 at 15:54
How does this imply that all the natural numbers are countable? It actually implies the very opposite. Every number you count has a larger number, the...
February 20, 2017 at 15:52
They are not synonymous, but infinite is by definition not countable. There could be something else uncountable which is not infinite. As we've alread...
February 20, 2017 at 15:43
Robots, iPhones, etc., work on principles known to human beings, and applied by human beings. Living beings work on (as of yet) unknown principles. If...
February 20, 2017 at 14:07
No, the fact is that you cannot count an infinite set, that's what "infinite" means. You can count a finite subset, but you cannot count the infinite ...
February 20, 2017 at 13:05
You don't seem to understand what "in principle" means. It is impossible to count the infinite, and this is what infinite means, that no matter how yo...
February 20, 2017 at 02:29
Yes, yes, that's exactly the point, the distinction between 'matter and property' was lost, because matter was taken for granted. If you read Newton, ...
February 20, 2017 at 02:17
Try this: See, you say that no one can actually count them, yet it has been proven that it is possible in principle to count them. It's not possible i...
February 20, 2017 at 01:57
As you said, the equations refer to mass, not matter itself. Mass is a measurable property of matter. The duality, or complexity, of substance is inhe...
February 20, 2017 at 01:42
No I don't see the difference, and you've already tried to explain, but all you do is contradict yourself. "Countable" means possible of being counted...
February 20, 2017 at 01:05
I have, but you can't believe that just because a mathematician says it is so, therefore it is so. There's a lot of misunderstanding and sophistry in ...
February 19, 2017 at 22:05
No, to say that one is infinitely bigger than the other is nonsense, unless you are assigning spatial magnitude to what is being counted. We are refer...
February 19, 2017 at 18:23
I don't agree with the Freudian model, especially the distinction between ego and superego. I use "subconscious" in a way defined by philosophy rather...
February 19, 2017 at 18:09
Your point?
February 19, 2017 at 17:41
Yes of course, but a subset of integers is not infinite. The difference here is with respect to the thing being counted, what is within the set, real ...
February 19, 2017 at 17:36
It can't be done, but that doesn't mean that the natural numbers are countable. Neither real nor natural numbers are actually countable, because of th...
February 19, 2017 at 14:37
That's the point, they are not countable, so to call them "countable" is just a name, a label, it doesn't mean that they are actually countable. You m...
February 19, 2017 at 14:10
Mass was said to be a fundamental property of matter, weight or some such thing, which is quantifiable. Matter has mass, means that the matter of a bo...
February 19, 2017 at 14:01
That's right. It appears very obvious to me that if it is impossible to count them, then it is false to say that they are countable. Why would you acc...
February 19, 2017 at 13:21
The argument I made to Pierre-Normand is that the concept of enduring substance is inherent within Newtonian physics, as the given. It is taken for gr...
February 18, 2017 at 22:56
Right, and to divide something it is to do something. So to assume that it is infinitely divisible is to assume that something is capable of dividing ...
February 18, 2017 at 22:49
OK, that's why it comes down to the accuracy of our theories of "space".
February 18, 2017 at 21:20
This is exactly the question brought up by the op. Is space actually infinitely divisible, or is this just a false assumption, a mistaken theory?
February 18, 2017 at 21:17
Well that's surely your problem not mine. You believe that something is possible (potentially doable) though it is actually impossible to do it. If yo...
February 18, 2017 at 21:15
Why must this question be answered first? If the philosophical nature is simply "the desire to know", then why can't we direct our inquisition toward ...
February 18, 2017 at 21:11
Well, I think that "substance" was proper to Aristotle's logic, the categories, while the unity of matter and form was proper to his physics. Now we c...
February 18, 2017 at 21:02
You're still making the same mistake. It is false to say that space is potentially infinitely divisible unless it actually is. It is false to say that...
February 18, 2017 at 20:23
You appear to be entering contradiction in an effort to support an untenable metaphysical position. Subconscious, by definition is not a form of consc...
February 18, 2017 at 12:55
If you say that things are different in some ways, and the same in other ways, this appears to prioritize difference, as these "ways" must be differen...
February 18, 2017 at 12:26
I don't think there is any issue with points in this paradox. I believe the problem is quite similar to how TheMadFool states it. The issue is the ass...
February 18, 2017 at 02:46
No, the fact that it is impossible to add infinitely many fractions is relevant. Because your premise is "if someone were to add infinitely many fract...
February 18, 2017 at 02:28
That would be really really boring. I already know you can do whatever you want with maths, just make it up as you go, and prove whatever you want to ...
February 18, 2017 at 02:21
From your Wikipedia page Banno: "As n approaches infinity, sn tends to aproach 1." Does that means =1 to you?
February 18, 2017 at 02:17
Didn't see anything there that says I don't understand mathematics. However,I am good at recognizing falsity when I see it though. Whether that falsit...
February 18, 2017 at 02:12
Because you know you're wrong.
February 18, 2017 at 01:58
So you are assuming that you can be done doing something an infinite amount of times? Sounds like a falsity to me.
February 18, 2017 at 01:57
Can't be done. What does that have to do with my question?
February 18, 2017 at 01:49