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Metaphysician Undercover

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Wayfarer, have you ever heard the saying that history repeats itself? Consider ancient Greece, where Socrates frequented the forum in an effort to exp...
December 12, 2016 at 15:40
I think that the point we are getting to here is the question concerning the nature of "value judgements". I would ask, is a so-called "value" judgeme...
December 12, 2016 at 14:54
In this case, what I refer to with "we" is what I believe to be every human being in the world. None of us have the adequate understanding of the natu...
December 12, 2016 at 14:34
The slits are an object, and so have actual existence. Their existence justified by past observation. Objects have substantial existence, and I divide...
December 12, 2016 at 14:29
There is no such thing as the convergence of particle world lines, each is an individual. You could create an average, or a gravitational centre, but ...
December 12, 2016 at 12:49
Well, as Agustino says above, you have to think that you're a genius before you can actually be one. But this is just inviting people to make fun of y...
December 12, 2016 at 02:15
Chemicals to make the mind stronger are a real possibility, but I think you're playing with fire there.
December 12, 2016 at 02:07
I am not arguing that the starting point is baseless, I am arguing that it is useless, or meaningless. It is a staring point, so it is a base. Let me ...
December 12, 2016 at 01:44
You appear to have gotten lost and confused now Agustino. Look at the op, you clearly define mental strength as the opposite of mental illness. Now yo...
December 11, 2016 at 14:20
The basic thing that we don't understand is the nature of time. There is One fundamental principle which is well proven by experience, and therefore p...
December 11, 2016 at 13:51
I just did a quick read on Wikipedia and found that a world line applies to a point. Yet you referred to a "distribution of particles". So it appears ...
December 11, 2016 at 05:09
I've already explained my grounds, temporal continuity needs to be justified. If you're attempting to justify continuity with "a world line", then can...
December 11, 2016 at 05:02
Potential is real, and therefore must have some type of existence, though it is distinct from actual existence. We can assign "actual existence" to wh...
December 11, 2016 at 04:56
Clearly it's causal, an object cannot be random. Random existence is unintelligible but an object's existence is intelligible.
December 11, 2016 at 04:43
I assume you understand that there is a distinction between past and future. An actually existing object owes its actual existence to the fact that it...
December 11, 2016 at 04:36
The argument from Aristotle is that all objects are particulars. Each and every object exists as the particular object which it is, and nothing else. ...
December 10, 2016 at 19:08
I don't necessarily agree that westerners have less rituals. It could be, that the rituals are just simpler, subliminal, taken for granted and therefo...
December 10, 2016 at 14:16
Thank you unenlightened, you've expressed very well what I was only capable of alluding to. Agustino's mental strength, which is called a "capacity" d...
December 10, 2016 at 13:14
It is a simple fact that the third person description cannot account for the first person, and this can easily be demonstrated from the way we analyze...
December 10, 2016 at 12:43
I think the handshake is an expression of giving. I give you my hand, says I trust you, and the other gives a hand right back to reciprocate. Consider...
December 10, 2016 at 12:11
Saying that temporal continuity, "object persistence", is part of the concept of the object, does not justify the assumption. That's like saying that ...
December 10, 2016 at 01:13
It's your thread, your definitions, you tell me your understanding of this non-physical capacity which you call mental strength. That's what I'm inter...
December 10, 2016 at 00:49
Strength could apply in two ways here, with respect to value. First, there is the need for a certain mental strength which gives us the capacity to es...
December 09, 2016 at 22:42
I can't see your point here, ideas are formulations. Have you ever met an idea which is not a formulation? It appears like you are trying to separate ...
December 09, 2016 at 22:30
The definitions of the op are rather useless. By defining the positive with the negative they imply an infinite regress of circular reference. The pri...
December 09, 2016 at 13:44
Anxiety is a chemical imbalance. It may be produced by a fear of something, or it may be produced by something else. If it is produced by something el...
December 09, 2016 at 12:42
Well what you said, is that the ontological possibility is "something non-contradictory that could obtain within the constraints of a given actual wor...
December 09, 2016 at 12:13
Talking about something does not cause the existence of the talked about thing. So if such aspects of the apple are changing, then by what principle d...
December 09, 2016 at 03:38
OK, so as I said, "ontological possibility" is defined according to a relationship to an actual world. Do you not agree that to understand what an ont...
December 09, 2016 at 03:10
Hmm, here's a question for you then. If the history of the world is called the evolution of the wavefunction, then what is the future of the world?
December 09, 2016 at 03:05
Perhaps you are in a different world? It seems like every participant in this thread is in one's own world. At least we are somewhat capable of intera...
December 09, 2016 at 02:52
We're just going around in circles. You accepted that there is a difference between a simple logical possibility, and an ontological possibility. Onto...
December 09, 2016 at 02:46
Ok, so here's the point. If an ontological possibility is something which could obtain within the constraints of a given actual world, then mustn't we...
December 08, 2016 at 23:14
OK, let's try this then, we can start with logical versus ontological possibilities. Do you agree that ontological possibility is a sub-category of lo...
December 08, 2016 at 22:02
The point though, is that unless you allow real relationships between what has actual existence, and any real possibilities, then you have no way of d...
December 08, 2016 at 21:05
If I understand correctly, then according to the modal logic of "possible worlds", there is absolutely no way to distinguish one possible world from a...
December 08, 2016 at 19:41
You do not recognize a relationship between what actually exists, and what is possible, therefore I assume that for you, any, and every, possibility i...
December 08, 2016 at 19:29
No, logical modalities are a very specialized use of these terms, possibility and necessity. Check your dictionary, for the #1 definition of necessary...
December 08, 2016 at 14:09
Aquinas is known for his claim that God is a being Whose existence is His essence. If we interpret "essence" as the form, or 'what' a thing is, and ex...
December 08, 2016 at 13:53
If Many-Worlds is proven false, we will know for sure that the worlds are not real. I think the problem is that physicists are trying to understand th...
December 08, 2016 at 12:19
I'm not talking about modalities, so if you're attempting to understand this under the terms of modalities, it's no wonder that you don't understand. ...
December 08, 2016 at 03:13
No, I'm not saying that a colour is necessarily a colour, though it is this same type of necessity which I refer to. I'm saying that red is necessaril...
December 08, 2016 at 02:14
Well sure, we've gone beyond the mistakes of the op here, but is it really correct to say that sensing does not extend beyond the surface of the sensi...
December 07, 2016 at 22:17
Do you agree that red is necessarily a colour? That is what I mean by a relationship of necessity, a logical relationship, one such as the relationshi...
December 07, 2016 at 21:55
Those are all good questions, but if they are unanswerable, perhaps they are not so good. I'll start with "where is it located?". As I've been explain...
December 07, 2016 at 13:46
I really think that you're not grasping what a general form is. The general form gains it's intelligibility by participating in, or being part of a la...
December 07, 2016 at 13:05
Well, if you cannot see that it is explicitly contradictory to say that "there is just one thing", and that this one thing is a multitude of configura...
December 07, 2016 at 12:19
OK, we can, in theory. separate the activity which is moving the body, from the activity which is the act of sensing. The activity of sensing is neuro...
December 07, 2016 at 12:04
Well clearly, this is where we differ. I don't believe in the perfect, or ideal maple leaf. I don't think there is any such thing. I believe that the ...
December 07, 2016 at 02:41
Through the relationship which was established by the one who made the marks. When the person made the marks, there was a relationship between the mar...
December 07, 2016 at 01:52