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

MetaphysicsNow

Comments

In: Mental illness, physical illness, self-control  — view comment
The lie is that X's behaviour is not within his control. The bad reason he is giving himself for insisting on this is that his behaviour is caused by ...
April 27, 2018 at 10:16
In: Is it true that the moon does not exist if nobody is looking at it?  — view comment
As I see it, phenomenalistic/subjective idealism faces three challenges: 1) Avoid the collapse to solipsism 2) Account for the apparent permance of pa...
April 27, 2018 at 08:35
In: Is it true that the moon does not exist if nobody is looking at it?  — view comment
I have heard of, but not read, Foster. As far as I am aware his basic argument is epistemological in nature, and the problem with that (at least insof...
April 27, 2018 at 08:27
In: Is it true that the moon does not exist if nobody is looking at it?  — view comment
I don't think fundamental metaphysical disputes will ever be resolved :wink: Having said that, I share your opinion that you cannot even attempt to re...
April 27, 2018 at 08:23
In: Is it true that the moon does not exist if nobody is looking at it?  — view comment
For a materialist interpretation - Wheeler's "many worlds" comes to mind. The Von Neumann-Wigner interpretation is often cited as an idealistic one, b...
April 27, 2018 at 07:57
In: Mental illness, physical illness, self-control  — view comment
I think this is spot on. Norman Malcolm's paper "The Conceivability of Mechanism" and Strawson's "Freedom and Resentment" come to mind as relevant her...
April 27, 2018 at 07:45
In: Is it true that the moon does not exist if nobody is looking at it?  — view comment
Quantum mechanics is at best irrelevant to the idealism v materialism debate, and at worse just invites obscurantism and confusion. A materialist inte...
April 26, 2018 at 17:24
In: Mental illness, physical illness, self-control  — view comment
Agreed. However X appears to be trying to exonerate himself for not engaging in those struggles by appealing to the fact that he has a disease which p...
April 26, 2018 at 16:08
In: Mental illness, physical illness, self-control  — view comment
Do you mean that we all engage in OCD rituals, or do you mean that we all have psychological hang ups of one kind or another? If the former, I don' th...
April 26, 2018 at 16:01
In: Mental illness, physical illness, self-control  — view comment
X's reasoning certainly led him to seek therapeutic help. Before therapy X had about a dozen distinct OCD rituals. The therapist regarded these ritual...
April 26, 2018 at 15:52
In: Mental illness, physical illness, self-control  — view comment
"Facing the fear" as you put it is to use one's reason to overcome a problem - you are basically reasoning yourself into acting in a way that you are ...
April 26, 2018 at 09:52
In: Mental illness, physical illness, self-control  — view comment
Incidently, I am not patient X - so do not worry about possibly offending me with your response.
April 26, 2018 at 08:44
In: Is 'information' physical?  — view comment
Because it is a carefully reasoned, reasonably short article on nominalism that will, if you read it with care, help you understand what nominalism is...
April 26, 2018 at 07:17
In: Is 'information' physical?  — view comment
I leave you with the recommendation to read this article https://www.jstor.org/stable/43154157?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
April 25, 2018 at 15:47
In: Is 'information' physical?  — view comment
"P" is a pattern, patterns are not events, events are (amongst other things) things that conform to or break patterns. Let's say that pattern P is the...
April 25, 2018 at 15:15
In: Is 'information' physical?  — view comment
"consistent, recurring or reiterative" are you supposing those terms are synonymous? Pick up a dictionary, they are not. Nevertheless, leaving your ma...
April 25, 2018 at 14:29
In: Is 'information' physical?  — view comment
Definition of the claim "Everything is in constant flux": Every single existent thing alters from one moment to the next. Definition: "General regular...
April 25, 2018 at 13:39
In: Is 'information' physical?  — view comment
So instead of It's not that because everything is always in flux that there is no general stability to things. You should have more accurately stated;...
April 25, 2018 at 12:17
In: Is 'information' physical?  — view comment
Metaphysician Undercover has been too patient trying to help you understand your errors and as a result has allowed you another opportunity to become ...
April 25, 2018 at 11:49
In: Just a little fun: Top Trumps Philosophers  — view comment
I echo a couple of others on here - you should ammend the typo in your discussion title :wink: Top trumps philosophers will have to avoid a Zeno card ...
April 25, 2018 at 08:15
⇧