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

Pattern-chaser

Comments

"Red" and "green" are 'distinct enough', but when it comes to seeing colour, both are necessary, and not obviously distinct. Both are colours, and bot...
November 14, 2018 at 13:25
I think "wrong" is such a thorny concept that even this (above) can be wrong. Think about it for a few moments and you will be able to develop a parti...
November 14, 2018 at 12:50
I think "intelligence" is one of those words that we all understand, in general terms, but prove difficult to pin down when we try. There are lots of ...
November 14, 2018 at 12:43
This smacks of the position that some objective/science-oriented philosophers go for, whereby even the tiniest step away from Order is deemed to place...
November 12, 2018 at 18:13
All I am saying is that there is mental activity of some kind, a conclusion I derive from simple inference based on empirical observation. I surmise t...
November 12, 2018 at 17:06
I don't. :up: But I observe, by inference from empirical observation, there is mental stuff of some sort going on when, for example, we drive home wit...
November 12, 2018 at 16:02
They're phenomena that have to do with the brain, and its activities. This is about vocabulary, not more. "Mental" is the word we use for this purpose...
November 12, 2018 at 15:03
Empirical evidence. Our brains control many (all?) aspects of our physical behaviour. We call this "mental", presumably because it's the brain that do...
November 12, 2018 at 13:58
The driving home involves some sort of mental control. The physical body cannot achieve such things unaided. Deduction beyond this simple observation ...
November 12, 2018 at 13:53
I think you have misunderstood the idea of the subconscious. The word, and its intended meaning, stem from the fact that our conscious minds are unawa...
November 12, 2018 at 13:47
I don't think there is anything here to believe, only a definition to be understood. There are things we know that we do that we have no awareness of....
November 12, 2018 at 12:58
I think this may revolve around what you consider to be "a solid basis" for beliefs. Would you care to define what such a "solid base" might be? :chin...
November 10, 2018 at 20:46
Is there ever a need to describe something to yourself? I don't think so. We only describe things "to other people" because we only need to describe t...
November 08, 2018 at 16:26
And yet we have many words - and "God" is a good example, but far from the only one - whose definition is general, at best, or downright vague. Why do...
November 08, 2018 at 15:54
You have more confidence in my descriptive abilities than I have! :wink:
November 08, 2018 at 15:35
Yes, I'd love to agree with this ... but I believe in God, Someone I cannot adequately describe or define.... I'm human; sometimes we're "incoherent"....
November 08, 2018 at 13:54
So, not really "positively or actively believing", more acknowledging possibilities. :up: :smile: As you say, more agnostic/neutral. :up:
November 08, 2018 at 13:16
Isn't that what I said? :chin: ETA: I.e. France exists in a European context, but this does not exchange the One and Only Context that France can occu...
November 08, 2018 at 13:12
That looks to me like you're simply observing that contexts can be nested. France exists in its own context, and within Europe (...the world, solar sy...
November 07, 2018 at 16:55
Can something - anything - exist outside its own context? I can't parse that, I'm afraid.
November 07, 2018 at 16:06
I think it's a bit difficult to wholly disentangle X from the 'meaning of X', and from the language (labels, etc) we use to describe or define X. I te...
November 07, 2018 at 16:04
Interesting question! :up: :smile: Do I think existing-things are constrained by my ability to describe them? No. Do I therefore think that there coul...
November 07, 2018 at 16:00
It's so nice to meet an incurable optimist. :wink:
November 05, 2018 at 13:48
Given that God's existence cannot be proven, it seems unlikely. :wink:
November 04, 2018 at 18:00
"False equivalences"? Fair enough. Then you will be able to prove your belief, that God does not exist? :roll: I'm waiting....
November 01, 2018 at 19:24
Of course they didn't! Their beliefs cannot be proven any more than yours can. I'm surprised you didn't/don't know that. :chin:
November 01, 2018 at 17:51
I care. :smile: :up: I am a little worried about you, though. You are alarmingly willing to dismiss things without evidence. I thought you were a scie...
November 01, 2018 at 17:16
As you can't justify this opinion, I wonder why you assert it as though it was a proven fact? :chin: Oh, yes. You're human. We often assert the truth ...
November 01, 2018 at 17:09
No, I don't think I will. I haven't observed you doing anything unreasonable. I have offered empirical data: humans behave rationally, but we also beh...
November 01, 2018 at 16:59
Why not? :chin: The reasons why we believe stuff are many and varied. Why do you think we should believe based only on "evidence" or "reason"? Genuine...
October 30, 2018 at 16:31
Indeed. But why would/should we? People say these things on philosophy forums, but they don't seem to notice how uncommon reason is in our real-world ...
October 30, 2018 at 13:42
For nothing? Aside from the religious perspective, we can observe that people who have died still existed. They don't disappear without trace when the...
October 30, 2018 at 13:34
:smile: :up:
October 30, 2018 at 13:16
I think a society is a collection of humans, so I expect it to run as though it was comprised of humans, not Vulcans. :wink: I don't think it's useful...
October 30, 2018 at 13:14
Is design a subject you could follow? Or maybe some aspect of art? There's so much concentration on science these days that almost anything else, as a...
October 29, 2018 at 15:56
Society is. Many are more powerful than one. The moral imperative, because this is so, is for society only to over-rule individuals when it must....
October 29, 2018 at 15:52
She didn't. Someone else (or no-one at all) did that. :chin:
October 28, 2018 at 14:43
There are things that exist. Some of them exhibit mental (non-physical?) qualities, and some exhibit physical qualities. Some exhibit both. I would no...
October 28, 2018 at 14:42
Ah, the Eternal Question. :wink: I'm autistic, so this question has been central to my life. Sadly, the answer has not. Making friends is very hard. I...
October 28, 2018 at 14:31
Yes! :up: The things we need to do are many and urgent. Although recycling is a Good Thing, it is very far from enough. We must reduce cycling (if you...
October 28, 2018 at 14:26
That could be difficult, when nearly all English words have more than one dictionary-meaning. :chin:
October 27, 2018 at 16:12
But Occam's Razor is a rule of thumb, a guideline, a way of guessing. Denialists are looking for something certain. Now I consider this an unreasonabl...
October 27, 2018 at 15:12
Then you are doomed! :smile: I'm pretty sure Descartes' demon is not as effective as you describe, but there seems little point in pursuing the matter...
October 27, 2018 at 14:24
Sorry, you lost me. :confused:
October 27, 2018 at 14:04
I didn't say it was universally agreed. But if thinking is going on, something is doing it, and that *something* has Objective Existence. Therefore, a...
October 27, 2018 at 14:00
Actually, many people (myself included) believe that we can justify the existence of Objective Reality via Descartes' cogito. Despite the difficulties...
October 27, 2018 at 11:04
Are any of the proposals posted here easy ones? No. The problems we have are Big Problems. There are no easy fixes. To save the world, we will have to...
October 27, 2018 at 10:54
Good. :up: Then accept it and move on. Find things that work for you, even though you know you won't be able to prove them correct. :chin:
October 26, 2018 at 15:59
My understanding of this nihilistic realism is of throwing our toys out of our pram. :smile: We discover that there is no (Objective) proof of anythin...
October 26, 2018 at 15:39
Egotistical and smug are both easy. Anyone can do them. Even me. Let's try something more challenging, eh? :wink:
October 26, 2018 at 14:39