Terrapin Station

?? I have no idea why you'd think this. Determinism simply means that when, say, particle A acts on particle B, there's only one possibility re how th...

I'd have to read Fodor in more detail, but what he appears to be saying there is that meaning isn't literally contained in a sentence like "Paderewski...

That's fine. but it couldn't be clearer that there is no data on whether the human species is going to go extinct, for example, to even start doing pr...

The golden rule is prescriptive, not descriptive. Where would how I want to be treated come into the picture? I'm supposed to treat you how you want t...

I'd say that it's what they're taken to represent, and add "just in case someone is using correspondence theory." What they're taken to represent is a...

Which is a good motivation--I've always felt that the theory of descriptions was ridiculous, but unfortunately, rigid designators are no better. I'd s...

One big problem that I have with Bostrom's paper is the usage of terms like "very likely," "extremely unlikely," "significant chance," etc. when in fa...

We're not separate from the world. Facts are everything with respect to the way the world is, including the way that humans are. We connect to facts t...

What they're actually investigating is what happens in the computer program they wrote. ;-) At any rate, so not actually our descendants, but our imag...

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" seems like it's about personal feelings. What else is "as you would have" if not personal?

Ancestors, rather. Unless the idea is that they invented time travel, too. (Also, if our ancestors created the computer/computer program that is the u...

I'm fine with that part, and even though I buy that there are some free phenomena, it's less clear just what the balance might be. Free phenomena migh...

No, facts are not statements. Facts are (a) only. You seem to be conflating facts and propositions. They're two different things.

If they added it to the dictionary, it must be regularly in use, no? I thought that was a criterion for the admission of new words. The thing is, thou...

If you like it, is it depression?

Well, what is it that you're describing when you utter a description? You're describing how the world is, right? That "how the world is" is what facts...

I haven't the faintest idea how you'd get that from what I just wrote. I'm not saying anything like that. Facts and propositions are two different thi...

Some things are only mental phenoma though. Those things include values, assessments (of things like usefulness), etc. Re "self-justification and circ...

Right, but folks, including me, brought up problems with your formulation per your stated goals. So unless you have objections to those objections, it...

"It is the case that" denotes a fact. Facts are states of affairs. "Ways the world is" in other words. Truth-value is a judgment about the relationshi...

Seriously, though, I don't bring up philosophy with anyone who doesn't bring it up first. A lot of my friends and family have no interest in it. A lot...

I post here, don't I?

Actually, your comment above made me realize I misread your question (because at first I was like "It was a yes or no question? Wha??) I read your que...

I gave an honest answer in the first place. If you want a particular (kind of) answer, either specify your limitations better or just have a conversat...

In other words, why would I believe that the only means of there being something in a world is via there being creatures to have perceptions?

Obviously I'm not any sort of ontological idealist.

I've always been confused about the UK parties, so I did that one, too: https://s30.postimg.org/mw88p0569/Publication2.jpg

Well, although I've taken those tests a number of times and I'm pretty sure that I don't consistently answer the questions. (Well, most of the questio...

i don't think that you're disagreeing with logical form. I think you're disagreeing, at least intuitively, with what "truth" denotes. You don't buy th...

That is certainly the case when the context isn't different between "it's true" and "there are no truths." However, ALL that I'm saying is that it's m...

Okay, but understanding that on my view, truth values are simply judgments, when we put the word "truth" back into the statement, I'm saying the exact...

For purposes of understanding on your part. The word "truth" is confusing you. And you're not answering the question: "In my judgment in 2016, there w...

Well, I definitely agree that "In world x, it's true that there is no truth in world x" is contradictory. But that's not what's being said. As I sugge...

Because you're ignoring context. From world y, it's true that there are no truths in world x. At time T2, it's true that there are no truths at time T...

Knowing something doesn't have anything to do with certainty or with it being necessarily true.

I'm not saying anything about it being necessarily true, though. Given what I think truth is, after all, the whole idea of something being necessarily...

These things are never very accurate for me, because I always have serious problems with the questions. Usually the vast majority of the questions rea...

What in the world? No. I'm not saying anything like that. Again, maybe try understanding what I'm saying rather than being so obsessed with "disprovin...

I'm not saying anything about sets containing themselves.

If only we couldn't make your confusions "old ground."

Sure, we could talk about Time T1 versus T2. I pointed out the confusions you were making with that earlier. In that context, the problem wout be this...

Which, in other words, is possible world x Possible world x is different than actual world y. And stop mentioning circularity if you don't know what i...

Here, you're conflating about world x and in(side of) world x. We're in world y, of course. Any claims we make about world x are made from within worl...

Well, they're identical. So what goes for one goes for the other. Setting forth an identity certainly isn't an "illegal" move in logic. Aren't you abl...

You're not ignoring the word "tendency" and reading it as an "absolute" instead, are you?

Two problems with this comment: (1) You have no idea what a and b are. They're variables. I'm not asking you to plug anything into the variables. That...

Conservatism refers to particular views, but it also refers to a general tendency to avoid change and to prefer traditionalism for its own sake. (Henc...

By the way, in your view, the following isn't a valid argument? a is identical to b b only occurs when there are Fs. In domain x, there are no Fs. The...

You said that something can't be "true in logic without contradiction."

Empirical claims are not provable period. I'm not at all talking about proofs, I'm not at all claiming that anything empirical I believe is proved or ...