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

Ciaran

['Member']Joined: December 13, 2018 at 08:31Last active: December 18, 2018 at 06:14None discussions53 comments

Comments

...but that is because my mind works so phenomenally fast, and I am at a rough estimate thirty billion times more intelligent than you. Let me give yo...
December 16, 2018 at 12:02
Pretending what? Are you intending that an invitation to comment preceeded by a insult is actually taken to be genuine? I've written what it is that I...
December 16, 2018 at 11:57
I thought we were trying to avoid crass personal denigrations. What is that I've said so far that would justify your fake incredulity, that I don't ag...
December 16, 2018 at 11:10
No. I'm having to guess that. As I said right at the beginning, no one has actually specified what it is they're trying to do here yet. I'm guessing y...
December 16, 2018 at 10:05
So what were you meaning by using the term "verify" then. You have two measures, your tape and the Standard Metre. You're saying that to verify your t...
December 16, 2018 at 09:34
'Metre' is just word, nothing more. There is no thing that it 'really' is beyond what we use it for. So my tape measure is the standard for the langua...
December 16, 2018 at 09:03
No, the tape measures metre was defined by the Standard Metre. Who know what havoc temperature and humidity have wreaked on either in the meantime, bu...
December 16, 2018 at 08:20
No, it's a definition of a metre in a particular language game, in the real world. When you are measuring up for your shed, the definition of a metre ...
December 16, 2018 at 08:11
Right, so what's preventing you from using exactly the same technique to measure the stick? It's sufficient for you to consider your plank (or whateve...
December 16, 2018 at 08:08
Sorry, I'm not following you here, what do you mean by "a few minutes on Google will suffice"? The Internet is an excellent source of material but I t...
December 16, 2018 at 08:06
If I may jump in to ask you a question, how do you personally typically verify if things are a metre long?
December 16, 2018 at 07:55
Well yeah, do you think anyone else here has worked out their thoughts based on nothing but reading the actual text? I mean I'd admire their dedicatio...
December 16, 2018 at 07:50
No, I've read some other people's opinions about the point of the whole book and found one which I liked. I presume you're aware that there is a huge ...
December 16, 2018 at 07:39
Eh?
December 16, 2018 at 07:25
This is the point of the whole book. We did not ought to waste our time puzzling over it because the entire question only arises as an artifact of our...
December 16, 2018 at 07:10
We can't have got "the one" with no holes if it's "the only one that exists" in order to be surprised we got this one it can only be because there wer...
December 15, 2018 at 18:01
Yeah, but I don't understand the relevance. Are you suggesting that commenting on the meaning of section 50 of Philosophical Investigations is not on-...
December 15, 2018 at 17:44
It's not, for me, that these issues aren't dealt with until later though. They arise directly from questions I think many people have with the text as...
December 15, 2018 at 17:37
The main point of of 50 is not simply to declare that this inability to attribute existence to simples is a rule within the language game, Wittgenstei...
December 15, 2018 at 16:07
Nope, still not getting it, given a billion pots, given that it is possible for one to be hole-less, why is it surprising to find that one is?
December 15, 2018 at 13:41
Every pot has water poured into it (life has the theoretical opportunity to develop in every possible universe), why is it surprising that the only on...
December 15, 2018 at 11:58
But we're not picking a pot at random. In the example, we're the water. We could only be in the pot without a hole so why is it surprising that that's...
December 15, 2018 at 11:38
No, we do not have to ask that. If our single universe were not life supporting we would not be in it to ask the question, so it's obvious that our un...
December 15, 2018 at 11:12
It's not his writing style per se, although I do think that is relevant. It the structure of any such investigation. No one writes a treatise about ho...
December 15, 2018 at 11:06
Right, so you seem to be saying that the only possible way a universe could be, is to be like ours, and then you're saying it's unlikely that the univ...
December 15, 2018 at 10:46
I'll defer to your much greater experience on the matter. I've certainly found discussing things with my reading group useful, having unfortunately re...
December 15, 2018 at 10:34
Eh? Are all the other universes going to lack cohesion or come out like ours?
December 15, 2018 at 10:13
Well.. I do, obviously. Yes, I agree. Unless you're trying to claim that "the point" being developed is one about how what people think about the way ...
December 15, 2018 at 09:59
I'll ask you the same question I've just asked Banno, if that's OK. Could you give a rough idea of what sources you think Wittgenstein was working fro...
December 15, 2018 at 08:11
But we've not picked one at random have we? We're talking about the one we're in, which, by definition is the one that's suitable for life. Where does...
December 15, 2018 at 08:00
What do you mean by this? Why do you think that Wittgenstein presents such a theory? If his goal is to actually discuss language acquisition and use, ...
December 15, 2018 at 07:53
Where would you fit? I mean if you travelled back in time wherever you'd want to be, stuff would already be there (from the current time) so where wou...
December 14, 2018 at 16:48
Absolutely. Well said.
December 14, 2018 at 16:45
Right, so how does that have any bearing on the necessity of God? The universe is suitable for life, I'm not seeing the need to explain that via a cre...
December 14, 2018 at 16:44
The trouble is you have no defined measure of complex here. I could argue that anything with God in it seems more complex, it gets us nowhere. No, the...
December 14, 2018 at 15:15
It's not really about complexity, it's about necessity. The question I would ask myself of any phenomenon is "can I explain this using forces I've alr...
December 14, 2018 at 14:48
I was always under the impression that Science (by which I think we mean investigations carried out by some sort of approved methodology) included som...
December 14, 2018 at 14:24
Yes, it's not the need to demonstrate that I was raising as an example, it's the nature of that which is demonstrated. He does not proceed from one ex...
December 14, 2018 at 14:11
I'm sorry if I've offended you or acted inappropriately, It was not my intention. I don't think there is a way to discuss it "properly" so it was cert...
December 14, 2018 at 12:38
In: Brexit  — view comment
Surely if the aim is to carry out the will of the people, then any number of referenda at any time should be acceptable because on each occasion we wi...
December 14, 2018 at 11:59
Reading the PI is not a collective activity, discussing it is. Its the nature and conduct of the second part I was enquiring about, not the first.
December 14, 2018 at 08:46
Sorry, I know I'm new here and maybe I'm completely misunderstanding the sort of thing this forum is (if so, I apologise profoundly) but I really don'...
December 14, 2018 at 08:20
Really, and you've never heard a football manager claim their players gave "110 percent" with exactly the same utter failure to recognise anything ami...
December 14, 2018 at 07:21
Yet you've still failed to define what 'good' actually is in this context. How can you make assertions about what is 'good' and what is 'bad' without ...
December 14, 2018 at 07:15
Not at all. If Wittgenstein had intended, in these first sections, to simply lay out the problems, and if those problems were simply the linguistic on...
December 14, 2018 at 06:44
I'm not sure I can agree with your analysis here. I understand entirely how the bigger question of Wittgenstein's intention cannot be deduced from the...
December 13, 2018 at 16:26
The problem with this approach is that you seem to be using reason to determine that those who take the application of reason for granted have a blind...
December 13, 2018 at 13:50
Yeah, I mean I'm quite happy with 100% determinism myself, but if you're looking for an alternative which also provides an explanation of why some peo...
December 13, 2018 at 13:46
It's the "that" and "is" I'm having trouble with. Replace them both with "could be" and you'll have a fine theory, but trying to prove that they actua...
December 13, 2018 at 13:33
What would measure a 'correct' interpretation? One which reflects what Wittgenstein actually meant? (how could we possibly know, and why would that ma...
December 13, 2018 at 13:28