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Isaac

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This is the matter that I'm taking issue with though. Not with pragmatism in the 'doing the washing up' sense, but with pragmatism of the 'how can we ...
April 15, 2019 at 12:39
Why must 'subjective' and 'objective' mean only one thing each? Surely if we're talking about the terms in ordinary language then we would fully expec...
April 15, 2019 at 11:55
Yes, but I think hinge propositions apply here too. Like the 'discussion' we had with Jake, at some point in the questioning one has to simply accept ...
April 15, 2019 at 11:28
Really? Why do you think it's 'sketchy' the London Marathon is run by a few thousand people each year, I think it's pretty safe to say they all at lea...
April 15, 2019 at 07:40
You are making some very strange assertions which seem completely unrelated to the point at hand. We are discussing the meaning of signs, yes? Signs i...
April 15, 2019 at 07:24
Hopefully not treading on anyone's toes here because I think this might be the point @"Terrapin Station" was heading towards, but an analogy might be ...
April 15, 2019 at 07:04
I didn't say the intent would change or go away, I said the meaning would no longer be related to it. The intent of the law-makers might have been to ...
April 14, 2019 at 15:38
Right, so if 'the community' dynamically evolve a standard which differs from that of the people who created or instigated the lights, then that is wh...
April 14, 2019 at 13:43
Well, by my definition of 'fact' it would, yes, but that's not what the OP appears to be talking about. They appear to be defining 'fact' rather idios...
April 14, 2019 at 12:59
Yes, I most commonly come across that as a pejorative response to a claim which is intended to carry some weight. "Shakespeare is a brilliant writer" ...
April 14, 2019 at 10:37
I see. I misunderstood your approach as claiming there to be some metaphysical, or ontological significance to the term. If you're just trying to make...
April 14, 2019 at 09:43
What does it mean then? More confusing than assuming they don't? If some claims do have an implied "in my opinion" why would you treat them all as if ...
April 14, 2019 at 09:19
I don't disagree with that at all. I'm not saying that truth is intersubjectively confirmed, only that it becomes difficult to talk about truth, in th...
April 14, 2019 at 07:57
This is very salient, I think, but perhaps I could add this to my list of problems which dissolve if we don't get too tangled in the form of an expres...
April 14, 2019 at 07:32
Yes, that's the point. Why get tangled in what the language is constructed like? This is classic Wittgenstein, we are impressed by the shape of the gr...
April 14, 2019 at 07:04
I'm glad someone understood the relevance (or maybe everyone did, but thought it unworthy of response)
April 14, 2019 at 06:52
Fair enough. To answer your first question, the part I took issue with specifically was "being true does not imply being believed". Obviously, as we h...
April 14, 2019 at 06:49
Truth can instrumentally be collective belief. Personally I don't need any more than that. It is true that bishops move diagonally in chess is entirel...
April 14, 2019 at 06:44
Basically, you answered your own question. I felt that the distinction as Banno originally described it was too mutually exclusive when, as you point ...
April 14, 2019 at 06:42
Yes, but how does their setting up a standard and legally enforcing it make it 'mean'? What word would be left to describe the rules of an urban race ...
April 14, 2019 at 06:36
Exactly. I was preempting what the discussion eventually became about, which is that the OP already had in mind a definition of 'fact' which determine...
April 14, 2019 at 06:28
No one asked what the definitions of the two classes were. The claim is that one class is empty.
April 13, 2019 at 20:01
Perhaps we should, but as with the light, I should also want to know how that which determines the meaning of meaning enforces such a determination.
April 13, 2019 at 19:13
How? The law-makers say "amber means get ready to stop" how does their saying so make it mean that?
April 13, 2019 at 18:49
Apologies for lowering the tone, but on the subject of subjective truth, I was reminded of a John finnemore joke. "I see you've brought your ridiculou...
April 13, 2019 at 18:08
I don't see the authority law has to determine its meaning. The amber light means what it means to the community of light-users. I don't see how the i...
April 13, 2019 at 17:13
I don't see intent having such a leading role. Imagine a sign actually being made and put in place. Who really intends for the pointy end to point to ...
April 13, 2019 at 16:06
The question was rhetorical (I seem to be having an inordinate amount of trouble making my posts understood on this thread), but your answer is pretty...
April 13, 2019 at 16:01
I think this is a classic example of a philosophical problem which dissolves when one looks closely at the language. If one say "anchovies are disgust...
April 13, 2019 at 12:56
Yes, that's a much clearer example. I was going to focus on mathematics, but the reality there is contentious, so I ditched that as an example. Money ...
April 13, 2019 at 10:35
Yes, we are agreed on that. I think I would go as far as to say this renders subjective truth meaningless, in that it would only ever refer to a categ...
April 13, 2019 at 10:33
It matters because you're defining truth with it, and yet you do not know it. Truth is a word we use, if it only refers to that which we cannot know i...
April 13, 2019 at 08:26
My contention, to lay it out as clearly as possible, is that we can only be said to hold a belief which is not true if 'true' refers to some state of ...
April 13, 2019 at 08:14
So if I started using the word 'cat' to mean 'a flat surface for writing on' it would become 'true' that 'cat' means 'a flat surface for writing on'? ...
April 13, 2019 at 08:06
That's not the point at all. Is it true that the word 'cat' refers to members of the feline genus? Is it true that the word 'book' refers to some boun...
April 13, 2019 at 07:56
You said that truth and belief must be two separate things because it is possible to believe something which is untrue, right? I'm arguing that this o...
April 13, 2019 at 07:47
Where did I suggest such a thing? I haven't even mentioned mats. I spoke only about the meaning of the word 'cat'. The thing 'cat' (or 'chat') refers ...
April 13, 2019 at 07:32
But how does anyone tell if it is stated sincerely. Equating a sincere statement about one's own preference with objective truth, assumes one invariab...
April 13, 2019 at 07:19
What? Are you suggesting that the word 'cat' refers to the creature it does because "the cat is on the mat"? I don't even understand what that could m...
April 13, 2019 at 07:01
Right, so if you don't take a position seriously because of your opinion of it, then it's OK to not try and understand it from its own presuppositions...
April 13, 2019 at 06:56
Yes. That the word 'cat' refers to the feline genus is an objective fact (it is not my opinion). But it is only the case because it is believed to be ...
April 13, 2019 at 06:42
Intended by whom? Not the signpost maker, he will have simply presumed, made a sign with a pointy end and pointed it at Dublin, because that's what on...
April 13, 2019 at 06:36
All that you've proven there is that individual belief is not truth (ie that it is possible for at least some belief to contradict truth). You haven't...
April 13, 2019 at 06:27
When religious people seek answers, they turn to their holy book. - and reason which they use to understand the meaning of the words there and how the...
April 12, 2019 at 20:16
As I said, I wouldn't want to suggest a mutually exclusive boundary between published and unpublished works, nor between earlier and later works, nor ...
April 12, 2019 at 16:06
Absolutely. I would hesitate also to glean too much from a book the author themselves later rejected some conclusions from. Yes, but the vast majority...
April 12, 2019 at 13:11
For fuck's sake. You think there have been no substantive, valid, counter arguments presented. Other people think their counter arguments are substant...
April 12, 2019 at 12:56
And you have used the word 'memory' does that mean we're talking about memory now? The topic is objective truth, your claim is that all truth is objec...
April 12, 2019 at 12:33
All of your arguments hinge on your idiosyncratic definition of infinite. It is obvious to any moderately intelligent reader and your denial is dising...
April 12, 2019 at 12:22
My post was supposed to be an answer to the question. If I asked you "which is better at golf - mathematics or the capital of Spain", you could not an...
April 12, 2019 at 12:15