Fooloso4

And the counter-argument is that because things are different they interact in different ways. We can observe this and describe this but these interac...

It is not that he is trying to escape solipsism but if all he knows is the content of his mind he has, so to speak, painted himself into a solipsistic...

I am addressing this claim: That is simply not true. It is trivially obvious unless observed we cannot know or say what that shape is, but shape is in...

The stone either moves along with the current or not. This happens whether we observe it or not. Whether or not it happens depends on its shape. In an...

A self-imposed isolation that only arose only because, as he said at the start of the first meditation: In order to do this he says he will withhold c...

We can be more specific. We meet on the bank of the Concord River where Thoreau hunted for rocks for his collection. We find two stones, formed millio...

It is merely a claim. It is not a theoretical or metaphysical issue, but an actual practical one. Your metaphysical assumptions are an impediment. Thi...

So, the reality is he has this idea, that is, an image in his mind. As he says: Objectively, that is, as objects of the mind, his having these ideas c...

I agree, but I don't think it follows that: A stone carried along in a river will either continue on downstream or get stuck if it bumps up against so...

I thought of you when I quoted it. You had mentioned it before but couldn't remember where you read it What would someone who had never seen a lamp se...

More thoughts on Descartes "I" In the Synopsis he says, parenthetically: The omission of sin from a discussion of what a human self is of utmost signi...

So we are back to my original question: In response you said: But now it seems that in order for there to be experience there must be us or something ...

The fact that we cannot now explain consciousness does not mean that there is not a physical explanation. This is an old story in the history of scien...

This is why I asked about the "something" that has always been capable of observing. If it is true that we cannot get outside our understanding of the...

I would say that the physical world is represented. It is not the thing itself, but both what is represented and experience are of something. Is the a...

Interesting observation, but how well does it fit with his example of the wax? For example:

This should be looked at against the background of the tradition he is rejecting. Aristotle regarded such things as being related to the soul, but sin...

There is a shift in this paragraph from the certainty of being a thinking thing that perceives to the certainty of "whatever" it is that he perceives ...

Can you explain how that works? We have, however, made considerable progress in explaining things physically. The claim that things are experience (es...

Does science suggest that there was mind experiencing itself experiencing? Or that there is something experienced that is not experience? That there i...

I don't see it as an answer but as a bald assertion without sufficient evidence. Things are manifestations of experience? Experience of what? Experien...

According to Kastrup's Essentia website If the nature of reality is essentially experiential does this mean that prior to experiential animals there w...

As quoted from the third meditation in my response to Janus, he distinguishes between thoughts that are images and others that are: When, for example,...

He does say: Are you saying he does not think it does or that you do not think it does? In the third meditation he says: In what follows there are a f...

Here is John Cottingham's translation of this passage: According to this translation it is not some mysterious part of himself, but the 'I' itself. Wh...

Good point. In the second meditation Descartes says: The "clear and distinct" perception of the wax is the result of reason. What is perceived is the ...

Can you explain what you mean?

For Descartes mathematics is the model of reason. Just as in mathematics, if one does not mistake a mistake then everyone, whatever their beliefs and ...

It is not that it must be misleading by nature, but that like the senses it can be misleading. It is not, by itself, a reliable source of knowledge.

Contrary to Aristotle, Descartes claims that we do not see things is the world, but rather representations in the mind. This leads to the problem of j...

Note how often he uses the term 'imagine' in the second meditation: Starting with the soul he says: He goes on to say a few paragraphs later: This can...

We should not overlook the following from the first paragraph of the second meditation: The task of finding something that is certain is not simply a ...

In the thread "Philosophy is for questioning religion" the topic of esoteric philosophical writing came up. I quoted something from Descartes. This on...

There is an online appendix to Meltzer's Philosophy Between the Lines that consists of quotes, both ancient and modern, by and about philosophers. The...

Is having a sense of something and making sense of something two different senses of sense? What is the minimum requirement for minimal intellect? Is ...

The question was raised about the connection between the senses and the intellect. Since Descartes denies that animals have intellect we should consid...

As I think you know, he will confirm this. This is, of course, a very old problem going back at least to Plato. His mechanistic view of optics allows ...

? When you say: I take it that is what you are saying. First of all, he is a careful writer. Second, from that statement to claiming he never made a m...

Right, but does anyone? I don't think so. It is because he is not a reliable narrator that I don't think that conquering doubt is as much a problem as...

You seem to be arguing that we should not take what he says literally, but you go on to object to the idea that there is a rhetorical aspect. From the...

Good question. From the first meditation:

At PI 217 Wittgenstein says: His spade is not turned when he hits a proposition that is bedrock but when he has exhausted propositions used to justify...

She dropped the lawsuit but stands by her accusations. If you read the article you cited you would know that. As I said: Once again Trump and his lawy...

Yes, LOOK at the dates. She backtracked in October of 2016. Just a big coincidence? Jill Harth As is typical, when others come forward those who thoug...

Where does he portray reason as infallible?

That is incorrect. Why do you repeat his lies? Is it ignorance or blind loyalty?

As with Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby it's: He said; she said. And she said, and she said, and she said ...

I think you have mistaken a rhetorical device for something existential. From the First Meditation: It is a meditation, not a crisis of doubt. He has ...

I answered in the same way. Does he really not know this? Giving him the benefit of the doubt he is just being stubbornly argumentative. Otherwise ...

Who is more honest about what? Many conservatives today want to or claim they want to dismantle the administrative state. The administrative state is ...