Sam26

Agreed, and this is the whole point of this thread.

Ya, I agree, I've mentioned this several times. Maybe I should have emphasized it more in the post Hanover is talking about.

I knew Wittgenstein was nuts. Edited 12/10/21: Actually Hanover brings up an important point, which I never really addressed.

That's the point, you can't. Unless you think you can imagine it, then it's a matter of understanding what Wittgenstein is trying to tell us about lan...

That's funny, but I don't blame you.

The main problem is rule-following. What does it entail to follow a rule? Imagine a private language, i.e., just one that you're creating. Now try to ...

I don't think there are many people who would agree with Gertie's statement ("Experiential states exist as private certain knowledge to the experienci...

It's a kind of thought experiment. Given his thinking about how language develops, viz., that it's not a totally private affair, it's done necessarily...

I would be against any philosopher telling me what I can imagine too. Unless the philosopher is telling me I can't imagine a two-sided triangle, then ...

It's okay Wheatley, argue anyway. We learn by arguing, especially when you have to write out your arguments. We're all learning in here. I'm constantl...

"Okay," what kind of response is that? :gasp:

This has nothing to do with limiting human imagination. All "Prove me wrong" means is that your mind is made up and there is nothing I can say that wi...

Okay, give an example of what you're talking about so we can compare (in terms of doubting one's pain). Are you referring to something like phantom li...

Ya, I agree, it's a matter of learning his method of analyzing.

Ya, answer that in your one sentence reply. :yikes:

Wittgenstein is not easy to understand. In fact, some of what he says, seems, at first glance, to be plainly incorrect. When Russell first read the Tr...

I agree with this, but note again, that we can imagine a doubting situation with the tree e.g., but not the pain e.g..

I like figuring it out from the primary source. Some of these philosophers may or may not understand Wittgenstein's points. However, this is also true...

It's not a matter of knowing you have a pain. Contrast this with it's negation, "I don't know that I have a pain in my toe," it doesn't make sense. If...

Usually when we refer to sensory experiences we're talking about the five senses, so in this sense feeling a pain is not sensory. We do use the words ...

No, it's not a moot point, if you mean by moot that it has no relevance, it's very important to understanding W. I'm trying to show why statements lik...

The referent, is where the pain is, viz., in my hand. It's not the hand. The hand just happens to be the location of the pain. The point of the beetle...

In 245 it seems that he's saying you can't use language to get between pain and its expression. There's nothing between me having the pain, and the ex...

"I have a pain in my neck" is not the same as ouch. Ouch replaces the natural pain behavior, like crying etc, but that doesn't mean that the pain in y...

Hi Janus, I think we have to be careful here. We do use sensory experiences as justification to believe that something is the case. So, it's very appr...

Concepts have a use in language that's governed by rules (implicit and explicit), and they exist insofar as they have that use. Either the concept has...

Ya, this debate has been going on a long time. My philosophy professor back in 1978 actually had Cora Diamond as one of his professors. He was working...

I've got three or four threads going in two different forums, so it's hard to keep up with everything that's going on. But, I definitely would have a ...

I think the question, "Does causality exist?" reflects a misunderstanding of how the word causality is used in linguistic settings. It's like asking, ...

Actually the awareness of those who have an NDE is not dreamlike. In fact, most of them say that it's more real than what they normally experience. It...

I'm not too keen on using the word soul in reference to NDEs. I prefer consciousness, but I know what you mean. I'm not religious, so I prefer not to ...

If we refer back to the OP, and in particular to how we use the word know, how we use this word is governed by the rules of use, much of course is imp...

"The proposition 'Sensations are private' is comparable to: 'One plays patience by oneself (PI 248].'" The confusion is a grammatical one, not an empi...

Semantics don't fail us here, mostly in here we're talking about clinical death. You can sometimes be brought back from clinical death. Moreover, with...

By inference. We presume that others are just like ourselves. I think it’s a perfectly valid presumption. ‘I know how you must feel…’ ‘I can’t imagine...

"'Only you can know if you had that intention.' Wittgenstein, explains how we might use such a statement, i.e., how it might make sense to use know in...

Of course, English teachers always tell their students, "Your use of a word is just as good as any other use." :wink:

Of course not, dreams, are just that, dreams, they're not happening in objective reality, but that's not what's happening in an NDE. People who are ha...

It's a difficult topic to discuss for various reasons. I'm currently arguing this in https://onlinephilosophyclub.com/forums/posting.php?mode=quote&f=...

Continuing with the end of PI 246. I think the important thing is to stick to what Wittgenstein is saying, try not to get off on tangents. "Other peop...

Continuing with the PLA... "For how can I go so far as to try to use language to get between pain and its expression (PI 245)." I would be interested ...

It's not as though we can't apply the word know in private after learning how to use it socially. The real question has to do with the meaning of "I k...

You're right, in many cases it doesn't even make sense to say, "I know Mary is in pain," it would be like Wittgenstein's example of a sick man lying i...

I'm actually having this same discussion in two forums, so it's difficult to keep up. I'll try to respond as soon as possible, but I also have to keep...

My reaction to this, is that the word social, as you're using it, is not a normal use of the word. Social contexts require other people, we don't refe...

As to the first question, "I know that I see a red coffee cup," whether one knows it or not depends on the context. There are situations where it woul...

My take is that it's not so much about the "nature or consciousness," but about the nature of language against the backdrop of consciousness. But ya, ...

One of the criteria for a good inductive argument is truth of the premises, and to establish the truth of the premises used in my argument I use three...

I wanted to give an updated version of the Greyson's NDE scale (http://www.newdualism.org/nde-papers/Greyson/Greyson-The%20Journal%20of%20Nervous%20an...

I can't think of a stronger inductive argument than I gave here (https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/1980/evidence-of-consciousness-surviving-th...