Richard B

I definitely want to use “logical consequences” somewhat loosely here, meaning that Euclid and Anselm may not be using some shared universal logic her...

Consider the following: A. From Euclid’s Elements 1. A point is that of which there is no part 2. And a line is a length without breath 3. And the ext...

Is this not the nexus between the intellect and action, rationalism and pragmatism, where the human leaves the third person intellectual detachment an...

One last tantalizing passage from Wittgenstein and his thinking about concept formation. From Culture and Value: "Life can educate one to a belief in ...

Part II of the PI is often an overlooked, less quoted part of the book. But I believe it hints at the many directions Wittgenstein was possibly explor...

On Certainty and for that matter PI is an un finished work. I would rather not like to think about “getting it right” as much as a continuation of wha...

I think Wittgenstein in "On Certainty" is exploring this distinction between contingent and necessary. In some ways in seems to be approaching a view ...

What I am emphasizing here is what Wittgenstein says in On Certainty in the following: 110 “….As if giving grounds did not come to an end sometime. Bu...

If I was Moore, I would demonstrate my knowledge by showing him traditionally held techniques, actions accomplished by using a hand, and convince him ...

It would equally absurd that Moore stand in front of a lecture and say “I, with conviction, have two hands” along with “I know”. The most natural reac...

You would enjoy Gellner’s Word and Things, he has very similar points throughout his book. But you are right, Wittgenstein can give one mental whiplas...

I would agree with you that it can be very difficult to debate the ideas of later Wittgenstein. But this is likely due to the approach to philosophy h...

A problem I see here is what would we call “evidence” to either confirm or deny one of these theories. What would that look like? When I go “back to c...

Also, I think many do not realize that the “God hypothesis” has come back in a stealthy sort a way. Instead of the watch needing a designer, the simul...

Your are being too kind to call this even “highly improbable”. Just because we can imagine such fanciful scenarios does not mean they are possible.

Not sure if “science” is much of a friend of indirect realism. When we observe light passing through a prism that reveals multi-colors, scientists wer...

Only in your imagination. In fact, they see the world the same. When we use the expression “to see the world differently”, we usually referring to how...

This is an odd use of the word "representations". Do we experience representations? I guess you could if you mean we have experience making solar syst...

Saying that an Indirect Realist is using the word "green" figuratively is a bit odd. With the help of Chat Smith, let's take a look at some phases tha...

This would be an interesting road than the well traveled indirect/direct debate, the standard metre

Let me add one more experiment: again the subject is blind-folded but this time the subject has his nervous system numbed. The scientist places the ba...

To keep on adding to this point: Let us imagine a case where a scientist would like to understand how the nervous system works when a subject interact...

They say DNA is the blueprint for a human being. Well let's look at this idea of "blueprints" and maybe we can exorcise some of these essentialist dem...

I do not believe Ryle should have taken this paradox serious, nor anyone else for that matter. And if we are going to talk about "temptation", it shou...

Nice summary. This is my reaction to Lecture III. Ryle writes at the very beginning of Dilemmas, “One familiar kind of conflict is that in which two o...

Certainly if one can introduce these lectures succinctly and clearly express what Ryle’s main point is, this may help a little with engagement. His pa...

Here is a common attempt: Determinism is true. So folk cannot be responsible for their criminal actions. Thus, we ought not punish folk for their crim...

Not bad. However, I am not convinced of your or my argument. There is a nice youtube video titled “John Searle on Austin and Wittgenstein.” One rather...

Malcolm is not creating his own opponent, but is addressing an assortment of historical figures, for example: Descartes, "all the same thoughts and co...

Just to clarify what Malcolm actually examines and says in his book, "Dreaming". One, he is mostly examining the use of "I am asleep" or "I am dreamin...

Neat stats, if it was just reverse maybe we would have had less talk of Qualia.

I think linguistic philosophy tends to be less about debate and more of this: Show this use, and this use, and this use, and this use, etc… now give u...

In "Dreaming" Malcolm does not ignore scientific considerations regarding dreams. He says the following: "The interest in a physiological criterion of...

Austin seems to be saying that we somehow know the dream experience is "qualitatively" different than the waking experience, because as he says "How o...

I think you could say the same thing about Austin. His arguments have been largely ignored because the philosophical community continues to talk about...

When I read chapter 5, it troubled me; especially when I came to the following sentence, "If dreams were not 'qualitatively' different from waking exp...

To give myself a different challenge, I like to take on Austin's linguistic philosophy. More specifically, with an attack developed by Ernest Gellner....

I am a little unclear what you mean by "Wittgenstein's strange people", but based on the cited paragraph, it could mean people who you may find diffic...

One area I believe we can agree on is Wittgenstein's pointing out the importance "of natural actions and reactions that come before language and are n...

I like to make a couple points here. First, Wittgenstein is not commenting on the human condition, but focuses on the intellectual problem the philoso...

This "skepticism of meaning" is a sickness of the philosophical minded whose intelligence is bewitched by means of language. Wittgenstein is neither s...

If "us" refers to humanity, well I think this is a bit of an overstatement about what Wittgenstein is claiming. We can gain some insight if we take a ...

I am quoting myself from the Brain in the Vat thread, I think it is applicable: The role of imagination in scientific theorizing is not in question. A...

But there is more to language, consider PI 242: "If language is to be a means of communication there must be agreement not only in definitions but als...

So am I to assume that you would agree with my characterization that I must trust your personal testimony that whatever you are doing in the hidden re...

How can you call what is happening privately “language” ? Your assurance that you are using it the same way as the language you learned in the public ...

But Wittgenstein is going further here. What sense can we make in saying that an individual is “judging” something in internal mental space. This, in ...

Not sure if you are familiar with the book "Words and Things" by Ernest Gellner, but he provides similar arguments you are suggesting in your post. Fo...

The role of imagination in scientific theorizing is not in question. Also, I certainty would not say that philosophy cannot offer insights to a scient...

How about this scenario: I can imagine a witch that can cast a spell in which they make some poor soul believe that they are experiencing a world I wh...