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A Christian Philosophy

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I accept that humans can't understand everything. However, as per the OP (if there is no error), the PSR must be fulfilled and there are only 3 types ...
April 25, 2025 at 03:11
You asked here how do I know that not all laws of nature exist in all possible worlds, and I answered.
April 23, 2025 at 23:59
Based on some (admittedly little) research, my understanding is that aside from classical logic, all other logical systems (e.g. intuitionistic logic,...
April 23, 2025 at 05:24
It is unnecessary to define terms that are already clear. We only need to define terms that are unclear or used in a specific sense; otherwise, we'd g...
April 23, 2025 at 04:46
Since the laws of nature are not tautologies, they do not exist necessarily, and therefore do not exist in all possible worlds. That's fine. The concl...
April 21, 2025 at 00:34
I would have thought that, even though there are many sub-branches of logic, all the branches are compatible with each other so that logic as a whole ...
April 21, 2025 at 00:30
A thing exists out of "design" (reason type 2 in the OP) if it is the result of a free choice. The alternative is that the existence of a thing is exp...
April 20, 2025 at 23:57
I think you mean that the last sentence in the above comment does not follow from the first sentence alone. I agree, but it was in reference to the wh...
April 18, 2025 at 03:41
To clarify, the OP only aims to defend the existence of intelligent design, not the existence of a necessary being. Having said that, I accept your de...
April 18, 2025 at 03:36
Can you point to where, in the conversation between me and MoK, there is a non sequitur?
April 17, 2025 at 03:16
I believe the first three laws of logic combined, "a thing is what is it, not what it is not, and there is no in-between", constitute the first princi...
April 17, 2025 at 03:05
I agree with your defense of the PSR. But I think we can build a stronger defense by showing that the way we infer that the PSR is a first principle o...
April 16, 2025 at 03:28
Even if that is true, it is also true that not all laws of nature exist in all possible worlds. So the laws of nature for a given possible world are d...
April 16, 2025 at 03:07
Alright. It's too bad we did not reach an understanding. Thanks for the chat.
April 16, 2025 at 03:03
In this context, what is directly designed are the laws of nature. The things that result from the laws of nature would not be directly designed.
April 15, 2025 at 04:11
A full defense of the PSR is provided in this post under the section called "Argument in defense of the PSR". But here is a summary: There is a strong...
April 15, 2025 at 03:48
It is acknowledged that the PSR is not derived from logic. As previously said, logic and the PSR stand side by side; one is not underneath the other. ...
April 15, 2025 at 03:45
I accept that the laws of nature can explain the existence of life forms. But we need a reason for the existence of the laws of nature in the first pl...
April 13, 2025 at 16:27
This cycle of "bottom-up cause to top-down natural laws" does not seem to have inherent existence (reason type 3 as described in the OP) since it can ...
April 13, 2025 at 16:19
A full defense of the PSR is provided in this post under the section called "Argument in defense of the PSR". But here is a summary: There is a strong...
April 11, 2025 at 03:56
That if we accept the PSR as a valid first principle of metaphysics, then we infer the existence of a designer and of a first cause with inherent exis...
April 11, 2025 at 03:09
The OP argument only concludes that something designed the universe. It does not extend so far as to claim that the designer or the first cause is God...
April 11, 2025 at 03:00
I agree with you that the argument only aims to demonstrate the existence of a designer, which is far from the notion of God. Now, I happen to believe...
April 11, 2025 at 01:22
You are asking how to solve the problem of infinite regress. Infinite regress is avoided if we posit that the first cause has inherent existence. In w...
April 10, 2025 at 04:14
Let's take a step back. Purely physical things have only 3 components: matter, energy, and the arrangement of matter. When we speak on man-made things...
April 10, 2025 at 04:01
According to Occam's Razor, or the principle of parsimony, or abductive reasoning, or even the duck test. I can understand that you do not accept the ...
April 10, 2025 at 03:17
Being that the PSR is categorized as a first principle of metaphysics, it's expected that it should cover everything in reality, actual and possible. ...
April 10, 2025 at 02:57
I admit I have a bit of trouble understanding your comment. Perhaps the following example will help, and hopefully, you can build on it if it does not...
April 09, 2025 at 03:31
Interesting. I'll check it out!
April 09, 2025 at 02:44
Here's a simple example. Data: A thing looks like a duck and sounds like a duck. We posit two explanations. Explanation 1: It's a duck. Explanation 2:...
April 09, 2025 at 02:41
A response to your objection on quantum is provided in this post (scroll down to the last paragraph). The response first shows that quantum physics ca...
April 09, 2025 at 02:12
Randomness is not a valid type of reason under the PSR. A behaviour is random if it occurs without reason, and this runs in direct contradiction with ...
April 08, 2025 at 04:10
It is not defended in the OP and only presupposed. But you can find a defense of the PSR in this post. (I also added the link in the OP for clarity). ...
April 08, 2025 at 04:03
The divine hippopotamus explanation does not fulfill the PSR because it is superfluous. The PSR, on the epistemology side, is also called Occam's Razo...
April 08, 2025 at 03:34
- Sufficient means that the explanation accounts for or covers all the things that are inquired about. - Reason/explanation/ground do not need to be d...
April 06, 2025 at 20:45
thank you! Let me know if anything is unclear or if you have any objections.
April 06, 2025 at 15:06
All of its original properties are essential to it. But it may acquire more non-essential properties later. As you said, it may have extrinsic propert...
January 18, 2025 at 20:12
No - in my view, nothing lacks an essence or essential identity (although for non-man-made physical things, the essence is reduced to the fundamental ...
January 18, 2025 at 17:51
No - as per the original response here, it has the essence of a torture device only if the creator designed it for that purpose. Using an object in a ...
January 17, 2025 at 04:31
No problem. I’m a bit busy myself. I’ll respond to your comment on Thursday.
January 15, 2025 at 07:33
I agree that an inherent property must be intrinsic. But I still claim that the function of a designed thing is intrinsic. A paper-cutter, i.e. a thin...
January 09, 2025 at 05:45
Of course, if natural kind excludes man-made things by its definition, then no property of man-made things would be a natural kind. Man-made things ar...
January 07, 2025 at 06:01
It sounds like we are in agreement in this paragraph. Notwithstanding man-made things, everything that is merely physical is nothing but strings, and ...
January 05, 2025 at 05:43
Sure. So to correct my view: If physicalism is true, then everything that is not man-made is nothing but strings - this is because every complex natur...
January 03, 2025 at 05:39
There would be more things if some things are not physical. E.g. souls or the power of free will. There is also anything that is man-made if man has f...
January 02, 2025 at 03:58
Even if physicalism is true, it still means that strings have their own identity or essence, and thus their own essential properties. Since strings wo...
January 01, 2025 at 00:57
If we are not going to agree on the validity of the laws of logic, then unfortunately I don't think we can have a common ground to make progress in th...
January 01, 2025 at 00:43
Very well. If we are not making any progress, then we can leave the conversation here. Thanks for the chat!
December 30, 2024 at 05:40
As the axioms do not contradict each other, it is still true that logic is one coherent system. And that logical system is evidently correct: Based on...
December 30, 2024 at 05:37
There is a difference between an existing thing and a thing with inherent existence. An existing thing could have not existed in the past or future. A...
December 30, 2024 at 05:23