You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

Luke

Comments

The particular something is identified, as "a certain sensation". Is that the real ambiguity? You keep saying that the type-token distinction is irrel...
November 11, 2021 at 04:30
How definite do you need him to be? What more information do you need and why do you need it? How far does Wittgenstein need to go before you are sati...
November 10, 2021 at 03:57
In terms of the type-token distinction, the type is “a certain sensation”. How definite do you need him to be? What more information do you need and w...
November 09, 2021 at 22:40
The type is "a certain sensation". Exactly. The particular type has been identified - as "a certain sensation". What's your definition of "definite"? ...
November 09, 2021 at 04:42
"He knows he's in pain" is nonsense for the same reason that "I know I'm in pain" is nonsense - because one cannot surmise and verify that they are in...
November 08, 2021 at 05:45
The definite article can be used for both the type and a token. For example: "The blue whale is the largest mammal." "The giraffe has a very long neck...
November 08, 2021 at 05:08
So if you have a pain and it goes away for one year and then returns, it is still the same instance of the pain? You were just unaware of it for a who...
November 08, 2021 at 03:09
How does the person know to write “S” every day for 10 years? Same problem.
November 08, 2021 at 03:04
Answer the question I put to you: Should the diarist now mark “S” in their diary as per Wittgenstein’s instructions, or does “S” refer only to a singl...
November 08, 2021 at 03:01
You just asked why the person would mark “S” in their diary every day? Because that’s the scenario Wittgenstein describes at 258. What’s ambiguous abo...
November 08, 2021 at 02:45
Yes, it’s very ambiguous :roll: You don’t even know what the scenario of 258 says yet you claim to understand it better than all of us. Pull your head...
November 08, 2021 at 02:33
Make up your mind. Let me try one last time… Let’s say that the diarist has a single token of the sensation which lasts for 10 years. The diarist reco...
November 08, 2021 at 01:40
You recently made the issue about the meaning of the word “sensation”, with your claim that its meaning was not only ambiguous but that it could also ...
November 08, 2021 at 00:23
Your “justification” was that Wittgenstein uses “sensation” ambiguously to mean either “token”, “type” or “ambiguous”. I have pointed out several time...
November 07, 2021 at 23:18
The only potential ambiguity here, which I identified from the beginning, was Wittgenstein’s use of the word “certain” in the phrase “a certain sensat...
November 07, 2021 at 12:46
You brought it up again. It looks like you've now recognised your mistake in claiming that Wittgenstein uses the word "sensation" ambiguously, too. Go...
November 07, 2021 at 02:33
I don't know what you mean by "ambiguous" here. The meaning of the word "sensation" is not ambiguous. It is the meaning of the word "certain" that is ...
November 07, 2021 at 01:49
How is it ambiguous to define green as a colour? Green is a colour. Then the issue is not with the meaning of the word "sensation". That is not in que...
November 06, 2021 at 22:23
Wittgenstein uses the word "sensation" to refer to an "inner experience" such as pain. There is no ambiguity about it and none has coherently been poi...
November 06, 2021 at 03:39
You should theoretically be able to demonstrate (at some time) that you know how to play the tuba, whether one is handy or whether you can play one ri...
November 05, 2021 at 22:03
Where does he say at 261 that "sensation" has no referent or that we cannot say what it refers to? Let's say that what I meant by the statement "I am ...
November 05, 2021 at 11:58
I'm not sure that I understand in what sense it's a contradiction. It's not an easy question, but I think we could start by noting that claims to know...
November 05, 2021 at 05:42
What reason do you have for thinking that Wittgenstein intends multiple interpretations of the word "sensation"? This might seem like a silly question...
November 05, 2021 at 04:44
Whether intentional or not, “ambiguous” means that a word has more than one possible meaning, not - as you claim - that a word has no possible meaning...
November 04, 2021 at 21:40
You said: Can you sensibly say that you don’t know you have a headache?
November 04, 2021 at 03:00
If you agree that the statement is nonsense, then wouldn’t you agree that it’s not truth apt? I don’t want to say that the statement is always nonsens...
November 04, 2021 at 02:37
Hi Srap. I think W’s position would be that if it doesn’t make sense to doubt it (e.g having a pain), then it doesn’t make sense to say you know it, e...
November 04, 2021 at 01:01
Meh.
November 04, 2021 at 00:33
That’s a funny way to answer a question. Okay, never mind. Edit: in case you missed it, how can one follow the rules (in what one does) if there are n...
November 03, 2021 at 21:53
How does it follow that language games are not rule based? Is it that there are no rules or that following the rules is found in what one does?
November 03, 2021 at 21:30
I’m fairly sure I know what you mean by this: that it would be brave to claim that any meaning is determinate, or that we can be certain to understand...
November 03, 2021 at 21:04
There aren't two statements; there is only one. That the one statement has more than one possible meaning is what "ambiguous" means. I don't see how I...
November 03, 2021 at 11:21
I can't believe you're persisting with this crap. To use an example off the top of my head, if I say "I am going to the bank", then there is potential...
November 01, 2021 at 23:50
Since any word could be used in an ambiguous way, then all words mean "ambiguous". Right? You're an idiot. Wittgenstein tells us what he means by a pr...
November 01, 2021 at 11:32
The third is not a possible meaning of "sensation". Additionally, you later said: As such, you have yet to provide any examples of your so-called "mul...
November 01, 2021 at 03:23
What examples? Where? Quote them. Prove it. Where does he say this? He refers to "S" here twice, which undermines your assertion that he is not talkin...
November 01, 2021 at 01:32
So you still have no examples to support your claim that the word "sensation" in Wittgenstein's scenario has a "multitude of possible meanings"? At 25...
October 31, 2021 at 23:20
You claimed that the word "sensation" has a "multitude of possible meanings" in Wittgenstein's scenario. When I asked you to name some of this "multit...
October 31, 2021 at 11:59
For the last 10 pages or more, we have been discussing whether Wittgenstein's diarist is naming a type or a token of the sensation. Note that these ar...
October 31, 2021 at 03:27
You hid behind the type/token distinction when I originally asked you this question, and now you're doing it again. Let me get this straight: the "mul...
October 30, 2021 at 00:31
I'll ask you a third time: name the "multitude of possible meanings" that you think the word "sensation" has in Wittgenstein's scenario. There is "no ...
October 29, 2021 at 11:58
Yes, it's why I asked you this: You still haven't answered the question. You are claiming both that the meaning of "sensation" is ambiguous and "may b...
October 29, 2021 at 06:51
I'm not asking about "the same" sensation or types and tokens here. I asked you what you think "sensation" means in Wittgenstein's scenario. How do yo...
October 28, 2021 at 11:33
Evidently I'm being played for a fool. What different possible meanings do you think "sensation" has in the context of Wittgenstein's scenario? How ca...
October 28, 2021 at 06:11
You may not have taught me all the things to say, but some person or people did. “It takes a village.” Or, at least, they taught me up to the point wh...
October 27, 2021 at 23:57
According to your translation, what comes after the question? My explanation obviously didn't take. Try this: First, establish the particular sense/us...
October 27, 2021 at 03:59
It’s a direct quote. Explain how it’s a misreading. Almost every thing is a multitude of things. The English language is no exception. It depends what...
October 26, 2021 at 23:50
I don’t believe I ever used the phrase “token of a noun”, but if I did I wasn’t talking about nouns as tokens - which is what I take you to mean by “a...
October 26, 2021 at 21:04
I said from the outset that I don’t think a proper noun, which refers only to a single entity, makes a type. Because it makes little difference to me,...
October 26, 2021 at 20:30
Why can a common noun refer to its instances but a proper noun cannot refer to its instance? A proper noun is a noun that is used to refer to a single...
October 26, 2021 at 10:48