Ciceronianus

Chances are fairly good that I know a lot more about the practice of law than most others gracing this forum. That gives me an advantage--in practicin...

For my part, I think it a major problem that we infer, from the fact that we don't know everything about, e.g., the workings and production of a cell ...

I know someone who pretended he had no hands, then ended up acknowledging he had them after all. That's a level of futility even Sisyphus couldn't riv...

There's nothing wrong with imagination, or imagining, provided we recognize it as such and nothing more. The same can be said about pretense, or prete...

See his essay Some Consequences of Four Incapacities.

Musement, you mean? I've always been interested in Peirce's Neglected Argument for the Existence of God. But no, I don't think he was pretending, as h...

Notorious Nazi Heidegger Whom Hitler had made all-aquiver Tried hard to be hailed Nazi-Plato, but failed Then denied he had tried with great vigor. I'...

Looks like I managed to cut myself off. People may want to take a look at Dewey's The Quest for Certainty, in which he explores the fascination with c...

You may want to read Dewey's The Quest for Certainty. He thought the fear of the uncertainty of life led people to seek something certain. What they f...

Philosophers have been enamored with it since the time of Plato at the latest. The certain, the eternal, the unchanging, were felt to be superior to t...

If we address what should be the case, instead of what is the case (I assume we are doing that), I can think of no reason why relatively few people sh...

I think it will be more a matter of definition--the presence or absence of one--at least in the case of the law where I practice. When a word is defin...

And, don't forget, "Do we have hands?" Or eyes, noses, feet, etc. "Are our hands really out there? Do we really know we have hands?" Wittgenstein may ...

Ah, "in principle." Happily, absolute certainty doesn't matter in practice, which is to say that it's disregarded, just as we disregard in practice an...

One of my daughters has scolded me for being confused by the term "non-binary" and finding it difficult to remember to refer to someone as "they" or "...

You seriously believe "the workers" think like this, and consider their company's CEOs "gracious" because they pay the workers enough "to live"? Nothi...

Ah well, nothing wrong with deliberately misquoting someone, is there? And the list was meant to provide examples of what it is to "doubt" the existen...

Where did you find this? I don't recall saying such a thing, and the comment I'm directed to doesn't seem to contain it. So, our "modern understanding...

Well, is this just about admiration? Worship may be based on fear, which isn't admiration. I think worship has been based on fear in many cases. That ...

Perhaps an argument can be made that they acted under duress. Convinced that they must be Christians and believe Christian doctrine to avoid eternal p...

Christians would consider themselves flawed, it being part of Christian doctrine. You're not the one who can save them, either. So, don't feel too bad...

Christianity as a religion, as we know it, would not exist but for Paul of Tarsus. It's largely his creation, I think. There's no escaping him and his...

Yes, there's a kind of "informed consent" argument available, although it can be said in response that we've been warned about eternal damnation. But ...

To know the official view of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on hell, you need only consult the Catechism (as to the heretical Protestant c...

I think that's more a dispute over the definition of "sex." As far as I know, there's no dispute regarding the definition of "hands." But in all hones...

Ah, if only it was dead! Or a horse.

Philosophy (in the past at least, and it seems for some now) cherished certainty and perfection. Philosophers sought immutable truth, beauty and goodn...

Well, if you think we have "reason to doubt" in any case absent absolute certainty, then I think you've accepted a very peculiar definition of "doubt"...

I can't say I do, sorry. I fear there's nothing I can do about those doctoral dissertations, but I don't think I'm alone in thinking philosophers have...

I'm saying he pretended to have no hands (and so on). I'm unsure how to make this any clearer. He entertained a faux doubt--he feigned doubt--for the ...

"Imagining a scenario" sounds quite a bit like pretending, to me. I suppose you may say that Descartes "imagined" he had no hands if you'd like to or ...

No. I don't find anything he did (that I know of) offensive. I think he never, really, thought that an Evil Demon was fooling him, or that he thought ...

Let's consider the definition of "doubt." Macmillan Dictionary (online) "to think that something is probably not true or that it probably does not exi...

If you and others believe he really thought he had no hands, or eyes, or nose, or ears, and that an Evil Demon was having a joke at his expense, then ...

It's their own fault, though. They were granted free will. They knowingly reject God, or commit mortal sin without repenting. Nah. It's not a big deal...

Ok.

Does it also show that you shouldn't quote someone without quoting the "background material" as well, and then complain that the person you provided t...

Alright, I confess. All this time I've been seeking to undermine belief in God.

It doesn't do anything so useful and worthy when it entails questioning the existence of the "external world" or asking why there's something whether ...

For me, this merely shows how clumsy, how awkward, how incoherent we become when we try to make explain the ineffable in words, as philosophy.

Yes. I quoted a definition of "pretend" in the OP. I think it applies. I think it's possible to pretend without being intentionally "dishonest." When ...

Sorry to take so long to respond. I was (ever so sincerely) doubting my hands exist, and questioning whether, if they did, they could use this (appare...

It may be useful in some sense to pretend to doubt for a particular purpose, just as it may be useful in some sense to pretend to be or do something w...

It's certainly true I'd agree with him about that.

Well, we shouldn't entirely disregard the fact that in that case, they're considering the effects of a disease or condition they don't doubt exists on...

It's a reference to what we do, and are, and think, and believe, and confirm every day of our lives. I don't know what you mean by "pragmatism", but f...

Peirce said that by the way, not me.

He also said this in his First Meditation, as I noted above.--"I shall then suppose, not that God who is supremely good and the fountain of truth, but...

I'm with Peirce when it comes to Descartes, and I think the same criticism applies to others. He calls it self-deception, I call it pretending. It is ...

For me, philosophy at its best is concerned with how best to live. That's a view of philosophy which held in ancient times. I favor the Stoic position...