T_Clark

The funniest Wikipedia entry I’ve ever come across. Actually the only funny Wikipedia entry I’ve ever come across. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-...

Irony—the etymology of “etymology”

This is why we pragmatists rule the world.

I can never figure out what you mean when you talk about Peircean triads. Is it the degrees of freedom below, the constraints above, and the resulting...

If you can't thoroughly describe a system, you can't express it in terms of causes either. My point in this discussion is to show that causality is on...

You still haven’t answered my question. Would your decision to take the bet be rational?

Too late, you already took the bet. The question is was your decision rational? If you say no, it’s kind of hard to take your argument seriously. I do...

So let’s say you and I are sitting out on my front porch drinking whiskey sours. I live on a pretty busy road so cars are going by often. Let’s say ev...

It seems to me the reliance on memory you are talking about is rational. So, what’s the problem?

I’m a big fan of ordinary usage, but it comes into conflict with philosopher’s desire to make up new definitions and new words.

Off the top of my head, this makes sense to me, but I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about intentional cause. I specifically left it out of this...

But isn’t that where diamonds come from?

Hume’s idea of legitimate belief is not irrational. If anything it’s non-rational. Very few of our beliefs are rational. Even fewer are irrational. Th...

Good post. As a registered Democrat here in the US, what you’ve written is in line with my criticism of the party. We’ve lost contact with our purpose...

Yes, the whole distinction between events that are intentional versus those that are not seems to complicate all of the discussions I’ve looked at. As...

None of this is true

It didn't say Freud discovered it. It said he recognized it. I also recognize it based on my own experience. I wouldn't have put it in my post otherwi...

I don't see the value in this kind of distinction. How do you see it?

Again, I didn't say the idea of causality is never useful, only that it's usefulness is limited. I tried to give examples of what I was talking about ...

That's what I was trying to do. I don't think I've been very successful.

Did you read all my posts? I'm guessing you didn't.

This is a great summary of the "blooming, buzzing confusion." Better than the one I've presented in the OP and my subsequent posts in this thread. Yes...

Yup, that’s how it works. From the web.

So, you can’t trust induction, so just act as if you can. After all, what else are you going to do? Seems kind of a cheat. It’s not rational, but it’s...

I posted this earlier in this thread. That’s why I don’t claim the idea of causality is useless in all situations.

In the OP and subsequent posts, I think I’ve made it reasonably clear what I’m talking about when I say “causality.” This is not true. Many do not.

I’ve come to the same sort of conclusion you have— looking at cause, efficient cause, is a question of the transfer of energy. That doesn’t change the...

I intentionally left out instances where a human motivation was involved because I wanted to avoid the complications associated with that. I think the...

I understand this, but I think it’s not a useful way of looking at things.

I’m not insulted at all. I was just making an observation. I think this post confirms my observation is correct.

Sure we can. You’re right that you don’t have access to everything. But then again, the kinds of subjects that philosophy covers tend to be associated...

Even I'm not sure the US is on the same planet as everyone else these days. It's clear from this thread I'm working on pulling my thoughts on this sub...

I see what you mean, but I tried to keep human intention out of the question. I can see I kind of slipped some in.

To tell the truth, I'm not really sure what @"apokrisis" means by "dichotomy" in this context.

Thank you. Do you consider the description of the salt marsh I discussed as a "toy case?" If so, I disagree. The question I've been asking is--if it i...

I looked up "propensity probability" on Wikipedia and it said this: That seems like a patch to me. A patch to cover the hole in the idea of causality ...

I'm not sure what you mean in this context. Previously I suggested just describing the conditions rather than attributing causality. Is that the same ...

This is the point I'm trying to make. What does it add to the discussion to talk about causality instead of just describing the "blooming, buzzing con...

In the OP I've given specific examples of situations where changes take place but it is not useful to use the term "causality." Many people here have ...

I was using Collingwood's definition of metaphysics, not specifically causality. My claim is that causality is a metaphysical principle. It can't be v...

What are the two types of causes? I was trying to limit my discussion to efficient cause. Did I fail?

I'm lost. Confused. Is what we are calling mechanistic cause the same as efficient cause. That was what I intended. It's Newtonian cause. f = ma; F = ...

I have come to see that philosophy is a practice like meditation, exercise, learning musical instruments, tai chi, martial arts, and similar enterpris...

@"apokrisis" @"Count Timothy von Icarus" @"Patterner" @"Janus" @"JuanZu" @"bert1" I often complain that people don't put enough effort into providing ...

I do understand the point you were trying to make. As I said previously, there are everyday, common sense situations where the chain of causality is s...

I've been going back and forth trying to figure out how to respond to this for awhile. I haven't given up. I'll be back later.

Back in olden days, there was a country and bluegrass comedy duo called Homer and Jethro. They would tell silly jokes like the ones you're discussing....

I guess that’s my understanding of what a constraint is— something that prevents something else from happening. It reduces the number of possible futu...

But there have been tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of mutations that led to the multiplicity of life here on earth. Just saying “m...

That doesn’t make sense to me. All there is is energy. Matter is energy. It’s changes in energy that need a causal description.