Wayfarer

That applies to pure maths, also. And actually it's a very idiosyncratic definition of metaphysics as such. I think the starting point always ought to...

Not sure I follow, but I'll leave it for now, as I think it will digress into one of the interminable arguments about AI.

A note about no-self - anatta - in the early Buddhist texts. It is always applied adjectively. The typical formulation is that 'everything' (i.e. all ...

It's an important topic in philosophy, although that doesn't necessarily make it useful in any other sense. ...through the process of apperception whe...

Short answer - because he's critiquing, and improving, Aristotle's form-matter (hylomorphic) dualism. Bear in mind that Kant makes considerable use of...

The nature of numbers, the nature of logic, the ontological status of scientific laws, and a host of conundrums arising from quantum mechanics, such a...

A lot of people would say that, but read this post again. There's an intuition in some religious philosophies (or philosophical religions) that realit...

I’m not that cynical. If that makes me a believer, so be it.

My interest in religion was never centered around 'holy books', as such, it's certainly not bible-centred. I'm interested in philosophy of religion an...

Thank you. :pray:

The first, and most vulnerable, member of my extended family circle has been diagnosed - an in-law, aged 99, lives in residential care in NY. So far, ...

there's also a mountain of secondary material on Aristotle's Metaphysics -almost too much, actually, in the case of this particular text, which is arg...

Religions clearly become corrupted, no doubt. When much younger, I generally regarded mainstream religion as being the fossilised remnants of once-liv...

I think it's a popular myth. It's part of the 'conflict thesis' that I mentioned. The Trial of Galileo and the Scopes Trials are held up as examples o...

That is a shallow caricature if ever there was one. The entire university system of the West, not to mention the hospital system, and science itself, ...

I notice that Trump's approval rating is at an all time high. Hey, the bullshit sessions about a deadly virus, on prime time TV, are working! Selling ...

Right - very difficult situation, I agree. But I think the principle would imply that it is ok for the Governor to offer a personal exhortation to pra...

what if 'the ancients' did actually realise that, though? And then, culture forgot it, or abandoned it. That would be an account of nihilism, wouldn't...

I think it transgresses the church-state boundary, as he’s an elected official and seems to be using his office in a call to prayer. The point of the ...

agree - I rarely participate in discussions of the trolley problem, for that very reason. But now, actual people are really having to grapple with sim...

Just going off the trends which seem to be indicating that the pandemic is going to hit a peak in April and May. I don’t know if it will peak and then...

Speaking of the Trolley Problem - one of the ghastly things that happened in Italy was doctors and medical staff having to allocate respirators on the...

Yet, still wants to declare the crisis over so everyone can go back to work after Easter. Germany, meanwhile, is reporting a death rate of < 1%, becau...

that's exactly what a vaccine is. Trials are underway, but it is expected to be 12 months out, at least. Imagine if you started using something and it...

New York is looking extremely ominous. Remember the photos ten days ago of the 4 hour queues at US airports? There’s going to be queues like that, but...

In our experience, only others die.

I was responding to a declaration by you. - IN ALL CAPS - which I think is a central and important point in philosophy. It was not an ad hominem argum...

It is not discourteous to examine fundamental philosophical presuppositions, although it is sometimes uncomfortable.

That would sound very impressive, were you the only sentient being in the Universe - but then, you'd lack an audience, so I guess there wouldn't be an...

I think one political consequence ought to be a reflection on the utter nonsense of the 'small government' propaganda of the right. I mean, here in Au...

Here in Australia, we're going into what amounts to partial lockdown - from midday today pubs, restaurants, meeting halls, will be closed. So far nobo...

Not so much an instrument as foundational to science. All the branches of science depend on mathematical reasoning.

Boy, big question. I will talk about that through the lense of cultural history and history of ideas. In classical (i.e. pre-modern) culture, it was a...

I agree with a lot of what's been posted above, but wanted add something about the nature of reason. Reason is clearly a multi-faceted ability but one...

But you're not comparing like with like. When a human catches, then the action consists of muscular reflexes, hand-eye co-ordination, and on a micro-c...

Textbook example of putting the cart before the horse.

I'm the first to agree that there are many things that can't be quantified, but I can't see how this is one of them.

I don't think it's that hard to see. Remember the mathematization process is a method - that's why I mentioned its history. I mean, before Descartes c...

Excellent post. But I've seen some of those spooky Boston Dynamics robot videos, and they're pretty darn good at freestyle running! Nope. I'm sure mat...

I’m telling ya, watch this: https://youtu.be/vgqG3ITMv1Q

BTW, the share market (and modern banking and insurance) were all the product of the Spice Trade. It was the British and Dutch trading companies - the...

of course it is. Shares are traded in public companies and every transaction is a matter of public record. If you watch movies, try The Big Short, or ...

Not at all. It's the requirement of computers - they process binary code, and anything they're programmed to do must be coded. But it's a way of model...

IT'S A MARKET. The selling price is determined by what people will pay. Hope that's direct enough for you.

It's a market.There are buyers, but shares are changing hands at much lower prices due to the loss of confidence and the fear of economic downturn. Wh...

Hopeful story out of Australia - Coronavirus treatment: Australian researchers ‘within reach’ of cure. The principal researcher is a professor of infe...

Nothing illustrates the fundamental interconnectedness of all mankind more vividly than a pandemic.

I wonder how logical laws - the law of the excluded middle, the law of identity, and so on - fit into this template? I mean, such laws are not physica...

I don't agree that they're the same, but I am not going to make a detailed argument for that, other than to observe that oftentimes the pursuit of ple...