Janus

As I've said I see there is always an ambiguity between what a painting represents, whether it is an abstract object such as a square, circle or recta...

:cool: It is a painting on canvas that we might say depicts a red rectangle and is thus to be considered a picture or we might say it is just red pain...

One of a couple of central questions @"Moliere" asked was what is the distinction between paintings and drawings. I originally simply pointed out that...

What is? I should have addressed this more thoroughly: You are putting words in my mouth. I'm simply saying that all paintings can count as pictures o...

On your definition of ontology, perhaps. Ontology is usually understood to be concerned with what exists, and what exists is usually considered to be ...

Right it's like the 'Ship of Theseus' and 'Sorites'...just a matter of definition not ontology.

How would you know about it other than by observing purposeful behavior? Of course it isn't substance like...although that said, neither purpose nor s...

This is a strawman. I'm not claiming teleology doesn't exist. A teleological explanation is an explanation in terms of purpose rather than causation, ...

I was editing my previous post so there is more there for you to address now. Why quote an ambiguous passage from Wittgenstein instead of answering di...

Why is it a "red herring"? We see purpose or agency in the data collected by observing animal behavior. Are you claiming there is purpose or agency th...

Why don't you answer the question in my last post? My first paragraph there explains what I found in your OP, that I can actually agree with. OK, I'll...

"Your just a positivist". The usual lame response when you have no comeback that actually addresses my questions. Your OP says there is purpose and me...

It was realized that the old idea that the universe was created for a purpose was an anthropomorphic/ anthropocentric projection. Modern philosophical...

You misunderstand entirely then. Perhaps it's my fault for not expressing myself clearly enough. I've not been claiming that all paintings are picture...

In your first paragraph you seem to be saying there is no intent there, and in your second paragraph you seem to be saying there is intent there.

It's easy it seems to conflate the true and obvious idea that there are purposes and meaning within the universe, with the incoherent idea that the un...

Except I was not the one offering restrictive definitions?you said not all paintings are pictures, as though there were some fact of the matter, and n...

:up: A prime example! The meaning of the idea of the transcendent is an immanent one too?we don't know anything transcendent, and this is so by mere d...

PICTURE | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org › dictionary › english › picture picture uk/?p?k.t??r/ us/?p?k.t??/ ...

I don't think that's true. Watercolours and gouaches are generally considered to be paintings and they may be used for example in architectural design...

You are mistaken and I think that should have been clear from what I've written. The difference between painting and drawing, as I've said, is predomi...

What could it mean to say the universe is inherently meaningful? Nothing other than that it was created for some purpose. Of course the things we and ...

If a coat of off-white is presented on a surface as an artwork, then the only difference is that the former is clearly a representational work. I say ...

I'm not seeing the relevance of your comment about the painting and the wall. All paintings and drawings are pictures on my definition (which is not t...

A painting is a picture whose predominant medium is paint. A drawing is a picture whose predominant medium is pencil, charcoal, pastel, chalk etc.. Th...

I can't see a problem with the idea that propositions are the conceptual content of assertive statements or sentences, or in other words propositions ...

The most common usage of "subjective/ objective" means "matter of opinion/ not matter of opinion" and that was, of course the usage I had in mind. So ...

:up: She feels cold, you feel hot. Not merely subjective, but a fact of the matter about how different bodies feel. So, not undecidable or "made up sh...

Good policy! What if the aesthetic justifications we offer are such as they are on account of our culturally/ historically conditioned intuitions and ...

They make sense to us insofar as we can see why they would have made sense to them, and that's about it, I'd say. The point was only that, absent empi...

I don't think you were wrong but that you and @"SophistiCat" were thinking about different things?namely local purposes and global purpose.

That seems a remarkably anthropomorphic "just so" kind of statement.

It doesn't seem to me there are that many philosophical questions. Or maybe it would be better to say that what appear to be many questions are all va...

What you are saying seems to me to boil down to an assertion that metaphysical speculations must be coherent and make intuitive sense in order to be j...

Right, not new information, but new perspectives based on new interpretations. I agree that metaphysical questions are questions of interpretation. Ju...

That does seem to be the problem. The even larger problem: many people don't wish to acknowledge that it is undecidable or even that their shit is mad...

:up: And African art. "Good artists copy, great artists steal".

The situation after a world war would not seem to be the same as the major economic player defaulting on their debt. Can such a thing happen without c...

Borrowing against increased future prosperity is okay provided future prosperity will indeed be greater, otherwise it would seem to be economic suicid...

I agree with this, with the caveat that there is nothing wrong with "making shit up" provided we don't take it to be real, or to be the truth. I see w...

If there were real growth in prosperity, then why the need for growing debt? Debt seems to be nothing more than borrowing against the assumption of in...

I think you meant to say the rejection of the LNC and the LEM? In a purely semantic or logical sense saying "I think" or "I do X" ( where "X" could be...

You have chosen just a couple examples. The idea that the measure of quality in painting and sculpture is accurate realistic representation is, I woul...

Acknowledge that there are different styles of philosophy with very different aims. It seems that the Postmodernists aimed to develop new conceptual l...

It seems that when we speak of anything we are bound to generalize, so I see generalizations as necessary, but acknowledge that they can be misleading...

Thanks, I agree. Studying philosophy is obviously not for everyone. But there is a sense in which everyone practices philosophy, even if they unconsci...

I think of philosophy as the pursuit of wisdom, and the pursuit of wisdom as the attempt to find ways to live better. So, the analytic pursuit of conc...

I'm not convinced that the visual arts, at least, regressed in the so-called Dark Ages. Anyhgow thanks for the historical insight?I wasn't aware of th...

Thanks J...whenever you are ready. I think life is more important than philosophy. If philosophy cannot help us to live better, then what use can it b...

I agree, we must always start from where we are. It seems to me that hankering for ancient, "lost" wisdom is a fool's errand, given that we may well b...