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

Janus

Comments

I did mention this earlier, but I think that hypotheses are the result of abductive thinking. We imagine hypothetical causal systems of interacting fo...
November 11, 2020 at 00:23
A belated response; I've been a little busy on the farm. To my way of thinking achieving parsimony is done by weeding out propositions or assumptions ...
November 10, 2020 at 23:16
What kind of acid? Hydrochloric, sulphuric? Where do you have to drop it? How does it dispense with nonsense? Would apples be red in the world of the ...
November 10, 2020 at 21:57
Yes, exactly, one coffee can be like or different from another in varying ways and degrees. But the general "what is it like to be, do, go, taste etc,...
November 08, 2020 at 21:53
Taste doesn't have a quality (quale) it is a quality. I think confusion over that is the source of the reification that quales are sometimes taken to ...
November 08, 2020 at 21:47
That doesn't follow. If what it is like to drink tea is different fro each person and on each occasion then it follows that there would be something i...
November 08, 2020 at 21:43
Really? Where? An example would help.
November 07, 2020 at 03:07
If @"Isaac" can know that he is conscious, then he is capable of reporting on his mental activity, no?
November 06, 2020 at 23:31
OK, I thought you were wanting to say more than that. Sure, induction is not deduction: Hume made that point more than 200 years ago. It remains the c...
November 06, 2020 at 23:23
That's all fine, but you're not dealing with the fact that all the assumptions we hold are based on either induction or authority; with the latter bei...
November 06, 2020 at 07:14
On what grounds do we judge things to be "far-fetched" if not on the basis of inductively formed beliefs or attitudes which are adopted implicitly or ...
November 06, 2020 at 06:41
I see logical/mathematical propositions as being essentially different than philosophical and moral claims inasmuch as their rule-governed truth or fa...
November 05, 2020 at 22:51
Well, I'm going to complicate things by suggesting that insofar as philosophical claims are neither verifiable nor falsifiable, philosophy itself also...
November 05, 2020 at 20:49
Fideism proper really only applies to beliefs that are unverifiable. Such beliefs are obviously also unfalsifiable, since verification and falsificati...
November 05, 2020 at 20:37
We assume that the laws of nature are invariant because all our observations to date verify that they have been. Or obversely, you can say that none o...
November 05, 2020 at 00:45
I don't see how it can do that when it necessarily relies on the inductive assumptions that have been codified as the so-called laws of nature. If nat...
November 04, 2020 at 23:41
When it comes to science inductive and abductive reasoning is all we have. My point has been that there is no real difference in inductive and abducti...
November 04, 2020 at 22:18
You're presenting an overly simplistic account of verification and falsification, by applying the abstracted logic of deduction to inductive reasoning...
November 04, 2020 at 21:45
As I see it falsification has nothing at all to do with deductive logic. It has to do with the inductive and abductive logic of our dealings with the ...
November 04, 2020 at 05:25
The problems I see with your proposal, to keep it really simple are: 1. Falsification of p is necessarily confirmation of not-p, however general not-p...
November 03, 2020 at 22:03
I appreciate your effort, but I think we may be talking at cross purposes. When I say we don't believe in our devices, which are just stand-ins for th...
November 03, 2020 at 06:42
I think that our notions of reality are based upon sense experience. Notions of reality can also be derived from reifying linguistically mediated conc...
November 03, 2020 at 04:22
To think something is true is to have a faithful commitment to it, as I see it. To entertain something as a possibility is not to believe or disbeliev...
November 02, 2020 at 23:04
The "liberal" part seems to summon a fideism you would never escape from. In light of any critical philosophy you would not be entitled to hold any un...
November 02, 2020 at 21:52
You don't "believe" in the device you are writing on; you see, hear and feel it.
November 02, 2020 at 03:41
I agree, but I don't say it's necessarily nothing more than wishful thinking even if it is also that. I acknowledge the power of religious and peak ex...
November 02, 2020 at 02:53
But they're not necessarily being inconsistent on their own terms, even if they are on yours. I think it is more likely that theism is the source, not...
November 01, 2020 at 21:49
Yes, but what happens if you apply this, for example, to theism? There are many scientists who are also theists, and this apparently doesn't hamper th...
November 01, 2020 at 21:08
When I mentioned perceived degrees of plausibility and that they may be more or less determined by social and cultural influences, you responded with ...
November 01, 2020 at 20:47
This seems to be suggesting that all beliefs, until and unless they are ruled out, enjoy equal status. What happened to the reasons we hold beliefs in...
November 01, 2020 at 20:22
This is completely irrelevant to the subject of the origin and development of human reason. Humans have the capacity to learn language; animals or mos...
November 01, 2020 at 02:09
Why do you seek to characterize your interlocutors arguments as something to be dismissed rather than addressing them directly? This is a self-defeati...
October 31, 2020 at 21:50
“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.” Immanuel Ka...
October 31, 2020 at 21:45
You just keep changing the subject. The idea of the empirical being a delusion is your example of radical skepticism, about which you earlier said so ...
October 31, 2020 at 04:02
No it's not; it's merely putting assertions in their proper category. I don't understand why you are apparently so confused by this; any statement in ...
October 31, 2020 at 03:07
Yes, and that fact speaks to the argument I've been making, that you have been failing to address and that you are now apparently agreeing with. 'God ...
October 30, 2020 at 23:59
I don't know what that could even mean. All human ideas of knowledge are derived from empirical knowledge. There is no absolutely certain knowledge if...
October 30, 2020 at 03:35
Poetry, music, dance, art, craft, learning about nature and developing a feeling of reverence, friendship, love, philosophy, in other words whatever i...
October 29, 2020 at 21:04
No, you're misunderstanding both me and the definition of positivism. A valid claim is a coherent and consistent claim; it doesn't have to be true to ...
October 29, 2020 at 06:30
I don't think it's right to say that rational thinking can be illogical. But unsound beliefs can be supported by logically valid arguments with unsoun...
October 29, 2020 at 04:24
Positivism is the claim that theism and metaphysics are incoherent; I haven't claimed that. I am merely pointing out that they can't yield falsifiable...
October 29, 2020 at 03:53
Please explain how direct knowing that yields inter-subjectively corroborable beliefs is possible. (Just to be sure it is clear empirical data, althou...
October 29, 2020 at 01:45
I agree there is much to be gained from this debate. It should lead to clarification of the differences between the aesthetics, ethics and religion on...
October 29, 2020 at 01:35
Yes, interesting isn't it? I don't disagree with what you've said in this post, but all it indicates is that within traditions, there are means of obt...
October 29, 2020 at 01:24
No, the situation is that same as it is with the arts. The tradition doesn't matter; phenomenologically it's the same for all. You apparently can't ou...
October 29, 2020 at 00:57
This is a pointless response. What are you here for, if not to present your ideas and your arguments for their truth. validity, or coherence? What do ...
October 29, 2020 at 00:33
I don't disagree with any of that, and have repeatedly said that religious faith (and faith generally, since we don't know anything at all with absolu...
October 28, 2020 at 23:07
What I'm arguing is simply that, unlike mathematics, logic and the empirical sciences, where conclusions may be drawn and tested, no rational, that is...
October 28, 2020 at 21:23
You don't me hence you don't know what I do. Its so far out of your experience since you don't know me, that it is irrational to comment on it. So thi...
October 28, 2020 at 08:30
I don't understand the logic (if there is such) of your citicism. I am saying that I think it's eminently reasonable to drop conclusions; that's the w...
October 28, 2020 at 08:18