Janus

My posts on this reflect my observations; my experience of people, logic and the sciences. I'm very open to counterarguments, but none have been forth...

I think some religious people can see their religion's doctrines as metaphorical, not as literal. Whether such people should be referred to as believe...

It's not so much a reasonable conclusion than it is a fact. If religion could tell us anything definite, which could be rationally or empirically demo...

Its' easy to show how determinate inter-subjective knowledge is possible within logic, mathematics and the sciences. If you think it is possible in ot...

Yes, air is invisible too, but air pressure and the curvature of space have measurable effects. It's not a matter of me believing anything. I am merel...

That's just condescending nonsense to say that if someone doesn't find what you say convincing then they must not understand what you have said. Of co...

I'd say it is more the case that your mind is made up than it is that mine is. I actually used to think as you do, but I saw there were holes in it. I...

I say you are intellectually dishonest because you won't address any of the arguments made against your position, not on account of your holding your ...

Why would you say that? It is the theist who is claiming that something invisible exists. How could there ever be evidence for such an existence?

I agree with this; I value peak experiences for themselves, not as means to some imagined end. I don't believe any conclusions can be rationally deriv...

Why would you say that? Others can see you sitting at the table and thus confirm your belief in your experience of sitting at the table.

If it is an absolute eternal fact that there are no absolute facts, then all that shows is that there is one and one only absolute fact not that "ther...

If you think it could me more, then you should be able to explain how it could be. Note, I'm not claiming that peak experiences don't tell us anything...

Gnosticism is the belief that certain kinds of experiences tell us something about the nature of reality. That cannot ever be anything more than a bel...

Belief (faith) is fundamental, though, as Açvaghosha's Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahâyâna attests. Who would go through "unrelenting ...

Sure English can be systematized, but it doesn't seem to follow that language use is systematic not to mention algorithmic. Not all systems are algori...

As I see it wisdom consists in making good use of knowledge. What good use consists in is an ethical matter, a matter for each individual according to...

Can you offer an example of "language processing"? Understanding language seems to be more ad hoc and associative than algorithmic. Sure language has ...

Says "especially", not 'exclusively'. "Algorithm" is a malapropism :wink: as has already been suggested

Similarity of sound and shape are not the only associations; there are many other associations of ideas; that's why I thought the analogy unhelpful, b...

Yes, civil war is not an all or nothing thing; obviously there are degrees. Perhaps civil terrorism would have been a better term. I do think the pres...

The approach of another civil war in the disunited state of America?

According to Harry a malapropism must sound like or rhyme with the word it has replaced. Can you think of any candidates?

I appreciate your enthusiasm. I will admit I've only read through the paper once and skimming at that. I find Davidson very difficult to read. Usually...

You should read more carefully. I've already said several times that the meaning of sentences containing malapropisms or inappropriate words is derive...

Fair enough, but in that case the inappropriate usage of 'theory' is not for any actual purpose, and is potentially misleading for the novice. So, it ...

Firstly I would question just whose standard description this could be, and whether there really is a "standard description" at all. I'm not saying th...

I think you only have to look at some of the long threads to realize that length does not necessarily equate to quality. As to whether duration equate...

While I agree that that is the usual meaning of the term, the substituted words need not rhyme or sound similar. The etymology of malapropism renders ...

I've already read the paper. What do YOU think he's doing with it?

It's puzzling that you would say that malapropisms are not important to Davidson's argument. As I read it they are the central concern. But I find Dav...

I don't think the problem is so much the limitations of general accounts, but the impossibility of a precise account that doesn't rely on the idea of ...

If Davidson is claiming that people generally have "complex theories" about the rules of language use, which he says in the passage you quoted that I ...

Yes, and I think his use of "theory" in that context is therefore inapt. Would it count as a malapropism?

I did spray "nutting munch" not "nutting". Your dissemblance is knotted howover.

Sorry not sure what you mean; lacking in what capacity?

Most speakers and hearers probably don't entertain any "complex theories" at all. A complex theory may be able to be formulated after the fact based o...

Yes, and I'm not sure I would agree that the three principles do "cover" all "conventional accounts". It is a huge generalization that depends on what...

OK, and I agree; but isn't that the very thing that Davidson is also proposing. Isn't that, in other words, just the initial recognition of the proble...

My interest was rekindled so I edited the post. :smile: I did read that long paragraph at the bottom of page nine, and I'm not saying I don't agree wi...

This is a good point. We don't have any precise understanding of the meaning of Jabberwocky, and there are many poems included in the "Canon" that may...

I don't think your mixture of metaphors here is helping. Well, I guess I should only speak for myself: it's not helping me.

Now here's something more interesting! I have been thinking that no move in chess which involves the pieces moving in the conventional ways would be a...

You seem to be saying that language is not governed entirely by rules or conventions because otherwise it would be impossible to understand malapropis...

:gasp: That's true, but there is nothing in chess analogous to malapropistic expressions. I think my response to the earlier "soup tureen" example sho...

This thread seems to be going around in circles without anyone apparently being able to say with any surety just what Davidson is arguing for and just...

Yes, not a desirable result.

Can you think of any examples of total revolution; where existing institutions are not merely co-opted and rearranged, but completely done away with b...

Yes, but I dare say most radicals would not be content with what would likely come to pass if they had their way.

If radical change means sweeping away or even undermining existing institutions then it seems obvious that would be far more unlikely to lead to desir...