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Janus

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In: Causality  — view comment
The question is whether contexts themselves consist in nothing more than networks of efficient causal interactions. Is the whole really something more...
April 28, 2017 at 21:53
Is it irrelevant to the OP, though? Does the very notion of 'philosophy as language game' not at least smack of a purported standing outside of philos...
April 28, 2017 at 21:44
I am yet to see any argument or explanation that convinces me that so-called meta-philosophy is truly distinct from philosophy.'Metaphilosophy' is mer...
April 28, 2017 at 21:10
Yes and that very mistake was yours. It's amazing that you now turn and around and emphasize the very point I was making against your position as if I...
April 28, 2017 at 20:55
The problem is that indeed the "map is not (is never) the territory". So our idea of infinity is not infinity, our idea of the continuum is not the co...
April 27, 2017 at 23:09
The problem is more that you are anthropomorphizing matter, in imagining that it would have to be able to "interpret' a law in order to be able to act...
April 27, 2017 at 23:02
I doubt that a person who had not been conditioned by their social circumstances to rely on piped water would be made to feel insecure by a broken wat...
April 27, 2017 at 22:46
Sure, but all the examples you give here are due to social conditioning I would say. And just how is it that you have earned the right to speak for mo...
April 27, 2017 at 08:59
I tend to think that the order of ideas reflects the order of things; there is really nothing else for it to reflect. If they are two completely diffe...
April 27, 2017 at 06:39
From one perspective, of course concepts are not physical entities they are mental entities. But from that, which is really just a matter of definitio...
April 27, 2017 at 05:12
It's actually not materialism, because I do not impute any primacy to materiality over thought. This is akin to Spinoza's position, which could be sai...
April 27, 2017 at 03:44
There are many versions of materialism. I don't really think of myself as a materialist, except insofar as I see no justification for positing an onto...
April 27, 2017 at 02:21
The interesting question is whether the information is created or derived. If derived then it suggests that our thinking is an integral part of the wo...
April 27, 2017 at 02:06
I think that since we are mortal some degree of fear is inevitable. Insecurity is a disposition; some people are more secure than others. Very often i...
April 27, 2017 at 01:52
I agree that the point of philosophy is to address different ideas, which is to say disagreements. And I can accept that you sincerely think there is ...
April 27, 2017 at 01:27
To the extent that what you say relates to the previous discussion of reverence, I will say this: I have been advancing the idea that having a feeling...
April 27, 2017 at 01:09
Unfortunately you are showing that you have no clue what I have been saying or how it relates to the Western canon. And you are making unwarranted and...
April 27, 2017 at 00:01
OK, I can agree with that. Although I would have called the poles 'materiality' and 'thought'.
April 26, 2017 at 23:24
I don't know what you mean by "real, but immaterial". Concepts occur only, as far as I know in physical brains. They are finite thoughts that grasp fi...
April 26, 2017 at 23:20
I don't know woodart; I think you are over-simplifying what is a very subtle and complex question, characterizing the human situation very narrowly an...
April 26, 2017 at 22:52
Is it really a fourth option, or just essentially an elaboration of the second option I listed?
April 26, 2017 at 22:46
This is where I disagree; what is represented is thought. 'Intellect' as I understand it pertains to the capacity for thought. We can rationally ( i.e...
April 26, 2017 at 22:38
They are all intelligible only in terms of physical things or analogues. Truth is the property of being true; if something is true then it embodies or...
April 26, 2017 at 22:31
Does that mean the same as to say that they are essentially conceptual in nature? Is a geometrical form, a law of grammar, or a logical relationship a...
April 26, 2017 at 08:35
Can you give me an example of a concept which is not given, even remotely, in terms of physical things or relations between physical things? I can't s...
April 26, 2017 at 02:49
So, you have decided that there are only physical things and the concepts of them? On what do you base this conclusion? It is obvious that truth is no...
April 26, 2017 at 02:15
I'm not particularly math or physics-literate, but looking at it from a simply logical perspective: if some hidden, more fundamental, thing efficientl...
April 25, 2017 at 23:20
No, what's ridiculous is the amount of effort you put into reading posts before responding. I explicitly stated that I think there cannot be a concept...
April 25, 2017 at 22:19
Thanks for your efforts, Timeline, but to be honest I've lost the thread of what this conversation was about beyond quibbling about different senses o...
April 25, 2017 at 22:02
I read something just this morning which bears, in an interesting way, on your question. It suggests that what is expressed in the 'cogito' is a synth...
April 25, 2017 at 06:11
OK thanks. Is it easy to convert the online book to PDF?
April 25, 2017 at 04:39
I'm interested to know what OCRing is...
April 25, 2017 at 04:23
Go, you good things! Another recent "thing": Moonlight explores valleys and streams a creeping stillness that touches blind waters and sentient mounta...
April 25, 2017 at 01:33
No, truth is not "turtles all the way down"; it is not anything all the way down, although it is "all the way down" insofar as it is groundless ( and ...
April 25, 2017 at 01:12
There cannot, because truth is more primordial than any concept. In fact concepts would be meaningless without always already taking for granted the p...
April 25, 2017 at 00:02
"True' has a range of senses: for example 'right. 'correct', 'accurate', ' in accordance with actuality', and the like. 'Believe' means most character...
April 24, 2017 at 23:54
I would say that identity and identification (two different things) are of the empirical (the shareable realm) and difference is of the transcendental...
April 24, 2017 at 22:32
Here you seem to be equating reverence with admiration. I can see that there is a certain sense in which the two ideas could be said to meet, but this...
April 24, 2017 at 22:22
You see someone in the street and you say to your companion "Hey look at that guy; he really looks like our friend Paul". Your companion replies, " No...
April 24, 2017 at 00:20
I simply don't believe it is true that you believe anything that you don't believe to be true. Perhaps you could provide an actual example for conside...
April 23, 2017 at 07:23
Then we are confronting different understandings of the terms. For me 'capacity' is synonymous with 'ability'. So, it makes no sense to me to say that...
April 23, 2017 at 00:27
OK, but for me ""natural" capacities" and "natural abilities" are not two different things.
April 23, 2017 at 00:04
I'd say that all disagreements about metaphysical matters certainly do come down to metaphysical beliefs. Metaphysical questions cannot be decided by ...
April 23, 2017 at 00:02
You're not sure what it means to say that people have different levels of ability? Think of athletic ability; it's a good example since it seems so ap...
April 22, 2017 at 23:46
Sure, but I was speaking about different "natural" capacities enjoyed by different people, which I think undeniably obtain. Ones could certainly devel...
April 22, 2017 at 23:34
Perhaps it is the time dilation effect of psychotropics that allows me to sustainedly examine them. That seems to beg the question as to what, in the ...
April 22, 2017 at 23:30
Sure, but maybe having a "a super vivid visual imagination" is to at least some degree dependent on the capacity to bring more of the processes of vis...
April 22, 2017 at 23:15
I will answer your question after you answer mine. Again, do you hold any beliefs which you do not think are true?
April 22, 2017 at 23:06
You seem to be saying that reverence is appropriate (or perhaps even possible?) only in intimate relationships. This raises the question of reciprocat...
April 22, 2017 at 23:01
I think you've somehow missed the point. Perhaps this might become more clear if you think about what you mean by "believing in the imaginary".
April 22, 2017 at 22:47