Janus

I think I get what you're saying—we could not have two identical objects in front of us because they would have to be occupying the same space which w...

Really what I meant was that the criteria for establishing identity, in the sense of being able to recognize any entity, are physical. I agree with yo...

True.

Yes, that certainly seems to follow, an alternative version of me would have existed instead. We have no way of knowing whether nature is determinsiti...

I'd agree that one's entire history is essential to being exactly as you are at any time. If determinism is true this could not have been otherwise. I...

I'd say that whatever changes don't kill you would not change your identity. When we think of ourselves as experiencing something, don't we generally ...

Do you mean in the sense that I might think of my identity as consisting in being a mother, a scientist, an artist, a policewoman or whatever? Some pe...

If you addressed the points I presented instead of making pointless claims about "my level" you might actually begin to do some philosophy. I don't be...

Wrong...you know they are said to exist. And since there is no controversy regarding their existence among the experts, you have good grounds to belie...

If the criteria for establishing identity are physical, that is unique patterns or configurations of physiognomy then DNA would just be the most preci...

Right it was Achilles not the hare; I'm mixing up the stories.

:up: What you say there is a more succint way of putting it.

The tortoise will not have taken an infinite number of steps. The purported paradox consists in the infinite divisibility of the distance between the ...

:up: We are very adaptable...and diverse...it seems.

Words come in the form of sounds and visual patterns. I can say any sentence I like to myself "silently"; I can hear it within, so to speak. Although ...

:cool: It's also a shame in a way, because it may signal the end of the conversation.

I don't presume that all at all. It seems you misunderstood this which was very badly expressed. I didn't mean to claim that it was physically impossi...

Belief presupposes knowledge in the sense of acquaintance; I must know you or know of your existence, for example in order to believe something about ...

What you wrote there reads to me like nonsensical philosobabble. Presumably what is physically impossible is physically impossible, but it is also epi...

Maybe the genotype can be altered, but then the result of the alteration would presumably be unique to the individual whose genotype had been altered....

The traditional definition of knowledge is 'justified true belief'; if we need to appeal to interpretation and belief (processing) and truth (correctn...

I'm not sure where it goes from there. It seems reasonable to think that each organism can be identified by its particular genotype (apparently there ...

The usages of all of those are clear enough to know what we are talking about, no?

Does this change the fact that each organism has a unique genotype?

You're not getting the distinction between what is logically impossible and what may be, due to the nature of things, physically impossible, even thou...

:up: Yep, we agree on that.

I added to my post as you were replying, making much the same point as your latter paragraph.

I think what you say is right, at least in the sense that we are all unique organisms. If a different sperm had fertilized the ovum that grew to becam...

:lol: Nice one!

You're too generous, Questioning the reality of the world has been sufficiently done to demonstrate that it is not in any conceivable sense good philo...

:rofl: Stop it...you're killing me!

Well, I believe in calling a spade a spade, and it is not I who is looking for, or in need of, help. In any case, by all means carry on going around i...

A logical possibility is anything which is not self-contradictory, while a real possibility is something that could actually come to be. For example, ...

What does the "absolute accuracy" in regard to experience even mean? Perhaps you are looking for some absolute certainty? It's a fool's errand, a dimw...

You need to try harder. If we don't undertsnd it, how can we draw any conclusions about it? Sounds like the very defintion of "undecidable' to me. Not...

Why would you believe something for which you believe you have no justification for believing? Sounds like the definition of stupidity to me. Everythi...

The opposite of ingenuity...foolishness, self-contradiction.

Disingenuity.

I can't see any reason to think the answer is not undecidable. Also, I can't see how it would make any difference to human life whether the collapse o...

It becomes definite for us at that point; we can't say anything definite either way about its existence prior to that, but it does not follow that wha...

The answer I would give is that in terms of specialist human experience and understanding they are all real aspects, relations or possibilities of the...

The interesting {but unfortunately unanswerable) question is as to whether there are real possibilities that never become actual or whether all real p...

Science as it is has evolved to be practiced today is based on observing and describing things as they appear to us including augmented appearances vi...

I did read the article. You haven't answered the question as to whether you think the claim that possibilities are realities means something beyond wh...

:up: Nice image! I think you are right that metaphors often get taken literally, then reified.

I understand what Wayfarer is aiming at, and I understand the project of phenomenology. My point is that it is just one way of looking at things. Phen...

What does it mean to say that possibilities are realities? Does it just mean that some possibilities are real, as opposed to merely logical? Unless it...

So, philosophy forums are pointless then? :wink: There are also a few definitions or conceptions of what doing philosophy consists in. It seems to me ...

"What appears" could be construed as either the appearance itself or what gives rise to the appearance. Even assuming your tale is correct, meanings c...

You are losing the distinction between what we know of the existence of things and their actual existence: the two are not the same.