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Michael

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Are you suggesting that people shouldn't care if rich and powerful politicians get away with committing crimes?
March 20, 2023 at 11:00
Trump says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday
March 18, 2023 at 14:34
I'm not sure what you understand "implausible" to mean. It doesn't mean "false" or "impossible". It means something like "unconvincing" or "seemingly ...
March 08, 2023 at 17:08
The point of it is that it might be true. Not in that specific paper. That paper is just an explanation of idealism.
March 08, 2023 at 16:52
He's saying that no solution to the mind-body problem is plausible, but one of them must be true.
March 08, 2023 at 16:46
Yes, or more clearly from the conclusion: He contrasts idealism with materialism, dualism, and neutral monism. These terms are commonly understood to ...
March 08, 2023 at 15:20
Substance monism.
March 08, 2023 at 14:18
I've only had time to read the introduction, but in general it seems to agree with my characterisation: His subsequent breakdown of idealism into "mic...
March 08, 2023 at 09:07
That strikes me as atomism, not materialism. String theory is perhaps an example of atomistic materialism, but the Standard Model is perhaps an exampl...
March 07, 2023 at 10:23
"External reality" refers to the notion of a domain of objects existing independently ("outside") of any subjective mental phenomena. https://en.wikip...
March 06, 2023 at 08:57
Words and concepts can have a meaning even if nothing exists which satisfies the conditions of that meaning. Nothing is "supernatural", but the differ...
March 05, 2023 at 09:25
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/idealism/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/ Idealism is concerned with what does and doesn't exist. This ...
March 05, 2023 at 09:17
You’re just playing word games. Dreamlng isn’t just something that is reported after waking. It’s something experienced. It’s the occurrence of visual...
March 04, 2023 at 18:36
I gave examples: "the square root of 4 is 2" being true depends on the square root of 4 being 2; "a yellow ball does not exist" being true depends on ...
March 04, 2023 at 16:05
Because we see and hear and feel things when asleep. That's what dreaming is. I agree, which is why it is more productive to ask if things like colour...
March 04, 2023 at 16:00
The truth of “the square root of 4 is 2” depends on the square root of 4 being 2. But the square root of 4 being true doesn’t depend on the existence ...
March 04, 2023 at 14:42
Probably nothing. The mistake is in thinking that a statement's truth depends on the existence of something. Imagine that just two things exist; a red...
March 04, 2023 at 11:14
What's the difference? We know that the external world is constituted of things like atoms and electromagnetic radiation. We know that electromagnetic...
March 04, 2023 at 09:25
I think of idealism as simply being a substance monism, contrasted primarily with materialism and substance/property dualism. I don't think that "thin...
March 04, 2023 at 08:44
That’s where I disagree. Quantum field theory doesn’t talk about cups or cupboards or King Charles III, but our everyday language does. Therefore it’s...
March 04, 2023 at 02:10
It's the world that quantum field theory describes. Do you agree that there is such a world? If so then either a) cups can be described by quantum fie...
March 04, 2023 at 00:14
So do I. Objects in the external world are correctly described by quantum fields. Cups aren't correctly described by quantum fields. Therefore, cups a...
March 03, 2023 at 23:54
Cups and cupboards and other everyday stuff, as opposed to quantum fields. Yes, which is why I answered "The question is too unclear to answer". I thi...
March 03, 2023 at 23:27
It is, but I don't think we normally talk about the external world. That doesn't entail realism. Things are still true or false even if idealism or so...
March 03, 2023 at 22:37
I think it has explanatory power in the case of the dress that some see to be black and blue and others see to be white and gold. Each person can be l...
March 03, 2023 at 22:13
Because I don't believe that something like "the cup is in the cupboard" is a proper description of the external world.
March 03, 2023 at 21:57
I don't think it would.
March 03, 2023 at 21:52
I voted "The question is too unclear to answer". If I believe that there is an external world but that it is properly described by something like quan...
March 03, 2023 at 21:43
Why can't an undesigned universe be the starting point? In fact, your argument can be used to refute the argument that the universe was designed. If t...
February 14, 2023 at 09:39
If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?
February 03, 2023 at 17:48
I guess because in America you don't actually learn anything in class, you just run shooter drills and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance.
February 03, 2023 at 11:20
As another example, some Christians believe that homosexuality is wrong because they believe that there is a God who has commanded so. Can an atheist ...
February 03, 2023 at 09:34
Yes, that's been my point. They both believe that John shouldn't marry Jane, and if it's true that John shouldn't marry Jane then their belief that Jo...
February 03, 2023 at 09:31
Classic example of people misunderstanding "innocent until proven guilty". You're innocent if you didn't do it and guilty if you did, regardless of pr...
February 03, 2023 at 09:27
It’s not unusual to say “we both believe that John shouldn’t marry Jane, but for different reasons.” Max believes that John shouldn’t marry Jane becau...
February 02, 2023 at 17:00
This being a coincidence is why I don't particularly like this example. A different example would be: I believe that my car isn't in my driveway, beca...
February 02, 2023 at 16:47
I can only speak for myself, but no. I'm not intent on refuting anything. In everyday life I don't give a second thought to God or religion. It's only...
February 02, 2023 at 16:34
I was specifically considering verbally sharing information, so no documents. Then you’re begging the question as you’re trying to argue that we do ha...
January 26, 2023 at 20:49
OK, so how is this a defence of free speech absolutism? Not all cases of censorship are killing someone just in case. Some censorship is imprisonment ...
January 26, 2023 at 19:35
By saying it? I might not know it to be true, but something being true doesn’t depend on me knowing it. I don’t know that aliens exist, but I can say ...
January 26, 2023 at 18:47
This seems like an appeal to ignorance. Perhaps something can be morally good even if we do not, or cannot, know that it is morally good. Then why, in...
January 26, 2023 at 18:27
So government employees ought be allowed to share military intelligence with foreign nations?
January 25, 2023 at 16:36
That doesn't follow. Given that your reasoning appears based on a utilitarian principle, a simple argument against free speech absolutism is that ther...
January 25, 2023 at 13:42
Trump was offered the same courtesy but refused the initial subpoena and then lied about having returned them all, whereas Biden voluntarily disclosed...
January 19, 2023 at 18:36
Whether or not he had authority to declassify is mostly irrelevant. What matters is whether or not they were declassified. Given that the documents ha...
January 19, 2023 at 14:22
I think I may have had the highest shout-count on old PF.
January 07, 2023 at 12:34
Nah
January 06, 2023 at 22:19
Which one?
December 23, 2022 at 12:50
Correct. Uncertain. The realist would argue that the realist existence of physical objects is a parsimonious explanation for the occurrence and regula...
December 19, 2022 at 14:42
It doesn't follow from the fact that we talk about abstract objects that abstract objects exist in the realist sense. The latter notion is unfounded p...
December 19, 2022 at 13:52