Michael

The idealist doesn't claim otherwise. They just claim that trees need to be seen for there to be trees. It doesn't require that I'm the one doing the ...

And my point is that it doesn't matter. I don't need to see other minds for there to be other minds. The idealist's claim isn't simply "only the thing...

Then how does the realist distinguish between a veridical and a non-veridical experience? The very principle of realism is that the way the world is i...

That's objective idealism, yes. But that's not what I meant. What I meant is that the (non-objective and non-solipsistic) idealist can accept that onl...

As you say, it's an inference; the same one that the materialist uses. The idealist just rejects the claim that one can use this reasoning to infer th...

What's the sceptical problem? Of course, But it's a mental inference that (according to the idealist) can't be used to infer the existence of some non...

That doesn't follow. "To be is to be perceived" is not the same as "to be is to be perceived by me". The rock doesn't require that I perceive it. It e...

How is it making an exception? The idealist presumably uses the same inference that the materialist uses to confirm the existence of other minds. They...

You can't equate idealism with solipsism. As we've gone over many times before, they're not the same thing. The idealist's position is that all things...

That's the thing; they don't believe that they have a penis. That's why they identify as a transgender man, not as a cisgender man.

That shows how many support Sharia law. Although Sharia law has homosexuality as a punishable offence, it doesn't state what that punishment is (and s...

Do they really? Could you point me towards the poll that was taken? I don't think this is right. It's not that those vocal Muslims aren't condemned, j...

Are you equating gender with biological sex? Because I don't know if many transgender men, for example, believe that they have a penis despite the fac...

But what is the ontology of expressing a proposition? Is it a physical process that occurs in the absence of mental activity? It seems to me that your...

And I disagree. That a pattern of ink expresses a proposition just is that we have a particular kind of conceptual attitude towards that pattern of in...

Well, I might say that a sentence isn't simply a pattern of ink but a pattern of ink that expresses a proposition. And expressing a proposition isn't ...

Only if you're not using the base-2 number system. Yes, and it states what it states in the English language as we currently understand it. To then tr...

1 and 1 make 2 in decimal notation. 1 and 1 make 10 in binary notion. Given that 1) is written in decimal and 2) is written in binary, both 1) and 2) ...

In such a situation both 1) and 2) will be true (assuming that the cup is blue, of course; if it isn't then both will be false). As I've said, the bi-...

It has been tacit in my application of the T-schema that the meanings are the same. Obviously I'm aware that the same syntax can be used to mean diffe...

But I haven't asserted 1. I've only asserted 2. My claim is that the following assertions are equivalent: 1. It is true that the Earth existed in a si...

But what about that it has meaning? Can a string of symbols written on a page have meaning even when it isn't being read? Although we might argue that...

He is Dutch, after all. And we all know the Dutch are sexy. Case in point: https://static.gosquared.com/images/april/goldmember_01.jpg Would you like ...

Is that a neg? Agustino is trying to pick up Benkei.

I have a can of (sugar-free) Monster every day. I just can't stop myself.

Maybe not, but it's the name it has. ;)

No, like I said, just splitting hairs.

The world itself is one big mental thing (à la pantheism or even panpsychism, I guess), so even though things are dependent on the presence of mind, t...

Just to split hairs, but objective idealism allows for things to happen regardless of our presence.

By that I mean a proposed biconditional which is actually false, e.g. it is raining iff I am a man. Which part? My claim that the following are not eq...

I'm not saying that the Earth exists in this situation iff "the Earth exists" is true in this situation. That's a fallacious bi-conditional, as I said...

How do I respond to this? By saying that the Earth exists in this situation or by saying that what you say is true? Can I say that the Earth exists in...

It's not that it was true that the Earth existed; it's that it is true that the Earth existed. To say that it was true that the Earth existed is to sa...

I understand the use-mention distinction. That's why I don't say that we eat "cake" or that cake has four letters. And I don't think I'm wrong. The fo...

A mapping from world states to truth values? Isn't that just saying that a world-state is either true or false?

So what exactly is the ontology of a proposition such that there can be such a thing even if there isn't a sentence to express it? Is the proposition ...

I recall Jostein Gaarder writing such a thing in one of his books.

But I think it's a bit of a leap to go from "we talk about truth as if it's mind-independent" to "truth is mind-independent". Maybe something akin to ...

The question, then, is whether or not propositions are sentence-dependent. If so, and if sentences are mind-dependent, then propositions are mind-depe...

And promiscuity is sharing God with the world.

If God is love then to know love is to know God – to actually love is to actually God. If God is love and if sex is a form of love then sex is a form ...

So is this argument: Those who have casual sex are righteous So-and-so has casual sex Therefore so-and-so is righteous Validity is only half of it. Yo...

It doesn't mean precisely that. It could also mean being able to spend the evening at the pub or being able to go spelunking at a moment's notice – or...

Well, no. There's more to being in control of your own life than just being able to sleep around. Right. So given that I consider the notion of the sp...

Well that's wrong. Women don't get an abortion just so that they can continue being promiscuous. Rather they get an abortion because they don't want t...

That doesn't explain how she uses the foetus to justify her sexual promiscuity. Furthermore, what do you mean by refusing the natural consequences? Sh...

How is she using a human life to be sexually promiscuous? It's not as if sexual promiscuity is a consequence of having an abortion or as if having an ...

What do you mean by abortion being used to justify sexual promiscuity? Is she saying "I'm allowed to be sexually promiscuous because I can have an abo...

But as you said it's not about having a justifiable reason; it's about having a sentimental notion. We have a sentimental notion of all human life bei...

How do you get from "we have a sentimental notion that all human life is equal" to "non-human animal life ought be treated as equal to human life"? It...