Michael

If "bachelor" means "unmarried man" then all bachelors are unmarried men. "Bachelor" can mean "unmarried man", but it can also mean "man who has never...

Does determinism allow for stochastic quantum mechanics? I'll be interested in reading that when it's finished. But until then, what do you make of un...

Is this a difference that contradicts determinism? If someone asks me how I beat some opponent at some computer game, I can describe it in such terms ...

Is there a difference between these two sentences? 1. A triangle is a 3-sided shape 2. "Triangle" means "3-sided shape" Obviously there's a use-mentio...

So we have a number of different sentences: 1. A triangle is a 3-sided polygon 2. "Triangle" means "3-sided polygon" 3. Joe Biden was elected the 46th...

Then what about a sentence such as "Joe Biden was elected the 46th President of the United States"?

Is there a difference between these two sentences? 1. A triangle is a 3-sided polygon 2. "Triangle" means "3-sided polygon"

Isn't that exactly what I said? Some sentences are always true and some aren't.

Are you just saying that there are some sentences that are always true and some sentences that aren't?

He didn't say that. He said that there's no fundamental difference. And on that I think his recent remarks on the Republican party suggest that he's c...

You've just said that more people are affected by X than by Y. There's no "objective measure" for how many people must be affected by something for th...

Well that's a very selfish outlook. You just seem to be arguing that because the differences between Republicans and Democrats don't affect you then t...

Wealth disparity isn't the only measure of the differences between political parties.

They're not empty promises. Blue states have been preparing to become abortion safe havens Democrats are doing what they can to protect abortion right...

You don't see a significant difference between Democrats wanting to codify abortion rights in law and Republicans passing laws against abortion that d...

As the OP mentions Chomsky's view in 2008, maybe it's worth considering his more recent view. Chomsky: Republican Party 'most dangerous organisation o...

No, I say so because there is a significant difference.

They're significantly different on welfare, healthcare, guns, abortion, and LGBT issues.

When it comes to welfare, healthcare, guns, abortion, and LGBT issues, there is a huge difference between Democrats and Republicans, and so it’s overl...

i.e. an idiolect.

Individual differences in visual science: What can be learned and what is good experimental practice?

Well, this is where my actual beliefs differ from the more limited argument I've been making. I believe in the existence of objects other than myself ...

How does phantom limb syndrome work? I don't know how it happens, I just know that it happens. Or as a more ordinary example, there is an apparent dep...

It's a characteristic of conscious experience, and conscious experience doesn't extend beyond the brain. Unless you want to argue for some non-physica...

The characteristics of conscious experience create the illusion that they extend beyond the body. It seems as if the red colour I see a property of so...

If this means “the apple looks red” or “the apple appears red” then I agree. Applied wrongly. It’s the naive realist fallacy. The characteristics of c...

My point from the start has only been that words like "red", "sweet", and "pain" refer to some characteristic of conscious experience, not to some pro...

The key thing is when the person with synesthesia talks about numbers having colours he's referring to some characteristic of his conscious experience...

Synesthesia is the perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory...

I'll rephrase it. If Wittgenstein is right then the person with synesthesia wouldn't describe numbers as having colours, given that his language commu...

Well, I think he didn't. As I asked above, how does the person with synesthesia come to describe numbers as having colours, given that nobody else in ...

I think you missed the point. There's no inference that gives "disgusting" it's meaning. The meaning of "the apple tastes disgusting" has nothing to d...

OK, but I think that these two mean different things: 1. Suzy thought the apple tasted disgusting 2. Suzy threw the apple out of the car We should be ...

What does the word "disgusting" mean in the sentence "Suzy thought the apple tasted disgusting, so she threw it out of the car"?

It's no different to saying that apples taste sweet. Then how are we able to disagree on how an apple tastes? And how does the person with synesthesia...

I think the focus on sight is a detriment to the discussion. So forget sight for the moment and consider the other senses. It's fine to say that we ta...

Why not? If electromagnetic radiation stimulating the rods and cones in someone's eyes can cause them to see red for the first time then why can't we ...

It doesn't require it. It's just how it usually works. It only requires the activation of the appropriate parts of the occipital lobe.

No it doesn't. I accept that we (usually) see red in response to electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of 700nm stimulating the rods and cones i...

Does feeling pain require something outside the head?

It requires the appropriate areas of the occipital lobe to be activated which does not in principle require anything outside the head (notwithstanding...

No, otherwise nobody could have ever seen red in the first place. At some point in my life I saw red for the first time.

I literally just said above that colour is composed of strings.

Yes.

It's not wacky, it's just wrong. It's like saying that fire is wet. A red colour occurs when the appropriate areas of the occipital lobe are activated...

Yes.

Yes.

If string theory is correct, yes.

By not arguing that some non-physical substance exists?

Then everything is strings, which is what string theory argues. I don't understand what you're getting at.