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Antony Nickles

['Member', 'Subscriber']Joined: September 29, 2020 at 00:55Last active: February 25, 2026 at 16:5718 discussions1394 comments

Discussions (18)

American Belief

September 29, 2020 at 01:02 18 comments Political Philosophy

Comments

I might not be able to make this clear (thus pointing to the Wittgenstein) but I’ll try again; it’s not that a state is an object, but a “state” is th...
February 16, 2026 at 18:37
There seems to be two different topics mixed together. Being upset, however legitimate, about outlier moralism (“superiority”) and personal attacks (o...
February 12, 2026 at 06:02
Wittgenstein’s point is that there is a misconception of “states” as if they are objects (not of objects), like conceptualized in the same framework t...
February 12, 2026 at 03:35
I haven’t read the whole discussion (and this topic has been addressed at length elsewhere), but I thought I’d respond to your reservations. We just w...
February 11, 2026 at 19:58
From what I can tell, the Ten Coins situation does not have “features” at all, to even make explicit. This case doesn’t even have any criteria, or mec...
January 29, 2026 at 17:13
I haven’t read everything yet, but I think looking into this is essential, because a big part of what makes justification important to us, is its need...
January 29, 2026 at 05:14
@"Sam26" I did, perhaps unfairly, edit my last two comments after posting them. The problem I believe (looking for confirmation @"Jamal") is that foll...
January 28, 2026 at 17:44
Okay, bad example. I stand by the philosophical point about “seeming” and mimicry. If part of justification is ongoing, it is antithetical for there t...
January 28, 2026 at 17:36
But it is not a matter of “genuine” or “mimicked” justification, but strong or weak. We don’t need to look past the justification and imagine somethin...
January 28, 2026 at 11:16
I don’t have the familiarity with this way of problematizing justification, and I’m not sure I care to as I think you’re on the right track anyway. Th...
January 28, 2026 at 10:09
I do recognize we are surrounded by a great fabric without which nothing we do would be possible, but, outside of radical skepticism, I do not see any...
January 28, 2026 at 02:35
Of course there is formal logic, which has it uses, but I would think more important is the internal logic of a practice, some of which are particular...
January 27, 2026 at 05:50
This of course makes perfect sense within the framework of our present knowledge. So not sure this matters, but there is the case where a belief turns...
January 26, 2026 at 22:09
I’m not sure why “genuineness” comes into it. Why is that even introduced into the conversation? Maybe we are thinking of participating completely? “o...
January 26, 2026 at 21:11
When I think of a justified claim, I imagine judging the claim. When I think of a practice, I picture the person conducting the practice. Is this a se...
January 26, 2026 at 20:23
This having just read the first post. (I feel I should always say that all my statements of the way I take things to work are meant as provisional and...
January 26, 2026 at 09:35
Picturing sense data as objects is a different tangent, so I’ll leave that where it is, and delete this.
January 24, 2026 at 11:56
Retracting
January 24, 2026 at 09:10
This felt less like a discussion of the OP about multiple colors, so I’m pulling it.
January 24, 2026 at 08:36
@"Sam26" @"Banno" @"Ludwig V" @"Joshs" As I said , Prof. Hacker’s lecture stayed at the level of Witt as head-down here, just mapping out the facts of...
November 28, 2025 at 19:38
Hacker Lecture @"Sam26" @"Banno" @"Ludwig V" @"Joshs" I made 4-pages of scribbles during Professor Hacker’s recent lecture (mentioned above). I will t...
November 28, 2025 at 00:07
Actually, the book is out (at Albris here), so I think they are waiting, to put the video up, for the lecture to be given or published, as this was an...
November 26, 2025 at 21:44
@"Sam26" @"Banno" @"Ludwig V" @"Joshs" Well I hope someone else had a chance to catch Hacker's amazing lecture (130 people attended). He was very erud...
November 26, 2025 at 17:29
Summary/take-aways I don't know who all has an interest in this, but below is my recap of my notes on the Blue Book. I encourage those who followed al...
November 23, 2025 at 04:38
Section 20 - Finale! (p. 70-74) This mention of “opinion” brings us back to where “The solipsist… is not stating an opinion; and that's why he is so s...
November 23, 2025 at 04:36
Section 19 - special pain I take him to be saying that we could agree to symbolically hold an “exceptional place” (p.66) for the solipsist, but also t...
November 23, 2025 at 04:36
Section 18B - “use” (oh boy, here we go…) p.65 (I can’t face 66-69 yet.) One of the I think most misunderstood technical terms that Witt—ahem—uses. In...
November 23, 2025 at 04:34
Section 18 - the unidentifiable individual (p.61-65) At first, I take his “considering the criteria for the identity of a person” (p.61) as more about...
November 23, 2025 at 04:32
Section 17 - The solipsist’s reality (p.58-61) We may not get this “why” yet, but it is not an issue with language—not just notation. The method is to...
November 23, 2025 at 04:32
Section 16 - Physical vs logical impossibility (p. 56-57) As above, here (with color) we have a situation mistakenly analogized as a physical problem....
November 23, 2025 at 04:31
Section 15 - Why couldn’t I know your pain? (p. 53-55) Well my understanding is that an illocutionary act is a very specific thing, but it is used by ...
November 23, 2025 at 04:31
Section 14 - Variety of criteria and the place of pain (p. 49-52) The problem of (knowing) someone else’s “mind” is an age-old issue in philosophy. He...
November 23, 2025 at 04:30
Sec. 13 Personal experience and skepticism (p. 45-48] At a certain point in the next section (“It seems to us… p. 47 ), he lands on the question of wh...
November 23, 2025 at 04:29
Sec. 12 Expression and its accompaniments—memory, judgment, thinking (p. 40-43) And so we are adding layers back in, and I think we’re left to contemp...
November 23, 2025 at 04:29
Sec 11 Our words’ connection to the world (p. 35-39) Nice work; my thoughts are along the same lines. He is showing us examples of how we can correct ...
November 23, 2025 at 04:28
Sec 10 Intending and Meaning (pp. 32-34) “To intend a picture to be the portrait of so-and-so (on the part of the painter, e.g.) is neither a particul...
November 23, 2025 at 04:28
Sec 9 Non-existence and Statements without Facts (pp. 30-32) Thanks for cracking this, well done; I was at a loss (and maybe still am) as to why we im...
November 23, 2025 at 04:28
Sec 8 Purpose of Possibilities and Grammar (pp. 28-30) His hope in pointing out multiple variations of “know” or “longing” (p. 29) is that being aware...
November 23, 2025 at 04:27
Sec 7 Puzzling Rules (pp. 25-28) If philosophy’s puzzles “spring” from this desire for exactness, that makes its own expectation the creator of the is...
November 23, 2025 at 04:27
Sec 6 Coinciding Criteria (pp. 24-25) First, another note on his method. When he asks “what do we call ‘getting to know’” (p.24), by “call” he means w...
November 23, 2025 at 04:26
Section 5 (pp. 21-23) Russell and Undiscovered Feelings Maybe someone can help fill in the Russell here (mine is hearsay). The distinction I take as i...
November 23, 2025 at 04:26
Section 4C (pp. 18-20] Philosophical “Attitude” To step back just to page 18, he is I believe referring to Socrates when he asks why philosophy is “co...
November 23, 2025 at 04:25
Section 4B (pp.17-18) science vs. philosophy (generalizing) Obviously, over-generalization leads to logical errors, but what’s interesting is how he t...
November 23, 2025 at 04:25
Section 4A (pp.16-17) “language games” As he puts off until later in the book the actual discussion of whether a machine can think, I will defer until...
November 23, 2025 at 04:24
Section 3B (pp.14-15) Causes vs. Reasons Yes but aren’t justifications just one kind of (prepared) reasons, as are principals (beliefs for action), mi...
November 23, 2025 at 04:23
Section 3 (pp. 10-14) Acting without Rules As an aside, he finds another logical error, mixing contexts, or thinking we understand a word because we h...
November 23, 2025 at 04:23
Section 2B: 8-10 Analogy Some of these sections are a little bumpy so I don’t think we should feel compelled to go through all of it, but I do find th...
November 23, 2025 at 04:22
Section 2: 5-8 Two Mistakes Unraveling what is “different” here, one point is that, yes, there are things happening in the brain. And vision, hearing,...
November 23, 2025 at 04:22
Section 1B pp. 3-5: a “queer” mechanism of the mind At the bottom of page 3, Witt sketches a picture from what it “seems” like “we ought really to be ...
November 23, 2025 at 04:21
Section 1 pp. 1-3 Mental objects & Use Wittgenstein starts with claiming that we are incorrectly structuring ‘sense data’ (feelings, visions, thoughts...
November 23, 2025 at 04:20