You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

andrewk

Comments

I don't get it Agustino. That clip elevated my opinion of Jeb Bush considerably. I am absolutely no fan of George HW, George W or Jeb, as their values...
September 13, 2016 at 23:35
My approach to difficulties with what 'feminism' means, and whether one agrees with whatever that is, is my usual approach of rejecting the use of 'is...
September 13, 2016 at 23:28
That putative atheist argument can be viewed in a negative or a positive way, just like how Peter Singer's arguments for animal rights can. Anti Singe...
September 10, 2016 at 01:55
That corresponds with my understanding of certain sorts of philosophy (eg classical theism, Heidegger) and that's why I see those sorts of philosophy ...
September 10, 2016 at 01:52
This is in fact one of the key reasons why my impression is the opposite of yours. Staying together to ride out the ups and downs that happen even in ...
September 09, 2016 at 22:34
The notion of a 'simple' God, and other such words used by classical theists, has led me to the (tentative, as always) view that Thomism is actually a...
September 09, 2016 at 22:27
That's an interesting claim. It is the exact opposite of my own impression, although I would not seek to elevate my impression to a claim. Perhaps you...
September 09, 2016 at 22:09
The argument in lines 1-3 doesn't get anybody anywhere. * Some people who believe in God will accept premises 1 and 2, but the argument will make no d...
September 09, 2016 at 04:28
We don't know any of those things. I'll consider them one by one. Flat? The density parameter has been measured to be very close to 1, but it has to b...
September 07, 2016 at 22:30
When one says sphere, one can be referring to either the 2D object that is the surface or boundary of the sphere. In 3D Cartesian coordinates, this is...
September 06, 2016 at 22:12
According to current cosmological theories there cannot be such a spacetime. If it is flat it must be infinite.
September 06, 2016 at 11:13
Finite spacetimes can expand just as well as infinite ones. There is no need for them to expand into anything and no need for anything to be outside i...
September 06, 2016 at 07:11
Be careful with that. It brings to mind a phrase that chilled me when I read it, and have never forgotten: from Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan: He gave hi...
September 06, 2016 at 05:50
The expression 'an armed society is a polite society' makes me think of such very polite people as: - Dr No ('No Mr Bond, I expect you to die') - Don ...
September 05, 2016 at 06:12
There's no incongruity. When they are doing physics, they are working with equations. When they are talking to lay people to try to give them an appro...
September 04, 2016 at 22:33
No they are not talking about the galaxies but about the equations of the spacetime metric. Referring to galaxies is just a way to give a vague sense ...
September 03, 2016 at 21:21
That's correct the way lay people think of 'expanding', meaning that the total size of the thing is getting bigger. To get bigger it must be finite. N...
September 03, 2016 at 06:24
First let me say that this is a topic that really interests me, so although it may look like I'm arguing, I'm actually trying to explore the notion in...
September 02, 2016 at 22:50
I believe you. And for me*, the greater satisfaction comes from viewing the different phenomena as parts of a whole. It's a lucky thing that there are...
September 02, 2016 at 11:34
I'll stick my head above the parapet and defend the 'Plastic bag is the universe becoming a container' or 'I am the universe becoming self-aware' epig...
September 01, 2016 at 23:29
A polite way to put that would be: 'Actually I've changed my position since the OP. You probably haven't noticed because this thread is very long' I s...
September 01, 2016 at 23:17
No. Because I don't want anybody to have to suffer torture. Further, it would be disgusting and abhorrent to me for such a barbarity as deliberate tor...
September 01, 2016 at 23:10
@shmik @OglopTo I find that awareness and caution about the background of somebody from a different culture can come up not just for Muslims. I work w...
September 01, 2016 at 10:29
It seems to me that the analog/digital distinction is not so much about the binary Yes/No nature of digital things, but rather about discrete vs conti...
September 01, 2016 at 10:20
It sounds reasonable to me. I take 'inherent meaning' to suggest some sort of 'global meaning'. If there is no global meaning there can still be local...
September 01, 2016 at 01:46
Aaarrrgh. Now the site will get stuck in an infinite regress, crash, get buggy and end up an electronic wasteland like The Other Place.
August 31, 2016 at 22:19
It sounds like you work in something related to IT. I'm interested in what sort of work you find the most rewarding in your chosen field. I expect it ...
August 31, 2016 at 22:15
I don't like hackers either but I'm sure we can find a bright side. All those people employed by IT security companies have jobs, earn wealth and pay ...
August 31, 2016 at 06:51
Good point. I'm a little uncomfortable using the word 'valid' about a theory, as it doesn't seem to convey the aspect of provisionality (temporariness...
August 30, 2016 at 22:40
My knowledge of Popper's works is much less than that of physics, but nevertheless I think you may be mistaken here. Did you mean 'logically impossibl...
August 30, 2016 at 22:35
Without knowing anything about science, one can be certain from basic logic that one of those statements cannot be correct. Adding my knowledge of phy...
August 30, 2016 at 00:37
I agree that one can get stuck in an uncomfortable feeling of infinite regress if one insists that science is 'explanation'. I know we all talk about ...
August 30, 2016 at 00:31
Hello Hoo. Great to see you here!
August 28, 2016 at 23:44
No. It isn't.
August 28, 2016 at 07:11
Your first post is this: Your suggestion is to put 'more boots on the ground'. It's fine that you believe that that would work, even though past evide...
August 27, 2016 at 22:11
Lurking here and there. Why? Is there a post I've missed that explains how Daesh can be surgically removed from the Earth without causing enormous suf...
August 27, 2016 at 03:13
'Refuses to' implies 'is able to'. Explain then, how the source can be 'destroyed', and how many innocent people would be killed in the process.
August 26, 2016 at 22:44
It occurs to me that even playing atonal music requires agreement on two parameters, and hence is not toally free of constraints - provided it is with...
August 26, 2016 at 22:25
It occurs to me that an additional necessary condition of something being a story (additional to the conscious teller and conscious listener) is that ...
August 25, 2016 at 23:46
What are people's views on Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique? As I understand it, there is no home key in that form. At the time (1920s) plenty of pe...
August 25, 2016 at 23:35
Yes I think I agree with that.
August 25, 2016 at 03:25
Do you think it is possible that that understanding could ever be achieved? I feel very confident indeed that it is impossible, although I doubt I cou...
August 25, 2016 at 00:51
Can you explain what that completer expression is, and how it matches up to the definition of intelligibility you gave in your earlier post as being a...
August 25, 2016 at 00:48
@Wayfarer Do you think it would follow from that definition of intelligibility that nothing can ever be intelligible (in that specific Platonic sense)...
August 24, 2016 at 23:02
Do you think so? I think 'intelligible' traditionally relates to ordinary speech, not to philosophical discourse, and means that we can make out what ...
August 24, 2016 at 22:36
I would say that a necessary condition for something being a story is that it have a conscious narrator (story-teller) and at least one consciousness ...
August 24, 2016 at 22:12
In my view, we are ALWAYS telling each other a story, and there's no 'just' about that. Story-telling is the pinnacle! On the question of intelligibil...
August 24, 2016 at 06:43
That's a very good point, with an interesting historical context. All the original Jesus followers were Jews. From what I've read on the early years o...
August 23, 2016 at 22:36
Here's the first part of section IV of the intro to CPR (first edition): To me, that says they are antonyms. I also note that he does not mention expe...
August 23, 2016 at 01:11
I am unable to form an opinion on whether mathematics is learned synthetically, because I don't know what 'synthetic' means. If I did, I would then kn...
August 23, 2016 at 00:51