Philosophy Now Forum

What then of the 'laws of logic'? Do they apply to statements or propositions? Or both or neither? I think propositions can have the value 'true' or 'false', but as far as logic is concerned that is all they are - they are not true or false 'about' anything. It is like seeing +1 or -1 in a sum, we ...

In the UK the traditional problem for right wing groups has always been that the hard core (and the funders) tended to be primarily anti-Jewish. But broader popular support was put off by antisemitism, they tended to be motivated by dislike of black people. (Initially Africans or West Indians, then ...

I would argue that anything that deserves to be called "truth" at all is objective. If it is merely the claimed personal experience of one individual, and fails to be replicated in anyone else or represented in the external world anyone else perceives, then in what sense is it a "tru...

I just did. There is an objective size to the universe at any given moment, and an objective amount of water in the oceans of the Earth. I continue to find your notion of 'objective' elusive. I might in theory measure the amount of water (I'm not sure about the universe) but I cannot do it objectiv...

There is much we do not presently know how to affirm or falsify that is nonetheless true. The universe has a size...we don't know what it is, but we know it's expanding continuously. We don't know how many drops of water are in the Atlantic Ocean, but it hardly argues that there is no water. Assumi...

True. But the "square circle" analogy is only apt if "objective truth" is definitely known to be a thing of the same sort, that is, an inherent contradiction, not merely a thing you have not personally found. And you would need to show that it IS an inherent contradiction. It is...

If that were true, then to say, as you do, "Objective truth is like a squared circle" is also a nonsense statement. The noun has no referent in reality, according to you. Moreover, it's not objectively true: it's just a statement of subjective feeling. This is getting mixed up! I didn't w...

It is 'true' that some phenomena are objective, insofar as everyone experiences the same thing, for instance, if we measure the acceleration due to gravity on Earth, we all find that it is equivalent to 9.8mss, but there are any number of hypotheses as to what the cause of gravity is. I would say t...

If that were true, then to say, as you do, "Objective truth is like a squared circle" is also a nonsense statement. The noun has no referent in reality, according to you. Moreover, it's not objectively true: it's just a statement of subjective feeling. Yes, in both cases 'squared circle' ...

But if the category "fact" is just an empty set, then even the claim that there is no such thing as a "fact" cannot itself be a "fact." There can still be things we call facts, but I do not think they are the same as 'objective truth'. How do you conclude this? Are you...

Well, perhaps we should ask this: is it objectively true that there are no examples of objective truths? Firstly, empirically, how would one justify such a claim? Has one exhausted the field? What sort of a preposterous claim is that to make, to propose that one knows already all the apparent "...

Look, the point is simple: when you say that truth is subjective, you must be making an objective claim, or it isn't necessarily true. Either way, it's self-contradictory. If you can follow that, we're good. 8) By saying 'truth is subjective' one need not be making an objective claim about the natu...

P1) Everything that exists has a cause Just one cause? I think that if we ask for, or point out, a cause, we are making a selection. Perhaps we are drawing attention to a connection that isn't immediately obvious. For example; ' The moon causes the tides '. But we are not saying that it is the only...

Many folk equate belief to religious conviction, and/or other belief(s) where the holder of the belief cannot justify and/or offer any reason for holding the belief. That does not make it equivalent to religious belief. Rather, that is also the case where the believer has no reasons/justification k...

It would be like saying 'I am both uncertain and certain'. This can be valid (not commenting on the specific content of your post outside of this) A person can be completely certain about being uncertain. They can operate on different logical levels so they can co-exist....of course, formal logic h...