Philosophy Now Forum

Steve - Stating the obvious can sometimes help. There are numerous ways to try and express an idea/viewpoint. Honestly I think you’re going to have a hard time with this one here unless you try a different tack and/or supplement what you mean with another separate, yet related, line of questioning/i...

Not a fan of solipsism. Besides, your great, great, great, great, great grandfather say nothing to say anymore ... does this mean we don’t exist or that we don’t exist for him - as he doesn’t exist for himself? Not alluding to solipsism at all. Merely that the concepts we use to talk about the worl...

We can speak of anything we wish to. Whether or not it makes sense, or has any positive use, is another thing entirely .... he says drumbling the squash finders hat piece under the yellow fringe of tomorrow’s plush-thumber; on the Wednesday the day before Monday of course (note the purple smell afte...

Each to their own. Tough love works better for some than for others. Generally I doubt anyone is ready to believe anything unless they get there in their own way. Some believe it better to make the person believe they’ve come to a conclusion themselves rather than having it force fed to them. Scienc...

Stars will still exist. The tree will still fall. Who would verify such claims? And if nobody can - do they mean anything and to whom? Not a fan of solipsism. Besides, your great, great, great, great, great grandfather say nothing to say anymore ... does this mean we don’t exist or that we don’t ex...

So I guess that the end of any serious conversation with you about this issue. I am being dead serious when I am pointing out that you don't understand your own question. As insulting as this may sound to you. It's true. Be charitable. Maybe it’s a little nebulous. I’m sure there are different ways...

... Logic comes from humans. Logic/Mathematics is just a language. An engineered one. But it's still a language. Excellent! And sans humans there is no logic, mathematics, language, or knowledge. Other animals have facets of human language. Stars will still exist. The tree will still fall. You miss...

I have hard time dealing with the reduction of everything to a matter of “what do you mean?” yet at the same time all too often find myself grasping for clarity and asking others that very question! :D Through investigation we have managed, practical scientific terms, to be astute enough to figure o...

I’m not really sure “mysticism” is the same thing as “metaphysics”? I believe that ‘metaphysics’, broadly speaking, deals with the limits of physicalism rather than being merely a mystical discipline? In academic circles generally the issue is about ontology and epistemology - and there are further ...

How do you feel about ‘psychologism’? It's really difficult to nail down any of the "isms" since they are usually a different lens for re-interpreting the same basic phenomenological facts. It leads down a path where we end up disagreeing about nomenclature and vocabulary, rather than any...

You forget I regard life, consciousness, and mind as ontological, but not physical. Lolwhat? Ontological pluralism. That's new levels of sophistry. Do I need to remind you that 'categories' exist nowhere else but in human minds? That we, humans, categorize reality in order to understand it is merel...

Scott - We agree then? Abstractions are absolute. Science certainly makes good use of abstraction, but it isn’t ‘absolute’ - it necessarily relies on possible errors. I’m well aware that physics and mathematics are married. ‘Absolute’ means permanent in philosophical terms. ‘Universal’ is not necess...

Scott -

Threats? That’s just silly. I merely asked for clarification. It wasn’t a critique just an inquiry. You could’ve just answered honestly - yes, none of us write clearly all of the time.

Scott - The context was directly above my initial question on the previous page. You’re just avoiding answering me. Why? If you don’t wish to answer fair enough, but don’t play games with me or I’ll just ignore you. My qualm is the clarity of the sentence. Why ‘remotely’ and why ‘in some way’. If t...

I’m not here to teach you reading comprehension.