Category: Metaphilosophy
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On the Abysmal Depth of Philosophical Disagreement
Many of the questions that philosophers ask have the form, What is (the nature of) X? What is knowledge? What is consciousness? What is the self? What is free will? What is causation? What are properties? What is motion? Time? Existence? . . . These are typical philosophical questions that arise from what appear to…
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Has Even One Philosophical Problem Ever Been Solved?
Or dissolved? Logically prior to the title question is this: What would it be to solve a philosophical problem? Four approaches to the logically prior question come to mind. I'll call them Pluralism, Dogmatism, Skepticism, and Optimism. A. Pluralism. Solutions and dissolutions are relative to theories and background assumptions such that there is a plurality of…
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Anthony Flood on Philosophy as Misosophy, Part I
I wrote an entry on the main sorts of motive that might lead one who takes religion seriously to take up the study of philosophy. I distinguished five main motives: the apologetic, the critical, the debunking, the transcensive, and the substitutional. But there is also the move away from philosophy to religion and its motives.…
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The French and Philosophy, Piaget and Scientism
Claude Boisson writes by e-mail: We are very proud of this French peculiarity, which never fails to impress foreigners. But Jean Piaget, the psychologist, wrote a little book (Sagesse et illusions de la philosophie, 1965) in which he suggested that premature exposure to philosophy could be detrimental to good thinking. According to him, adequate philosophizing…
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From Religion to Philosophy: A Typology of Motives for Making the Move
People come to philosophy from various 'places.' Some come from religion, others from mathematics and the natural sciences, still others from literature and the arts. There are other termini a quis as well. In this post I am concerned only with the move from religion to philosophy. What are the main types of reasons for…
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Philosophy Always Buries Its Undertakers
Philosophy always buries its undertakers (Etienne Gilson) and resurrects its dead. There is a semi-competent article in The Guardian entitled Philosophy Isn't Dead Yet that is worth a look. Why 'semi-competent'? The author characterizes metaphysics as ". . . the branch of philosophy that aspires to the most general understanding of nature – of space…
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Long Views and Short Views: Is Shorter Better?
The long views of philosophy are not to everyone's taste. If not bored, many are depressed by the contemplation of death and pain, God and the soul, the meaning or meaninglessness of our lives. They prefer not to think of such things and consider it best to take short views. If as Thomas Nagel maintains, the…
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Why Do We Need Philosophy?
Why do we need philosophy? There are several reasons, but one is to expose the confusions and absurdities of scientists and science journalists when they encroach ineptly upon philosophical territory. This from science writer Clara Moskowitz in Controversially, Physicist Argues Time is Real: NEW YORK — Is time real, or the ultimate illusion? Most physicists…
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Polygyny?
Tony H asks: Your procreation argument for heterosexual marriage is consistent with polygyny, so if it is sound, it may rule out homosexual marriages, but be of great use to defending polygynists since it maximizes procreation and the perpetuation of the state quantitatively. What is the state's interest in monogamy? I was afraid my argument…
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Atheists, Anti-Philosophers, and Anti-Idealists: The ‘One X Further’ Meme
Beloved of cyberpunks and Internet infidels, the 'One God Further' meme invites generalization. Although it is not an argument but an assertion, the Dawkins attribution suggests an argument. The argument it suggests to me is the following: 1. All gods are on a par with respect to credibility. 2. All of us find most gods incredible. Therefore 3.…
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On Philosophical Denials of the Obvious
In philosophy, appeals to the obvious don't cut much ice because, as Hilary Putnam says somewhere, "It ain't obvious what's obvious." And as Spencer Case, MavPhil Cairo correspondent, points out, ". . . in contemporary academic philosophy there is a perverse incentive to deny the obvious." One who denies what counts as obvious to the…
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Should Nagel’s Book Be on the Philosophical Index Librorum Prohibitorum?
Via Reppert's blog I came to an article by Simon Blackburn about Thomas Nagel's Mind and Cosmos. The article ends as follows: There is charm to reading a philosopher who confesses to finding things bewildering. But I regret the appearance of this book. It will only bring comfort to creationists and fans of “intelligent design”, who will…
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Presentism and Actualism, Tenseless Existence and Amodal Existence
John of the MavPhil commentariat drew our attention to the analogy between presentism and actualism. An exfoliation of the analogy may prove fruitful. Rough formulations of the two doctrines are as follows: P. Only the (temporally) present exists. A. Only the actual exists. Now one of the problems that has been worrying us is how…
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Which is the Hardest of the Philosophical Subdisciplines?
Without a doubt, the philosophy of time. The philosophy of mind is a piece of cake by comparison. According to a story, possibly apocryphal, Peter van Inwagen was once asked why he didn't publish on time. "Too hard," was his reply. If it is too hard for van Inwagen, it is hard. According to Hugh McCann,…
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Magnificent yet Miserable
The magnificence and misery of philosophy is but a reflection of the magnificence and misery of its author man, who, neither animal nor angel, is the tension between the two.