{"id":4787,"date":"2018-02-09T05:59:16","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T05:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/02\/09\/a-curious-mode-of-refutation\/"},"modified":"2018-02-09T05:59:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T05:59:16","slug":"a-curious-mode-of-refutation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/02\/09\/a-curious-mode-of-refutation\/","title":{"rendered":"A Curious Mode of Refutation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

To begin with, the idea that \u201cexistence exists\u201d excludes the idea that existence doesn\u2019t<\/em> exist. It denies the subjectivist, pragmatist, postmodernist view that reality is an illusion, a mental construct, a social convention. Obviously, people who insist that reality is not real are not going to buy in to a philosophy that says it is real.<\/span><\/p>\n

So that\u2019s one huge problem with Rand\u2019s philosophy.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now I am no fan of Ayn Rand: my Rand category<\/a> is chock-full of trenchant criticisms of her and her acolytes. But the above is so stupid as to be beyond belief.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forgive me for stating the obvious. One cannot refute a view by pointing out that there are those who do not accept it.<\/span><\/p>\n

UPDATE (7:40)<\/span><\/p>\n

This just in from Patrick Toner:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Off to class in two minutes, but I thought I should send a quick note to say that I think Biddle's piece is satirical.  Or something like that.  It wasn't meant as a refutation.  I hope you're well!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Professor Toner may well be right. You decide.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here: To begin with, the idea that \u201cexistence exists\u201d excludes the idea that existence doesn\u2019t exist. It denies the subjectivist, pragmatist, postmodernist view that reality is an illusion, a mental construct, a social convention. Obviously, people who insist that reality is not real are not going to buy in to a philosophy that says it is real. … Continue reading “A Curious Mode of Refutation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-metaphilosophy","category-rand-ayn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}