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1500 questions
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13 answers

Why is it wrong to answer a question with a tautology? Isn't "2+2" correct when answering 'What is "2+2"'?

Many times in class, we are asked to answer, "What is 2+2?" or "What is the derivative of the function x?". It would not be the intended answer to write "2+2" or "The derivative of the function x". But, why not? A tautology is technically a correct…
user107952
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Could a sentient machine suffer?

I was considering this closed question very intently, and I found that I'm not at all fluent in the idea of modern slavery. Many philosophers have spoken on slavery. On this forum, someone has already asked of Plato's ideas of slavery. It is…
davidlowryduda
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Does anyone assert the real existence of p-zombies?

Philosophical zombies are usually presented as, let say, "conceivable" and then this assertion is used to infer dualism. Have any philosophers taken the position that p-zombies are in fact real, and, if so, what do they conclude from this? By real,…
Dave
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Is mathematics truth? As in the sense of that which is manifest or possible in reality?

In mathematics there are imaginary numbers which cannot be represented directly in reality (the physical world). For example, you can't have i apples where i = √-1 (square root of -1) Can we then say that in some sense mathematics is not…
michael
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Is scientism a self defeating epistemology?

Some who have argued against the validity of scientism have argued that the view that only science can uncover truth is not a scientific discovery but rather a epistemology. Hence it has been claimed that it is self refuting. Is this a valid…
Neil Meyer
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Is atheism a requirement for a consistent existentialist philosophy?

Søren Kierkegaard is generally considered to be the "father of existentialism". This always bothered me, since to me Sartre and Camus are the defining figures of the movement, and it seems that there is no room for God in an existential…
Alan Turing
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How can free will in compatibilism be proven?

Having very recently started getting interested in philosophy, I'm still halfway through my first book (Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy, by Simon Blackburn, as recommended in this question). Before reading it, it was my belief that we…
JNat
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How are workers exploited when they have a choice in working for a boss?

Under Marxist theory, workers are being exploited for their labor and not receiving the full value of their labor. Workers however have a choice in who they work for and how much they earn so how can it be called exploitation? If it because they…
Brad
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Is willful ignorance about one's own mortality escapism?

I don't mean if someone is dying of cancer and they refuse treatment or something -- I'm saying if a healthy person who is unhappy obsessing over his own inevitable death one day chooses to ignore this in order to relax and be happy, is this…
sangstar
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What would happen if suddenly, 1+1=2 is disproved?

Would the universe be thrown into chaos were the most fundamental equation proved to be wrong?
Peter Johnmeyer
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Why aren't pure apperception and empirical apperception structurally identical, even though they are functionally identical in Kant's Anthropology?

I can't be the only one who finds this strange. Section 7 of Anthropology from a Pragmatic Perspective, entitled "On Sensibility in contrast to understanding", reads as follows: In regard to the state of its representations, my mind is either…
Benoît
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What's so fallacious about the Slippery Slope Fallacy?

When you look at the world, I think it's a rather non-controversial statement that a good percentage, if not a majority, of social problems are caused by people making choices based solely on short-term outcomes--"if X then Y, and Y is desirable,…
Mason Wheeler
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What was Cantor's philosophical reason for accepting the infinite but rejecting the infinitesimal?

I have begun inquiring recently into mathematical aspects of Georg Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers and sets, which he developed between the years of 1874 and 1897. Throughout his theory, Cantor captured the so called actual infinity and thus…
L.M. Student
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Which philosophers have done most to bridge the analytic/continental divide?

I am interested to find out work done in this direction by prominent philosophers in each tradition. My paradigm cases would be Richard Rorty on the analytic side and Alain Badiou on the continental side. (That said, I know little about Badiou's…
Chuck
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Does True Randomness actually exist?

I tend to think of randomness as a lack of complete information when it comes to knowing something. If we look at the history of probability theory it centers on a lack of knowing the exact outcome of certain games/gambling bets. This I have no…
Pete1187
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