Most Popular
1500 questions
18
votes
17 answers
If you place a pencil in an opaque box and close the box, does the pencil exist?
I’m trying to explain to my friends about things existing. I gave them this question: if you place a pencil in an opaque box and close the box, does the pencil exist? They say yes and I ask how do they know and why. All they come up with is “because…
Xavier Moody-Wusik
- 239
- 1
- 2
- 3
18
votes
4 answers
How can substance dualism survive the arguments from neuroscience?
On the Wikipedia page for Mind-body dualism, one of the arguments against dualism is neuroscience.
In some contexts, the decisions that a person makes can be detected up to 10 seconds in advance by means of scanning their brain activity.…
Noah
- 768
- 4
- 10
18
votes
8 answers
How is Philosophy related to Science?
I asked this question about Scientism and the answers there quite brilliantly explained to me why Scientism is philosophically inconsistent.
But I just want to know: What is the relationship between Philosophy and Science?
Personally, I think the…
BlowMaMind
- 939
- 1
- 10
- 17
18
votes
11 answers
Have I found a paradox, or is the universe digital? Or am I just plain wrong?
If the universe is analog, there must exist an infinite number of positions. This raises an interesting question.
Let me boil it down to something familiar: a table and an ashtray. I'll let the ashtray be square, just for convenience.
In an analog…
Mads Aggerholm
- 339
- 1
- 2
- 7
18
votes
7 answers
Why so much hate for postmodernism?
There is a lot of hate for postmodernism on YouTube. Is this hate justified? Or is it just becuase postmodernism makes people uncomfortable. I guess what I am asking is "does postmodernism have any powerful critiques against it?"
Scott Simmons
- 199
- 1
- 1
- 6
18
votes
3 answers
What is the philosophical ground for distinguishing logic and mathematics?
I was wondering why the field of mathematics and that of logic are perceived as two distinct fields. Although could be pleased with the intuition that logic is rather meta-mathematics, still would like to know: were there any philosophers who may be…
L.M. Student
- 2,701
- 14
- 45
18
votes
7 answers
How can the physical world be an abstract mathematical structure a la Tegmark?
This is Tegmark's short formulation of the "mathematical universe" (paraphrased by detractors as "reality made of math"), and he goes out of his way to stress that he means the "is" literally:"Whereas the customary terminology in physics textbooks…
Conifold
- 43,055
- 4
- 95
- 182
18
votes
11 answers
Does the impossibility of an infinite regress prove God exists?
I'm strictly discussing one aspect of God: God as the First Cause. I am excluding all other qualities of God defined by any religion or belief system -- including the notion of God as a sentient being. For the scope of this question God could be…
Lynel Hudson
- 327
- 1
- 2
- 9
18
votes
3 answers
What are the philosophical consequences of the undecidability of the spectral gap in quantum theory?
An article published in Nature yesterday proves that finding the spectral gap of a material based on a complete quantum level description of the material is undecidable (in the Turing sense).
One of the authors is quoted "From a more philosophical…
Alexander S King
- 27,390
- 5
- 70
- 188
18
votes
2 answers
What was Kant's view on lies by omission?
I was going to ask this question as a comment in response to @Chad's answer to What would Kant do when two categorical imperatives conflict? Could he ever justify lying?, however I figured it merits it's own proper question.
I find it odd that under…
dimo414
- 1,137
- 10
- 20
18
votes
2 answers
Can conjoined twins share a mind?
A unique recent case of conjoined twins having a neural bridge connecting their brains raises some philosophical questions concerning mind sharing and the mind-body problem. From the article by Dominus in NYT (she personally spent 5 days with the…
Conifold
- 43,055
- 4
- 95
- 182
18
votes
12 answers
Is time a physical factor or just a concept?
When thinking of cycles and myths, one cannot pass the idea of Kronos or Kali. That brought me to form some questions about the nature of time.
Three definitions for time:
Time is a measure of the change. Change is a result of the forces.
Time can…
MarkokraM
- 319
- 1
- 2
- 8
18
votes
3 answers
What impact has Douglas Hofstadter's superrationality had in terms of philosophy?
Superrational decision making is a type of rational decision making in which the players cooperate in a one-shot prisoner's dilemma without coordination, punishment, or magical thinking.
The idea is that when playing a symmetric prisoner's dilemma,…
Ron Maimon
- 1
- 1
- 15
- 24
18
votes
1 answer
What are some good books about computational ethics?
Gert-Jan C. Lokhorst has written a paper on "computational metaethics" (Computational Meta-Ethics: Towards the Meta-Ethical Robot), which explores the ability of formal systems (i.e. computers/robots) to reason about ethics. I'm wondering if there…
Xodarap
- 2,778
- 14
- 25
18
votes
5 answers
Accepted Interpretation of Machiavelli's "the ends justify the means."?
Prior to reading The Prince, I had heard of the aphorism:
The ends justify the means
This was Machiavelli's identifying line to many people, and in my conversations with them, I got the impression that Machiavelli meant the following: that, given…
commando
- 7,369
- 6
- 38
- 69