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Does every truth have to be provable based on evidence?

I know the answer is "no" in general due to Gödel's Theory of Incompleteness, but I mean this question in a more real-world sense (i.e. scientific sense). In other words, I am talking about empirical rather than mathematical truths. Can there be…
Lavie
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Are there JTB epistemologies which reject the knowledge of some Gettier problems, but in which religious experiences still justify belief?

Such is my current worldview that there is no religious experience or numinous feeling that could justify faith in any god. This is because, in the wake of a slew of discoveries about the unreliability of the brain (such as its propensity for change…
Tom Boardman
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If a person claims to know anything could it be disproven by saying 'prove that we are not in a simulation'?

Everyone starts out at 0 and if anyone wants to say that they know something they have to prove that claim. Is the counter to this person claiming that they know something logically correct? Person 1: 'I know that the sky is blue.' Person 2: 'You…
Rolf Haugaland
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Is there a fallacy about "appeal to 'big words'"?

Is there a fallacy about "appeal to 'big words'"? What I refer to are statements often encountered in political or economic rhetoric. An argument would go like this: Because of New Keynesianism, therefore ... Note: Not all big words are as…
mavavilj
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What Precisely Does "Semantics" Mean?

What do logicians mean when they refer to the notion of "semantics"? I don't find the definition "the connection between words and meaning of those words" to be that satisfactory here. Informally, I have been taking it to mean "the formal…
Harold W
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What is the difference between an Ordinal number and a Cardinal number?

I'm trying to understand the real difference between an Ordinal and a Cardinal, especially in relation with transfinite cardinals. The stuff on Wiki is a bit too complicated. Can anyone make it simple for me?
Zerub Roberts
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What are the most significant responses to Lewis' "On the Plurality of Worlds"?

What are the most significant responses to David Lewis' book On the Plurality of Worlds (1986)? In particular, are there any good critical readings of Lewis' views on modal realism?
Tom Morris
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I have trouble understanding this fallacy: "If A, then B. Therefore if not-B, then not-A."

About "If A, then B. Therefore, if not-B, then not-A": From what I understand the conclusion is wrong, because it is not said that A is a sufficient condition for B, (and there may be other conditions required for B, so if they are not present B…
user18894
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What did Kant say on the invention of new terms?

I remember I once read in Kant's "Kritik der Reinen Vernunft" about the tendency to come up with or invent new terms/words, about which he was quite "critical" (pun intended). I need the exact quote, but I am unable to find it. Can anyone help?
Raphael J.F. Berger
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Is using analogies a bad logic reasoning?

When discussing with someone, I like to take the argument they use and put it in another context, to see if it works, and if it doesn't, ask why the argument should be valid in one context but not in the other. For example, recently someone told me…
David
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How can a person truly love another if hard determinism is true?

I have a wife and two kids. According to hard determinism, I was determined since time began moving forward to marry my wife and have my children. Every moment we share together was also predetermined, and my affection for them is a chemical…
Cannabijoy
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Is the simulation hypothesis outside of science?

On the question of the simulation hypothesis (i.e. that reality is a simulation), a friend of mine once remarked he didn't accept it on the grounds of Ockham's razor. To me (with my admittedly instrumentalist view of science) this seems a misuse of…
James Tauber
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Trying to Understand Quote by Nietzsche

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future (1886), Chapter IV.…
geocalc33
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Interpretation of the butterfly effect

It is said that in certain circumstances, a tiny change, like the flap of a butterfly's wings, can lead to enormous changes, like a tornado somewhere. However, it should be clarified what "change" means. If the constantly changing state of the…
asmani
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What is the philosophical equivalent of mathematical proofs?

In mathematics, there seem to be five standard methods of proving or refuting an argument: a proof by induction, contradiction, counter example etc. Are there some typical proof methods that exist in philosophy as well (in some ways analogical to…
jimjim
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