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1500 questions
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what is the truth value of a sarcastic statement?
In light of Donald Trump's many statements (and then retractions of said statements) it is very difficult to decide whether what he is saying is true or false. Many attempts at fact-checking often lie in the middle. Let's address one tiny part of…
john mangual
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What is an attribute, as used in Spinoza's Ethics?
In Spinoza's Ethics, the definitions of Part 1. include a supposedly all important term: Attribute, defined by Spinoza in the following:
"IV. By attribute, I mean that which the intellect perceives as constituting the essence of…
WillDurrant420
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Most effective ways to self-learn philosophy
I am interested in self-learning philosophy, but I am faced with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle: being dyslexic (metaphorically speaking) while reading serious philosophical works (including books, papers, etc.). All of these things (even most…
Michael Smith
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How does Quine effectively shift from points he has made about knowledge acquisition to conclusions he makes about knowledge simpliciter?
Quine propagated forward an approach to epistemology wherein there was no need of any sort of justification "beyond observation and the hypothetico-deductive method" (Quine 1981).
Quine is going after a foundationalist view of knowledge acquisition…
Mos
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Was Einstein a philosopher?
Albert Einstein described the fact that he believed in 'god'; yet, he did not define that god as a personal god who actually existed as a separate being. He used the concept to describe everything that exists.
Although Einstein is commonly hailed…
Jez
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At what point can a being be said to have gained sentience?
It's pretty much universally accepted that healthy humans have sentience, but that's where the agreement stops. Many would say that complex animals have sentience, such as dogs, cats, cows, sheep, etc. But what about a mouse, an ant, or a…
Jez
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Does having free will presuppose consciousness, can philosophical zombies have it?
Philosophical zombies may lack a consciousness, but does this preclude the ability to have a free will? Why does consciousness matter, for agency, or at all, if determinism is real?
(I've framed the question, as such, to make room for more than a…
NationWidePants
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Is it unfair for the rich to pay more total taxes ( not by percentage ) than the poor?
Is there a compelling ethical argument why the rich ought to pay more in income taxes than the poor? For the purposes of this discussion let's assume "the rich" legally earned their wealth through either hard work or plain luck - nothing illegal.…
RobertF
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Has quantum mechanics destroyed the fundaments of logical reasoning?
In quantum mechanics it is thought to be possible that something could be at two places at the same time. But if that is really the case then perhaps law of non-contradiction is no longer valid.
So to what level are the fundamentals of logic really…
Marijn
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Is the theory of evolution a good basis for an argument against freewill?
In the theory of evolution, humans do not occupy any privileged status compared to other living beings, they are at one end of a continuous (although not necessarily monotone) spectrum of creatures.
Very basic creatures such as viruses, single cell…
Alexander S King
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What epistemic principle allows us to be certain that highly improbable events will never occur in real life?
Consider the following scenario:
I am alone at home and I accidentally spill a bottle of ketchup on my kitchen floor, and the ketchup splatters across the floor in such a way as to form the words "Alex, you're a douchebag".
A superstitious…
Alexander S King
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How is Occam's Razor reconciled with consideration of less likely scenarios?
Occam's Razor (AKA "Law of Parsimony") has been established as a foundational principle of modern (or Western) philosophical and scientific thought. It states that:
Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be…
amphibient
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How did Kant define knowledge?
A recent question about the Plato's formula K=JTB (knowledge is justified true belief) made me curious as to what Kant thought on the matter. In the prefaces and the Introduction to the first Critique knowledge is mentioned in every other paragraph,…
Conifold
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What are the major philosophical interpretations of probability?
Are there important philosophical interpretations of probability? What are the major "schools" or frameworks? What is their relation to formal systems of probability (for instance - the orthodox axiomatic system of Kolmogorov)? And how do they…
Jordan S
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Is Conway-Kochen's "free will" theorem about quantum measurements an argument for panpsychism?
Conway and Kochen have proved a theorem about free will (no to be confused with the related Kochen–Specker theorem, which rules out hidden variables), which states that if we have a type of libertarian free will (our present actions are to some…
Alexander S King
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