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Can the history of science be used to derive a philosophy of science, with regard to Kuhn's philosophy?
Was introduced to Thomas Kuhn's philosophy of science and failed to understand how and why history of science can serve for more than descriptive purposes. Further, it seems that Kuhn believes that it is possible to describe history of science in a…
L.M. Student
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Why do people who subscribe to self-refuting skeptical philosophies still argue with others?
The belief that everything is relative is obviously self-refuting, because it holds to an absolute.
However, in my experience, people who believe this (or some form of it) such as some Buddhists and atheistic materialists, or people who have an even…
ErikE
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On the difference between "knowing" and "understanding"?
Intuitively, there is a clear difference between knowing something and understanding something. We speak of someone 'getting' or 'internalizing' a concept, of developing a 'gut feeling' for something, etc...
Some examples:
When I was an undergrad,…
Alexander S King
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Does Gödel's argument that minds are more powerful than computers have the inconsistency loophole?
In "Raatikainen, P., 2005, “On the Philosophical Relevance of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems,” , the author argues that Penrose's and others use of Gödel's theorem as an argument against mechanism (and presumably strong AI) - that minds are more…
Alexander S King
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Is rejecting A not equivalent to accepting ~A?
A fundamental misconception that many laymen hold is that rejecting claim A is equivalent to accepting its inverse, namely ~A.
How can we formally differentiate these claims, which I believe are all different:
"I believe that Mike is a good dog…
Goodies
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"Because if you doubt that you're doubting, you're still doubting" - What is the analogous mathematical/logical expression to this sentence?
In an answer here, the following was stated:
The essence of his [Descartes] argument is that you can doubt almost everything about the world, but you can't doubt that you're doubting. Because if you doubt that you're doubting, you're still…
draks ...
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Logic, Russell, joke
There is a Russell impression with a joke on youtube, in which Russell puts the following questions to G. E. Moore:
Do you have any apples in that basket?
Do you have some apples in that basket?
Do you have apples in that basket?
Moore denies the…
Toothrot
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What's the relationship between epistemology and ontology in different traditions?
I'm asking as a relative novice, but have come across the debate in the field of information architecture and classification (and technology studies too). In this field, Aristotle is often quoted as believing in an overarching, objective…
paulusm
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What gives the Categorical Imperative moral weight?
After reading The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, I'm still unsure why human beings have a duty to obey the Categorical Imperative. I understand Kant's argument why a rational will necessarily obeys it, but I do not see how it carries the…
Alex Becker
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Have there really been paradigm shifts?
After reading about Kuhn's work, this question still keeps me wondering:
Have there really been paradigm shifts, like Kuhn states?
The examples of paradigm shifts often include the switch from geocentrism to heliocentrism, and of course Newtonian…
Harmen
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Does Plato see tyranny as final?
Plato's Republic famously describes the decay of the regimes, a process by which a society decays from the best regime, that of aristocracy, to the lowest, that of tyranny. However, the purpose of this concept of regimes is to expand upon Plato's…
commando
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Free will and the Libet experiments
In The face of God (Gifford Lectures), Scruton discusses in passing the Libet Experiments as an unimportant framing of the discussion of free-will and determinism; without presenting any arguments, taking the ground as granted.
What are the serious…
Mozibur Ullah
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How does Putnam's twin earth thought experiment disprove functionalism?
In the twin Earth thought experiment Putnam determines that meanings are not in the head. Later interpretations, by himself and by others, take it to falsify functionalism.
It seems to me that the argument can't disprove functionalism, and even that…
Amit Hagin
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How empiricism and positivism is distinguished? What's their differences?
According to Wikipedia,
Empiricism is a theory that states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism and skepticism, empiricism…
Sumit Roy
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Was Locke right that analytic knowledge is vacuous?
According to Locke, it is impossible to obtain substantive knowledge from analytic propositions. Statements like "triangle has three sides" are analytic, but one cannot derive the Pythagorean Theorem analytically. However, Frege says that…
Tom
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