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1500 questions
11
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7 answers
Is Occam's Razor a Prior?
In Bayesian statistics, the posterior probability of a hypothesis is composed of two parts:
the prior, reflecting our initial belief in a certain hypothesis, and
the likelihood, which represents how well our observations are explained by each…
J.Galt
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11
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1 answer
What are the differences between Tarski's 1933 and 1956 truth definitions?
The paper "The Seven Virtues of Simple Type Theory" mentions that it uses the same trick (due to Tarski) to define the semantics that is also used by first-order logic. I interpreted this a reference to Tarski's Truth Definitions. After reading the…
Thomas Klimpel
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Is 1=2 a logical contradiction, or merely a false statement?
I know that (1=2 AND NOT 1=2) is a logical contradiction, but what about 1=2 by itself? Is it a logical contradiction, or merely a false statement? And what about something like NOT 1=1?
user107952
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11
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6 answers
When did philosophers decide philosophy was not useful, and why?
Academics treat philosophy like more of a discipline one does simply because one can. If you were to ask an academic what the purpose of philosophy is, they're likely to be confused by the question.
In contrast, the ancient Greeks, the Romans, and…
James Cropcho
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11
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1 answer
How do you differentiate between At least one X and Exactly one X in predicate logic?
Here are the following two sentences.
At least one person speaks English.
∃E(x)
Exactly one person speaks English.
Instead of ∃E(x), what do I write?
Abercrombie Dorfen
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11
votes
2 answers
What are the Moral Sentiments of Capitalism according to Adam Smith?
Despite his legacy as the father of capitalism and authority on jurisprudence especially toward the end of his career, Adam Smith is usually known in ethics and philosophy classes by his classic The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In the way…
Paradox Lost
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7 answers
What is a "demon"?
The term demon appears in several thought experiments: Maxwell's demon, Laplace's demon, Descartes' demon, maybe others.
What is this term supposed to mean?
For example, I understand the term oracle: an oracle is a black box that, for specific…
kutschkem
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4 answers
How or where are lines drawn, if at all, between eastern mysticism and philosophy?
Having taken Philosophy 101 at too early an age and my professor being a very dry speaker I had been turned off by philosophy for years. For the last 5 years or more I have been introduced to J. Krishnamurti, Alan Watts, and I have read…
Charlie Brown
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11
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2 answers
What are the major differences between Nietzsche and Plato?
What are the philosophical and hermeneutic implications of the various ways of writing a philosophical text, in particular Plato's didactical and dialogical style versus Nietzsche's emphatic and "intimate" style?
Taking for granted the different…
InquilineKea
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2 answers
How to distinguish between 'a priori/posteriori' and 'analytic/synthetic'?
What I think I know
A priori knowledge that can be gained by contemplating only the meaning of a statement's words.
A posteriori knowledge can be gained only by comparing a statement's meaning with the state of affairs.
Analytic knowledge that can…
Hal
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10 answers
What makes things real?
Suppose that a person can't sense anything. He can't see, hear, feel. Nothing. So for him, does anything even exist?
Does that mean only things we can sense are real or existent?
Also, how would you define non-existence?
user701763
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4 answers
Does languange somehow filter what we can know?
I've read a proposition somewhere: That our languange acts as a filter, allowing us to know certain things while making it impossible to know the rest(1). It seems that mathematics has some things like this, certain phenomena could only be explained…
Red Banana
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11
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2 answers
What is the difference between formalism and logicism
What is the difference between logicism and formalism?
Is there a conflict in being a formalist and logicist?
Amr
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11
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9 answers
Should attempted murder be a lesser crime than murder?
It is often the case that a person convicted of attempted murder receives a lesser punishment than if they had been successful in committing the crime. As far as I am aware, there are four main reasons for punishing criminals: 1) deterrence 2)…
JLA
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Is there any literature on the relationship between responsibility and probability?
If A causes B and I am doing A (willingly, knowingly, ...), then I can be held responsible for B. But what if probabilities are involved?
Thought experiment:
If you roll a 1 on a die you win.
You get the die from me and I can chose between a…
qollin
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