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1500 questions
9
votes
3 answers
What hierarchies exist in different branches of Philosophy?
If you were to map out different branches of Philosophy in a hierarchical nature on multiple levels in order to compare them what would some look like or could you point me to a reference that sorts different branches of Philosophy based on a trait…
Steve Moser
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9
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1 answer
How did the Anaximander’s fragment challenge Greek philosophy?
Whence things have their origin,
Thence also their destruction happens,
As is the order of things;
For they execute the sentence upon one another
– The condemnation for the crime –
In conformity with the ordinance of Time.
– Anaximander
Why is it…
viuser
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9
votes
8 answers
Very easy intro materials to a modern philosophy of science for statistics students and non-philosophers
I will be teaching a Statistics class next semester. A lot of the thought process behind classical statistical methods (e.g. hypothesis testing) is driven by the need of scientists to quantify strength-of-evidence, and is ultimately rooted in some…
Him
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9
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5 answers
(Why) is this negative outlook on the concept of philosophy misguided?
The following is my negative outlook on philosophy. I'm interested in learning the reasons I might be wrong, outcomes and examples I'm not aware of, lest I express this opinion in the future and seem foolish.
I struggle to see the practice of…
J.Todd
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9
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8 answers
Why isn't the dictum "something can't come from nothing" a matter of consensus?
Isn't it obvious that from nothing (in the philosophical sense, i.e. absolute nonexistence) comes nothing? Isn't it also clear that physics has absolutely no saying on this dictum, as physics only deals with our spacetime, the latter simply being…
AimaneSN
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9
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6 answers
Does determinism prevent rationality?
If hard determinism is true, and our thoughts are merely the results of a causal chain of atomic interactions, are reason and logic illusory?
This matter has likely been discussed in another thread, but I couldn't find it. I was led to ask the…
Futilitarian
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9
votes
2 answers
How much is our understanding of Kant's Categorical Framework (published in German in 1781) obscured by translation and basic semantics?
Upon reading about and later researching [1] Kant's famous Categorical Framework, which is included as a key part of his classic Critique of Pure Reason (1781), I am struck by aspects that are quite basic and intuitive, like his definition of…
sourcepov
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1 answer
Does anyone have the missing page 57 of Nozick's dissertation?
I have painstakingly scanned (as in: put on a scanner to make a PDF) 352 pages of a hard copy version of Nozick's 1963 dissertation The Normative Theory of Individual Choice.
I don't have page 57.
I got the paperwork from ProQuest. I recall that…
user3164
9
votes
5 answers
Should multiverse theories be rebranded as meta physics?
I answered a question here with a quote with the following quote from Cosmologist George Ellis.
“Similar claims [about a multiverse] have been made since antiquity by many cultures. What is new is the assertion that the
multiverse is a scientific…
Neil Meyer
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9
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12 answers
Is it possible to know anything with certainty?
I have been thinking about objectivism vs relativism recently.
It is easy to prove by contradiction that there exist objective truths. However, is it possible to know anything?
If you assume a human makes errors in logical deduction 5% of the time,…
grasevski
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9
votes
6 answers
Is there any counterexample given against radical skepticism?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_skepticism
I am thinking that simple statement such as "I am", "I think" are all beliefs that are also knowledge and conditional statements such as "This dog does exist in this world if the world is real" are…
Sayaman
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5 answers
If we value free agency, how can punishment - the state's deprivation of a person's free agency - be justified ?
Starting with the supposition that we want to allow humans free agency, insofar as it does not infringe upon the free agency of others, what punishments can a state impose that do not make it guilty of the same infringement?
In other words, is it…
lathomas64
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3 answers
Should we pay for the errors of our ancestors?
Just came across a post from a Jesuit claiming
Historical revisionism is one of the worst, and dangerous, mistakes
one can make.
It appears to be with regards to the latest news of Jesuits in US pledging USD100M in reparations to descendants of…
Gonçalo Peres
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9
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5 answers
Why bother with anything else besides Aristotle's syllogistic logic?
Disclaimer: this a "devil's advocate's question", meaning I know a lot of the answer, but for the sake of playing the Q&A game, I won't self-answer right away. The main reason I'm formulating this as a question is that there are some users here…
the gods from engineering
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9
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In what way is the lambda calculus stronger than first-order logic?
This wikipedia article on combinatory logic says that Combinatory Logic, Lambda Logic and Turing Machines are equivalent computationally, but that both of these exceed the expressive power of first-order logic.
In what way do they exceed the…
Mozibur Ullah
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