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What are the most basic assumptions one has to make in order to conduct science?
I often wondered: What are the most basic assumptions I have to make before I can even start thinking about life, universe and the rest?
So far I have boiled them down to three:
There is a world, a reality.
I am part of this world.
My senses…
k0pernikus
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Enchiridion, 16: Does a stoic moan, or not?
The translation of Epictetus' Enchiridion, part 16 by Elizabeth Carter (http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html) seems to contradict that of Thomas Wentworth Higginson's (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45109/45109-h/45109-h.htm).
E. Carter…
Bim Sherwood
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Is the justificationist theory of meaning compatible with scientific realism?
Can a realist picture adapt itself to the justificationist world view? The question might sound self contradictory. But here is where my question coming from. If you consider quantum theory as a language designed to give a grasp of natural…
iii
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Is compatibilism still considered a valid approach to free will?
Has the Free Will Theorem of Conway and Kochen been taken seriously by the philosophical community? Is compatibilism still considered a valid approach to free will?
Robert Haraway
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Philosophers who were composers?
Who are some famous philosophers who also composed music?
I can think of one example: Boethius, one of the first music theorists / acousticians and author of Consolation of Philosophy; he composed:
Boethius: Songs of Consolation (YouTube…
Geremia
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9
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What does this Jacques Hadamard quote mean?
What does this Jacques Hadamard quote mean?
The shortest path between two truths in the real domain passes through the complex domain.
Is this a philosophical statement?
what is its mathematical background?
The Last Jedi
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Is Truth the Primary Epistemic Goal?
There is broad agreement that knowledge is more than just true belief. What, though, must be added to true belief to get knowledge? According to traditional epistemology, two more ingredients are necessary: justification understood as having good…
Annotations
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What would a quantum interpretation without ontology be like?
Luboš Motl keeps insisting quantum mechanics invalidates ontology, and has made ontology obsolete, just like phlogiston. What would metaphysics without ontology look like, where words like "existence" and "reality" are banned?
spinning head
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"Continental" philosophers who have worked on the Philosophy of Mathematics?
Who are some philosophers that are generally placed in the continental tradition but who have done some work in the philosophy of mathematics.
I know that Husserl has some great work in philosophy of math (but he isn't really firmly in the…
Dennis
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What are some good resources for Analytically trained philosophers to get into more "continental" figures?
My question is similar to this one and this one, but with a slightly different spin.
I am interested in knowing who are some analytically trained philosophers who write on historically "continental" figures. I have in mind philosophers like Kris…
Dennis
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Is there a term for the belief that what is popular in society defines what is moral?
I have observed a number of people who believe, either explicitly or implicitly, that what is popular in a person’s society is what is moral. For instance, someone might say:
Polls say that 90% of Americans are in favor of X. Therefore, it’s…
Thunderforge
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Why is belief necessary for justified true belief?
In justified true belief it is said that for a person to know a fact it must be true, she must believe in it and she must be justified in believing it.
My question is: Is belief necessary? Why is the following not enough:
The fact is true.
She has…
george
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Where did Kant say that "happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination"?
Can somebody tell me where this famous quote comes from?
I mean in which book and on which page. I want to find this in German. If someone can provide the quote in German the way Kant wrote it, I would be grateful!
dorianp
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How do epiphenomenalists make sense of discussions about qualia?
Epiphenomenalists believe that mental events have no causal effect on the physical. They may differ in what they consider "mental events" but it seems all of them would consider qualia / phenomenal experiences mental events. Now, if someone writes…
present
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What are the most important papers regarding the epistemic significance of disagreement?
There's been a debate recently about what is the right way to react to learning that you disagree with someone you take to be your epistemic peer. One approach is the "Equal Weight View". I associate the names Kelly and Christensen with this topic,…
Seamus
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