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Have any philosophers treated prevarication as morally equivalent to lying?

When I was a child, I had the tendency to prevaricate and make misleading statements, where what I had said was not false, but left out an important portion of the truth and deceived the listener into believing a falsehood. I used to pride myself on…
commando
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Why is the darapti syllogism invalid?

I found the following exposition of darapti on wikipedia: All squares are rectangles. (MaP) All squares are rhombuses. (MaS) ∴ Some rhombuses are rectangles. (SiP) As far as I can see, this is of the form: all A's are B's all A's are…
Five σ
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Is Machiavelli's "The Prince" an immoral book?

Machiavelli's The Prince advocates immoral actions. Does it? The book's major premise is "...all political thinking is guided by a single fact: humanity is lost, bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature" (Discourses, Book I, Chapter 3).…
Mauli Davidson
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What is the purpose of Plato's concept of Form?

Concerning this passage from Phaedo: I mean, for instance, the number three, and there are many other examples. Take the case of three; do you not think it may always be called by its own name and also be called odd, which is not the same as three?…
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Does the Euthyphro dilemma apply to secular ethics?

The original statement of the dilemma is found in Plato's Euthyphro: Just consider this question:—Is that which is holy loved by the gods because it is holy, or is it holy because it is loved by the gods? (10a) According to Wikipedia, the question…
Jon Ericson
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What is the meaning of Spinoza's first three definitions?

I've just started reading Spinoza's Ethics and I'd like to have delucidations about his first three definitions. Definition one: By that which is self-caused, I mean that of which the essence involves existence, or that of which the nature is…
Adrian
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Can there be an argument without premises?

After a lengthy discussion with WillO here, we can't seem to find a common ground and I am interested in whether there really could be an argument without a single premise. Another question whose answers would answer this question as well would be:…
Lukas
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How much is known about Plato's "unwritten doctrines"?

It is often claimed in the historical literature that Plato's teachings were divided into the written documents (his famous books, like The Republic, The Laws etc) and oral teachings (what Aristotle called the "unwritten doctrines") . Some scholars…
Otavio Macedo
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What is the difference between Functionalism and Structural-Functionalism?

I don't know if I should ask this here because the question is more like a sociology one. Anyway, I will give it a try, since most of the sociologists are also philosophers, so maybe I'll be lucky finding an answer. I am preparing for an exam, and I…
sfrj
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Could I be accepted to a Graduate program in Philosophy with only a B.A. in Computer Science?

I am wondering if it would be reasonable to apply to M.A. or Phd programs in Philosophy with only a B.A. in Computer Science. I have done a great deal of reading in the field of Philosophy, but have never taken a class. I would be looking mostly at…
Joe Cannatti
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Is there a set of basic moral "rules", outside of religion or culture, that all intelligent life might theoretically agree on?

Any time I consider asking a question involving "right" or "wrong", moral values at even the most basic level (like "don't needlessly hurt people"), I stop myself, deciding that the question would be stopped right there: "What's your definition of…
CuriousWebDeveloper
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What's the difference among the logical relations :=, =, and ≡?

I understand that ≡ is logical equivalence, "iff". '=' is a symbol for numerical equivalence. And ':=' is an identity claim. I often only see '=' and ':=' used with variables and names, while ≡ only appears with predicates. I'm not sure if this is…
RECURSIVE FARTS
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Is Cantor's theorem based on a fallacy?

The Brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho has written a philosophical “refutation” of Cantor’s theorem in his book “O Jardim das Aflições” (“The Garden of Afflictions”). Since the book has only been published in Portuguese, I’m translating the…
Otavio Macedo
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Was Aristotle aware of Buddha's teachings?

Are there any references in Corpus Aristotelicum to suggest whether Aristotle was aware of Buddhist teachings or Eastern philosophy? Aristotle travelled to Asia Minor at one stage of life, left a voluminious treatise, yet it is interesting there is…
user1207
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Is "if A then B; B therefore A" a subset of the "post hoc" fallacy?

Recently, I read the following comment: If you aren't pissing someone off some of the time, you're not doing anything very useful or interesting. The context was that some people were pissed off and the implication was that therefore something…
Jon Ericson
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