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1500 questions
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
The anthropic principle, also known as the "observation selection effect", is the hypothesis, first proposed in 1957 by Robert Dicke, that the range of possible observations that could be made about the universe is limited by the fact that…
Mark
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9
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What explains the observation that grocery store check-out lines are oscillatory?
I have been spending some time sitting in a shopping center, and I have noticed a weird pattern. There is always one cash register open. When one person arrives at the cash register, many others arrive at the same time, creating a cluttered line. A…
Oneprime
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Whats the earliest documented instance of Buddhist Philosophy on European thought?
Whats the earliest recorded instance of Buddhist thought in a European context - say a translation. I know that Schopenhauer (1788-1860) read the Bhagavad Gita - but this is a Hindu text and not a Buddhist one.
However we also have,
In Understanding…
Mozibur Ullah
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Are there any Western philosophies that present views similar to the No-self view of Buddhism?
Can similarities be found in western philosophy with the eastern concept of self (no-self) in Buddhism?
In Buddhism the no-self is called anatman. Buddha spoke about the emptiness of the form, in the sense that the form is the physical body, and the…
Di Ana
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9
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Does the use of AI make someone more intelligent?
Does the use of AI make someone more intelligent? I think I remember this coming up in the SEP, with respect to whether access to the internet means I "know" (or similar) everything that appears therein, perhaps even before I access it, as if a…
user66697
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What do panpsychists think a rock’s consciousness is like?
There is a problem with panpsychism that I haven't seen discussed in the literature, so I was wondering if anyone could give me pointers to discussions of it. For purposes of this question, I understand panpsychism to be the view that consciousness…
David Gudeman
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Is non-physicalism reasonable?
My question has two components:
Reasonableness. What does it mean for a position to be reasonable? What conditions does a position have to meet to be regarded as reasonable?
Physicalism. Wikipedia defines it as follows:
In philosophy, physicalism…
Mark
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Why don't we have consensus in more complicated areas of logic?
When I once realised I don't really understand how and why proof by contradiction works, I started reading about it. And apparently I wasn't the only one who felt there's something wrong about it - constructivists and intuitionists do not accept the…
user107986
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Self determination in non atomistic time?
I am reading the book Perspective in Whitehead's Metaphysics by Stephen David Ross. On page 182 he says, "whiteheads theory of events is atomistic-primarily to allow for self determination, but the physics of the universe are infinitely and densely…
Lee Hudson
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Is there a name for the widespread logical fallacy in which you prove your point by 'eliminating' anyone who contradicts you?
I've encountered this relentlessly in my life. You offer proof that someone is wrong, or even simply state something more obvious than the sun that they don't like, they ban you or do something else to silence you, as if that proves their point.…
user8600
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The problem of philosophy?
“The problem of philosophy is a linguistic problem, and every disagreement can be traced back to a difference in interpretation.”
“No wonder we know that the deepest problems are not really problems at all.”
— Ludwig Wittgenstein
The reason for the…
Muhhamedbinghazi
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9
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Is it true that a technological society has to weaken family ties and local communities if it is to function efficiently?
From The Unabomber Manifesto by Ted Kaczynski:
The breakdown of traditional values to some extent implies the breakdown of the bonds that hold together traditional small-scale social groups. The disintegration of small-scale social groups is also…
Nitin Sheokand
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Do distant stars still exist or are they just images?
This question might sound quite odd and is a mix of philosophy and physics. Suppose we observe a star that is 50 million lightyears away, and suppose it is a type of star that has a lifespan of only 30 million years. The question is, does this star…
Augs
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Why would definition not be proposition?
I've read in one mathematics book that any definition is not a proposition. Why is it so? What definition of proposition makes the former into the latter?
EDIT: There is well-known analytic-syntactic distinction introduced by Kant. In it analytic…
Oleksandr Bondarenko
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Do people who "withhold judgement" also have a burden of proof?
I will illustrate my question with several examples involving 3 individuals: A, B, C.
Example 1: The shape of the Earth
A defends the claim that the Earth is round.
B defends the claim that the Earth is flat.
C is epistemically open to all…
Mark
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