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Can mathematics and physics be thought of as branches of philosophy?
I think that they can be viewed like that, with some suitable definition of philosophy.
Then mathematics could be defined as one of the branches of philosophy in which theories are built on definitions and axioms and the results are proven and…
Grešnik
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What do they call philosophers in China?
The English word "philosopher" comes from the Greek, and literally means "lover of wisdom." But what is the literal translation of the analogous term in Chinese?
(There's more to this question than idle curiosity --I'm interested in how other…
Chris Sunami
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8
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3 answers
Modal Logic: a question concerning accessibility
I’m reading a lot about modal logic lately, right now Lewis “On the Plurality of Worlds” and Priests “Introduction to Non-classical Logics”.
It is postulated that the different worlds have nothing to do with each other. Everything that belongs to…
Lukas
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8
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Should truth entail possible truth?
It is a well-accepted axiom of modal logic that truth implies possible truth.
Is there any philosophical argument against this conclusion? In other words, should truth entail possible truth?
Beginner
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8
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Gödel's incompleteness theorems - what are the religious implications?
Apparently Kurt Gödel believed that his incompleteness theorems have some kind of religious implications. Despite Gödel's belief in a personal God, this was still somewhat surprising to me. Discussions and theories about weird (i.e. outside of…
Adam Sharpe
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8
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How to explain value and goodness of things without resorting to Hedonism?
This has been bothering me for a while.
I do not believe that the ethical theory of hedonism represents the world in which we live truthfully, neither does it appeal to my common sense.
However, sometimes I find myself not being able to resist…
Bach
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8
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Where to find Descartes’ violin player analogy?
I really tried finding the original passage where Descartes lays out the following argument:
Descartes himself anticipated an objection like this and argued that dependence does not strongly support identity. He illustrates by means of the…
viuser
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8
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Can anything truly be simultaneous?
I was looking at a discussion about simultaneous causation and something that came up was that all physical processes take time. So nothing can truly be simultaneous.
And yet, we have philosophers treating some instances of causation as…
Bob D.
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8
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How does Logic define "true" and "false"?
"Truth", "Falsehood" are pretty axiomatic expressions, but even axioms need to be defined in common language terms.
What are the "official" definitions of these in Informal logic, Formal logic, Symbolic logic and Mathematical logic…
SF.
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What's the big deal with Gödel's second incompleteness theorem?
Edit: My question is specifically about Gödel's second incompleteness theorem. I get the significance of his first incompleteness theorem, which is of course completely amazing.
According to the Wikipedia entry on Gödel's second incompleteness…
goblin GONE
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8
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What did Confucius mean by saying that the 'rectification of names' is the first thing required to rule a state?
In Analects XII, a disciple asked Confucius the right principle of government whereupon Confucious said:
The one thing needed first is the rectification of names.
What did Confucius mean by this?
Mozibur Ullah
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8
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4 answers
Should we not talk about ethics according to Wittgenstein?
Wittgenstein says in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus:
6.4 All propositions are of equal value.
6.41 The sense of the world must lie outside the world. In the world
everything is as it is and happens as it does happen. In it there
is no…
Ben
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8
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3 answers
Is Ross' paradox really a paradox?
Consider the following disjunction introduction:
Your room is clean.
Therefore, your room is clean or your house is burnt down.
Ross' paradox allegedly arises when applying this inference to imperative logic:
Clean your room.
Therefore, clean…
user76284
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8
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Are there "partially explosive" logics?
Roughly speaking, I'm wondering if it's possible to meaningfully grade different systems on how explosion-tolerant they are.
In classical sentential logic and intuitionistic sentential logic, a single contradiction P ∧ ¬P lets you conclude any…
Greg Nisbet
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Is social status a real thing?
Is social status a real thing?
Why is it real?
Particularly, since some people may claim a status system of a different kind, but then again some may (through argumentation) recognize same status systems, then can social status systems be held as…
mavavilj
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