All Questions
18,395
questions
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What is the importance of intellectuals in shaping the society and the world?
What is the importance of intellectuals and intellectual thought in influencing the worldviews and beliefs of people, in shaping society and the world?
- 109
0
votes
1
answer
47
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At which point does a meaningful coincidence call for a supernatural explanation?
Every time we've ever come across a seemingly marvelous coincidence that was repeatable and testable, it turned out to be representative of a law. It was a coincidence that turned out to be a real ...
- 343
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2
answers
61
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Can there be a solution to these three problems?
I have read many times that some problems or logical propositions do not have solutions or are outright impossible. These are three examples of such problems:
[The Russell's paradox] which is deemed ...
- 359
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0
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46
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Do Universals Possess a Different Kind of Reality to Particulars?
I have a long interest in the 'problem of universals' and a conviction that some form of either Platonic or Aristotelian realism in respect of universals is correct. This extends to what is called '...
- 164
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24
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What is or would be a good name for the thought current of seeking increased interconnection between beings?
This current is starting to be crucially important to pinpoint with the rise of technologies such as Neuralink, the latter explicitly adhering to this philosophy. I like the term noospherism but I ...
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66
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Logic Expressions and Notation
I am brand new to logic so am trying to teach myself how to write logic expressions. Let's say I take the following Modal ontological argument:
-Premise 1: It is possible that God exists.
-Premise 2: ...
- 1
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34
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How do I escape an infinite fear cycle in my head? [closed]
I have tons of existential fears about what will happen to me after I die. Now when I experience a fear, my mind immediately goes "Just because I fear X, doesn't mean X will happen". It ...
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49
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Can New Foundations set theory explain how death is possible? [closed]
Some part of me seems to believe that you have enough time to think on scales of 5 minutes. So when you think of it as life is composed of 5 minute patches and this one could be the last, it makes ...
- 197
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1
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49
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What are the ethical responsibilities of a Stack Exchange Member
I have seen several posts lately where the poster appears to be severely depressed with some discussing suicide as a solution. What are the ethical responsibilities for a stack exchange member reading ...
- 790
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48
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+50
Wetzel's 'occurences'
I was reading this often quoted article by Linda Wetzel (1993) where she discusses the 'occurence' of expressions in others and Quine's issues with the idea, she describes an expression as a sequence ...
- 715
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26
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Is it immoral to withhold the truth about a patients health outcome
Say, for example, a doctor knows that a patient will die very soon and the doctor knows with either absolute certainty or slight uncertainity, that this will be very traumatic for the patient to find ...
- 1
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57
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Why I go straight to depression when I smell something [closed]
This is one of the common problem with me and sometime it show me in deep depression whenever in winter or summer I go outside and I smell of night queen my words oh gentlemen flowers. This is the one ...
0
votes
1
answer
47
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Is it unethical to return property in a way that most benefits myself?
Lets say I found a USB drive with a biotech companies data. Is it unethical to return the property in the way I believe benefits me the most like by tweeting the company?
If I'm unable to discern or ...
- 103
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votes
1
answer
27
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Would the cofinitude relation be a more realistic parameter than the exclusivity one, in the formulation of the CI?
Since I read Gödel, Escher, Bach eleven years ago, in 2011, I figured that 2022 would be a poetic time for me to reread it. (If you’ve read the book, you should know what I mean, haha!) While I was ...
- 4,280
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votes
1
answer
35
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With how much certainty can one define something as alive and sentient,or inanimate and non-sentient?
From what I can tell, it seems that the qualifiers for something to be considered living are based on biological criteria, with the limits of observation, being entirely based on spatial order of ...
- 473
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0
answers
19
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Is there a definition of 'symbol' and 'string' or 'expression' for languages?
I'm asking if anyone here knows where I can find a source on how symbolic elements of language are built up, such as what the definition of 'symbol', and the various elements that make up symbolic ...
- 715
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0
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27
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How to solve this natural deduction? [closed]
D. 1. P
2. Q⊃P
∴ P≡Q
G. ∴((A & B) & C) ≡ (A&(B&C))
H. ∴ ((A v B) v C) ≡ (A v (B v C))
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2
answers
48
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Can we really measure something that's subjective?
Someone said we can't measure how creative something is, but isn't that completely wrong and dishonest?
Isn't it the same as for intelligence? Isn't measuring intelligence based on a subjective model ...
- 1,801
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0
answers
14
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Plata o Plomo (Silver or Bullet)
Should you accept bribes if the other alternative is death or harm to you or your family?
Imagine a scenario where an honest officer is performing his duties and a corrupt businessman offers a ...
-6
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0
answers
84
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Why am I the only Athiest that also believes in God? [closed]
Edit
I may have to rewrite this entire question in chunks and rewrite this entire post. It's easier said than done though because I am claiming to resolve paradoxes, yet at first I seem to create ...
- 93
1
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3
answers
75
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Do previous trials of a chance driven process affect whether or not the current trial was intentional?
Suppose 500,000 lotteries were played before yesterday. Yesterday, Jane played the lottery and won. Today, she played the lottery and won again.
Person A, let's call him the conspiracy theorist, might ...
- 343
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0
answers
38
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How can we define the main of nested quantifiers?
I am so confused with sentences with many nested quantifiers even though I already define the scope of the quantifiers in the sentences:
There is an agent who sells policies only to people who are not ...
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1
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0
answers
25
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What is "the problem of the criterion" and how does the Stoic solution of catalepsis attempt to solve it?
This concept appeared while browsing the Wikipedia article on Truth. What is the motivation behind this problem? Why is it important? In addition to the two questions in the title.
- 307
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25
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What is Bohm's "similar difference" in Wikman's paper?
I am trying to read The Notion of Order in Mathematics and Physics. Similarity, Difference, and Indistinguishability (open access) by Georg Wikman.
I got through the first few pages hoping that a ...
- 249
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votes
1
answer
32
views
Is there a fallacy related to conceptual ambiguity?
Consider we have a statement that is perhaps true for one specific meaning of a particular word (or one particular conception of a concept) in its formulation. There may be consequences that flow ...
- 119
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1
answer
56
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How to solve "impossible" problems?
In mathematics and philosophy there are some unsolvable problems like Russell's paradox or the liar's paradox that are usually said to be undecidable... There are also other "impossibilities"...
- 359
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0
answers
17
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Is modality always involved when we talk about the future?
When I make statements about causes in the future like "Cold causes frost to form on the window.", am I unavoidably involving modality even though i'm not using modal auxiliaries?
Can ...
- 561
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0
answers
30
views
On untimely speculation
These are some doubts and thoughts I have about which I am looking for commentaries, especially from Greeks or Romans. You can also tell me what you think yourself.
It seems I developed a habit (why?) ...
0
votes
1
answer
16
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Is there any philosophical work on profanity?
Is there any philosophical work about profanity, f-words, dirty words?
- 501
1
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0
answers
20
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What philosophy principles fit with "there is no reason, just position"?
One of the top authors in Asia, Ni Kuang, mentioned, "I don't usually discuss religion or politics in public, because there is no 'reasons' -- there is only 'position'", meaning if you are ...
- 155
2
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0
answers
32
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Aristotle on Plato's realm of forms
I am familiar with Plato's realm of forms. However, I have not read much of Aristotle except for the Nicomachean Ethics. In a nutshell, how does Aristotle pick up on Plato's forms and where would I ...
- 21
1
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0
answers
20
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What does meaning-scepticism mean?
I found the term in The Limits of Realism (Tim Button) (2013) on page 2:
We are, then, looking for an argument that forces realists to consider
semantic questions. A natural place to look is in the ...
- 199
0
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0
answers
9
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Do different subjects experience the "economic base" of capitalism in different ways?
History, for Althusser, is a process without a subject.
Does that mean that, For Althusser, subjects do not experience the base in different way, and it's more like a brute fact about the world?
In ...
user63587
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9
views
What is a "solving name" as mentioned by William James?
Metaphysics has usually followed a very primitive kind of quest. You
know how men have always hankered after unlawful magic, and you know
what a great part in magic words have always played. If you ...
- 199
1
vote
3
answers
95
views
The definition of life
The prevailing biology of the modern era describes life as a system. A system is defined a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network. The NASA definition of ...
- 69
3
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1
answer
92
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Any modern context for Boethius' two types of now?
1,500 years ago the Roman senator & philosopher Boethius wrote of two types of 'the now':
“Nunc fluens facit tempus, nunc stans facit aeternitatum."
The now that passes produces time, the ...
- 3,840
2
votes
0
answers
22
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epistemic externalism and content externalism
Putnam's original twin earth experiment shows that the meaning of "water" is determined by external factors. This is an epistemic fact about knowledge and meaning: What we really mean by ...
- 956
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0
answers
22
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Is nominalism generally considered to be disconfirmed?
In Are numbers particulars?, David Gudeman states "nominalist, which I don't think anyone is these days." I was not aware that nominalism regarding universal is generally considered to be ...
- 163
1
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0
answers
11
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Other types of disclosure of Dasein in being-in-the-world?
In Chapter 6 of Being and Time, Heidegger chooses the anxiety as an attunement of Dasein in order to "unlock" its being-in-the-world. What I find is that he misses a discussion of what other ...
- 161
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1
answer
25
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Semiotic triangle and abstract concepts
I have a hard time putting abstract concepts such as "temperature" in the semiotic triangle. What would be the referent? Is it the thermometer? The air/water where the temperature is ...
- 101
1
vote
2
answers
51
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Is a complex eternal first cause less likely than a simple eternal first cause?
I have seen this argument posed by people like Dawkins et. al, but is this actually true? Many have pointed to how complex things in nature generally come from simpler origins, but clearly, this isn't ...
- 343
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votes
1
answer
21
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In deductive argument on it's one valuation the premises are true and the conclusion is false. Should it be valid?
I know that for an argument, In every row where all premises are true, the conclusion must be true as well to make it valid! But what happens if only one valuation is true and the conclusion is false? ...
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0
answers
27
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On the ontology of ideas
There's a useful summary of the subject of universals in the public domain Encyclopedia.com. In it, we read:
Realist and conceptualist theories of universals are, by long tradition, regarded as ...
- 164
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3
answers
124
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Is it possible for two things to be equal but not identical?
Is it possible for two things to be equal, but not identical? For example, would it be correct to say that 2+2 is equal to 1+3, but 2+2 is not identical to 1+3? If not in that particular case, is ...
- 3,576
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1
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41
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Are all nonexistent things the same?
Is every nonexistent thing identical to every other nonexistent thing? For instance, both the property of being Santa Claus and the property of being a unicorn have empty extension, so does that mean ...
- 3,576
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21
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Inference and Substitution Rule [closed]
I have a logic problem to solve and I couldn't.
I need to prove the validity of the argument through rules of inference and rule of substitution.
Below is the argument.
(B -> A) . (Q -> S)/ ∴ (B ...
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0
answers
44
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Does mathematics fall within the domain of analytical philosophy? [duplicate]
Summary of the problem: I’m unsure if it is correct to think of mathematics as analytic philosophy in the domain of counting and am posting to gather perspectives.
Details and any research: make what ...
- 109
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votes
2
answers
58
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If something is necessarily true, is it probably true?
Suppose I were to say "2+2=4 is probably true". Would that be incorrect, since it is necessarily true? I believe "probably true" means "there is a greater than 50% chance it ...
- 3,576
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0
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21
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Can something be named without the use of a proper noun or equivalent?
We are told in mathematics that they can be named using symbols and number words that act as proper nouns in english.
However, we use 'two' and '2' in strange ways, for example we say 'two things' or '...
- 715
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5
answers
170
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Please explain to me why it said that there is not only one present [closed]
Can you please explain to me in simple words why would the fact that time can go through different speeds imply that we don't share the same present? Because from where I stand it seems perfectly ...
- 5