Questions tagged [analytic-synthetic-divide]
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110 views
Does Hume's Fork have a third prong?
If so, does it have a name? I'm especially interested in search terms that I can use for further reading.
In physics, we're familiar with the distinction between "relations of ideas" and &...
2
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1answer
42 views
On Searle's _Proper Names_ (1958)
I just read Searle's article Proper Names (1958) which was published before Kripke's seminal take on the subject in Naming and Necessity (1980). I think it is a very lucid article but I have a ...
3
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1answer
203 views
Are holist underdetermination and contrastive underdetermination mutually exclusive in any ways?
My understanding of Quine's view of holist underdetermination and how it connects to his holist view of science is summarized well by this quote:
The totality of our so-called knowledge or beliefs, ...
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3answers
119 views
Is “thoughts exist” a synthetic a priori statement?
I'm working off of Kant's conception of analytic/synthetic and a prior/a posteriori judgements.
The definition of "thoughts" does not subsume their existence. That is, it is logically ...
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1answer
100 views
Mathematical Analyticity Within Context of Physical Theory [closed]
Postulate: Mathematics is constructed. We construct the syntax, grammar and assign semantics to mathematical statements artificially.
Lemma: There is no constraint on what constructed mathematical ...
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1answer
386 views
What propositions are not possibly not true? [closed]
Example: There are no round squares.
An “analytic” sentence, such as “Ophthalmologists are doctors,” has historically been characterized as one whose truth depends upon the meanings of its constituent ...
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2answers
123 views
“A priori” abused by mathematicians? [duplicate]
I often see mathematicians make statements like
"A priori, it is not clear whether 231283179 is a prime number or not."
This is supposed to mean something like "just by looking at it, without ...
3
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1answer
71 views
Did Quine ever respond to the major criticisms of Two Dogmas?
I'm specifically thinking about Grice and Strawson's paper "In Defense of a Dogma" and Putnam's paper "Two Dogmas Revisited". Both raise major issues with the content of Quine's "Two Dogmas of ...
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3answers
242 views
Two dogmas of empiricism - logical vs analytic truths… is there really a distinction?
A link to the paper is here:
https://www.theologie.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:ffffffff-fbd6-1538-0000-000070cf64bc/Quine51.pdf
So in the paper Quine gives two types of analytic statements:
No unmarried man is ...
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3answers
315 views
Does this reformulation of the the analytic / synthetic distinction overcome Quine's objections?
He seemed to be asserting that synonymity cannot possibly be defined in a non-circular way. We attempt to show this is false on the basis of defining the Quine/Carnap example in a non-circular way.
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1answer
139 views
Does Russell prove the existence of synthetic a priori knowledge?
In the Problems of Philosophy (PoP) Bertrand Russell proves that there is certain a priori knowledge such as logical principles and mathematical principles. However, does he think these types of ...
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120 views
Is the proposition “I feel happy” analytic or synthetic?
If we consider the statement to be true, assumedly the predicate "happy" is contained within the subject "I", and would therefore be analytic.
Would this also make all subjective statements analytic?
...
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2answers
51 views
Why does Kant say that some imperatives are analytically justified?
In the Groundwork and the second Critique, IIRC, Kant for some reason tries to explain the "argument" for the categorical imperative as synthetic a priori. He does this not just for assertoric forms ...
3
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2answers
104 views
Analyticity and a priority
(1) Every bachelor is unmarried.
I know this is one of the most famous examples (intensionally) denoting analytic and a priori propositions. No problems yet.
(2) Every apple is a fruit.
This one ...
1
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1answer
41 views
Kant's Notion of Synthetic A Prioiri as Logical Entailment
Is there something wrong about interpreting Kant's notion of synthetic a priori statements to be logical entailments?
I understand, I think, that Kant didn't want to say such statements (e.g math ...
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1answer
244 views
Why can we not reduce necessity to analyticity?
Why can’t we eliminate talk of necessity and possible worlds, for talk of analyticity and (non-modal) logical consistency? Has there been any attempt in recent times to do this? I'm not 100% sure, but ...
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2answers
188 views
Can “knowledge” only be synthetic according to Kant?
I have read secondary sources claiming that Kant conceives of knowledge as a strictly synthetic affair, and that analytic judgments are thus not knowledge. This is relatively consistent with what Kant ...
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66 views
Does Kant consider extendedness metaphysically (analytic) a priori?
In Kant's famous division between a priori vs a postriori, and synthetic vs analytic, Kant's example for a priori analytic proposition is:
All bodies are extended.
Without immediately delving ...
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1answer
408 views
Are propositions in mathematics synthetic or analytic?
I'm reading Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and I understand that he thought that "Mathematical Judgements are all synthetic". I would like to know where does this debate lies or if it is of interest ...
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2answers
379 views
What is the use of analytic propositions?
[Note: I'm using Kant's terms.]
Analytic proposition, for example "all bodies are extended", or "a=a", seems like an unhelpful type of proposition (contra to the synthetic a priori and a postriori ...
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1answer
108 views
Role of definitions in analytic–synthetic distinction
A: All bachelors are unmarried
B: Water is liquid
We all agree that A is analytic. To prove its truth, we only need to replace "bachelor" with its definition. The proposition B can be controversial,...
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0answers
287 views
A priori and a posteriori within an axiomatic framework?
I am not a philosopher, so please excuse my limited understanding of these basic philosophy concepts. I am having some difficulty understanding what truly constitutes an a priori statement/truth (I'm ...
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1answer
316 views
Quine on Necessity
Lately, I have been reading some of Quine's works on modality. I can't help but feel that many of his pronouncements on modality are wrong/misguided, although pinpointing exactly where is goes wrong ...
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1answer
606 views
What would be gained philosophically if logicism succeeds?
Any logic similar to predicate logic (which Frege and Russell used?) is already a pretty complicated system. Its axioms don't seem to have something to do with analyticity as conceived by Kant (“...
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57 views
Is the location of Wyoming a posteriori and analytic?
I answered the following question, but wasn't absolutely sure that I did so viably:
Fallacy?: "Wyoming - It's like no place on Earth"
Is the location of places, like Wyoming on earth, ...
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2answers
606 views
If one agrees with Quine's dissolution of the Analytic/Synthetic distinction, what is left of Kant's epistemology?
One of Kant's most important (if not the most important) result is his argument (proof?) that synthetic a priori knowledge is possible.
If one agrees with Quine's argument against Analyticity as ...
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96 views
Rethinking arithmetic operations after J.L. Austin's performativity?
According to Kant, arithmetic statements such as "7+5=12" are synthetic a priori. Could we alternatively think of this not as a statement, but as an arithmetic-logic operation to be executed (like a ...
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1answer
2k views
Does 5 + 7 = 12 really say anything new?
I'm not sure why 5 + 7 = 12 should say anything new: I take it to be a shorthand notation to give a name to 5 + 7, which anyway is nothing but 5 times the unit + 7 times the unit, so there is not ...
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4answers
346 views
Redefining the Analytic/Synthetic Distinction in Terms of Computational Complexity
I've been reading Kant for the first time and encountered Quine's objections to the analytic/synthetic distinction and am want to agree that they feel a little obscure in their definitions. That is, ...
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2answers
725 views
Kant's analytic/synthetic propositions
In the Critique of Pure Reason, an example of an analytic proposition is that all bodies are extended, and an example of a synthetic proposition is that all bodies are heavy (A7|B11), however in the ...
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2answers
201 views
The Analytic/Synthetic Distinction in false mathematical propositions
Are all mathematical propositions a priori analytic?
The most common example used is 2+2=4. The truth lies in the meaning of the parts of the proposition, and is therefore a priori analytic.
But ...
2
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3answers
332 views
Is the existence of a thing an analytic proposition?
Is the existence (existence or subsistance) of a thing an analytic proposition?
If I talk about a thing x, any thing, and say "x exists", would it be an analytic proposition? I think it would be ...
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3answers
752 views
Is this proposition analytic or synthetic?
Consider the following statement:
Cats have four legs
This is an analytic statement, since its truth can be established by looking at the subject and predicate; one does not need to look further ...
3
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1answer
332 views
Is Quine's epistemology really just a linguistic reinterpretation of Kant's?
Kant's epistemology: There are facts out there, but we can never access them directly, we can only perceive them the way they are presented to us by our own minds.
Quine: There are facts out there, ...
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3answers
1k views
What's the current status of the “paradox of analysis”? And are there any strong and widely accepted resolutions?
It would seem that figuring out a solution to the paradox of analysis would be of prime importance to philosophers, especially considering the fact that conceptual analysis seems central to ...
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3answers
892 views
Quine - two dogmas of empiricism
I'm trying to understand this paper. Seems to me like it all stems from a rejection of "meaning"... ie: Quine is saying statements don't mean anything. And this is what leads to the rejection of the ...
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4answers
192 views
Is it possible to argue that ideas don't exist, only facts exist?
I was thinking that even Hume, or the Logical Positivists, despite being the standard bearers of empiricism, still hold on to a lingering rationalism, since they believe the independent existence of ...
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1answer
81 views
Kant's cleavage of knowledge
In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant goes to great lengths to distinguish transcendental knowledge from other a priori knowledge. For Kant, is transcendental knowledge distinct from analytic or ...
7
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1answer
894 views
Did the Logical Positivists accept synthetic a priori knowledge?
My understanding of Logical Positivists is that, following Wittgenstein, they accepted only 2 types of proposition as meaningful:
Propositions based on formal logic (i.e. tautologies)
Empirically ...
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9answers
734 views
Is there any reason to believe that there are things which science cannot tell us?
Science can only tell us a posteriori synthetic truths, can this category extend to all propositions about the world. Surely the only things which can by known ONLY by a priori analytic are ...
4
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1answer
303 views
Kant - analytic/synthetic propositons
I attend a small gathering of philosophers and guest speakers in my local town where we are sometimes lucky enough to get a professor from some university or college to come to give guest lectures.
...
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1answer
137 views
Is a posteriori analytic philosophy just science?
Analytic philosophy primarily tries to solve problems a priori. Science can be considered to be synthetic a posteriori, based of some a priori theoretical framework. But would any conclusions that you ...
4
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1answer
182 views
Why does it matter whether knowledge is synthetic or analytic?
I have done some reading around Kant's idea of splitting knowledge into synthetic and analytic. I don't understand why does this split matter, knowledge could be split in other way by different ...
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1answer
160 views
How might a modern defender of positivism classify a “speech act”?
A few people here have wondered whether positivism is really dead. I was under the impression that it was for a long time; but there seem to be some sympathizers with positivism here, and I'd be ...
