Questions tagged [metaphilosophy]
Metaphilosophy is the philosophical study of philosophy itself — its goals, methods, scope, and relationship to other intellectual disciplines or human projects.
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Can you prove anything in philosophy?
I don't understand philosophy very well, and so I am wondering whether you can "prove" anything in philosophy. It always seems you can go a layer down, and find another question, almost endlessly ...
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What is Philosophy? [closed]
What is a comprehensive definition of Philosophy? Alternatively, is it impossible to define Philosophy? This is a pseudo-meta question, but it seems like it belongs here.
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What makes something mathematics?
Dictionary.com definition of math:
(used with a singular verb) the systematic treatment of magnitude, relationships between figures and forms, and relations between quantities expressed symbolically.
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Why should I read about philosophy?
My knowledge of philosophy is probably only a bit greater than an average person's. I am a trained mathematician so I have the basic knowledge of mathematical logic. I know more or less what modal ...
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Is it thought that analytic philosophy is in decline after the linguistic turn?
I would like to know from someone who has closely followed contemporary analytic philosophy if this idea has any currency. So by "is it thought" I mean is it a general trend or mood. The reason for ...
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What is the difference between western and other philosophies?
Is western philosophy simply based on scientific knowledge. Is is only about scientific or Academia knowledge? Why is it called western? Because it has its roots in ancient Greece where western ...
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What happens to a philosophical question when it is solved for good?
I was reading the introduction to a general philosophy text book, and it mentioned at some point that philosophy was like science in that concrete results are established and philosophers are able to ...
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How is Philosophy related to Science? [closed]
I asked this question about Scientism and the answers there quite brilliantly explained to me why Scientism is philosophically inconsistent.
But I just want to know: What is the relationship between ...
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Does a philosopher need much knowledge of mathematical/formal logic?
I am not a philosopher but I would like to ask this question. I know that there are philosophers like Hobbes, Locke or Foucault, who excel in the areas of ethics, political philosophy and aesthetics. ...
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What do philosophers make of intractable metaphysical controversies?
In philosophy metaphysical debates are quite popular - all the "-ism"s are fighting one another. And many give good insights for every side of every debate. This seems like it can't be stopped, ever, ...
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Is Philosophy formalisable?
This is something that has irked me for quite some time, especially since I come from a mathematically oriented background.
Can the field of Philosophy be formalised in the sense that Mathematics is ...
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"→" is the symbol for material implication. Is there such a thing as "immaterial implication"?
Why do we qualify "implication" with "material"? This seems to imply that there are other kinds of implication.
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Can a philosopher philosophize without logic?
Logic, which I mean as the system or subject not the adjective; like modal propositional logic, etc., and not an adjective stating rationality, sense of thinking, common sense, etc.
Perhaps we all ...
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Does philosophy belong to empirical science or formal science?
According to Wikipedia, science
can be divided into empirical
science (such as natural science and
social science) and formal
science (such as mathematics,
logic, statistics). I was wondering
if ...
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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 ...
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Tomatoes, Wisdom and Intelligence?
A lighthearted topic after I came across this funny quote:
Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put tomatoes in a fruit salad.
This had me wondering what ...
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How do psychoanalysts like Freud and Lacan interpret the concept of "proof"?
How do psychoanalysts interpret the epistemological concept of "proof" in their theoretical work? Not necessarily of psychoanalysis.
user6917
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How does philosophy advance despite irreconcilable background assumptions ("positions") on every topic?
In philosophy there are always, and on almost everything, many "positions", many different possibilities to choose from, and there isn't mainly some decisive conclusion between positions as to what's "...
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Fundamental Questions of Contemporary Philosophy
In John Searles 'Making the Social World" (2010), the chapter 'the purpose of this book' starts with declaring the following question as a fundamental question of contemporary philosophy:
How, if ...
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What are the standards for good and bad philosophy?
In general (not restricted to this site), what counts as a good philosophical explanation? Are there any objective standards?
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Philosophy is the mother of all science [closed]
Prologue
Running google search: "philosophy is the mother of all science" at the time of this post yields about 114,000 results, and while this Quora post: Is philosophy the "queen of ...
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What can suffice as a scientific proof for God? to what domain can such a proof belong to? [closed]
"Scientific" theories require proof, and there are certain guidelines and standards for the proofs to be acceptable to the "scientific" community in that domain (Algebra, Computer Science, etc.). ...
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What hierarchies exist in different branches of Philosophy?
If you were to map out different branches of Philosophy in a hierarchical nature on multiple levels in order to compare them what would some look like or could you point me to a reference that sorts ...
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What is the logical distinction between “the same” and “equal to?”
We all understand that
Given A = C, and B = C,
Then A = B.
However, A is not “the same as” B.
Example:
A is the question, “What animals have feathers and can fly?”
B is the question, “What was the ...
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What, if any, are the differences between materialism and empiricism?
Are the differences, if they exist merely semantic ("First World War" vs "World War One") or are they more substantial; for example one's a historical trend and the other's a broader philosophical ...
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What is the goal and toolset of philosophy?
I'm beginning to realize that I might have misconseptions about philosophy in general.
Is it to question and contend indefinitely or is there a goal?
I thought the goal was truth.
While I'm at it, ...
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Modern Sophists? [closed]
I was wondering if in professional philosophy there are modern sophists. That is, people who have no qualms publishing on both sides of an issue, perhaps not being able to themselves come to ...
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Can we do anything we want in philosophy?
This is maybe kind of an odd question, and it's related to my metaphysics controversies question.
In philosophy (to be honest mostly in metaphysics, but also in philosophy as a whole), it seems like ...
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How are the assumptions underlying logic chosen?
Logic works based on certain assumptions about its rules. How are these axiomatic assumptions selected in the first place, given that a system of logic does not exist prior to the point of selection?
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What is the order of questions?
I have heard the importance of "The order of questions" mentioned a few times by for example Bernard Stiegler in one of his seminars. I am working on a Phd, and it is being drummed into me framing the ...
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Does definition of Fact in philosophy have any relation with time and place?
Does definition of Fact in philosophy have any relation with time and place? If yes, then is it justified to say that "Fact is a Fact irrespective of one's awareness of it being true"?
For example:
...
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Is metaphysics completely subjective?
A little bit of background:
As some of you may have noticed, my main interest in philosophy is of metaphysics. I've studied philosophy in a very postmodern environment; but contra to the people ...
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Do you need to know what philosophy is to study it?
Do you need to know what philosophy is to study it?
The question was prompted by one about literature, but I'll ask here. Poets tell me that you need to know what post-modernism and modernism are to ...
user35983
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What is an assumption?
I am unable to come up with an answer to the question -
"what is an assumption?"
Given a statement X, how do i know how many assumptions are there in it.
It often happens that one statement is said ...
user12196
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What are the criteria by which we could determine whether some field is philosophy rather than wisdom?
There is a sub-field of philosophy called 'comparative philosophy' - it deals with philosophical themes by comparing how those themes were accounted for throughout history by Western and non-Western (...
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Why is it so hard to give a good definition of philosophy?
I have never seen an adequate definition of philosophy. It seems like a "family-resemblance" concept to me, to borrow Wittgenstein's famous phrase. It is easy to give definitions of, say, ...
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Which philosophers have defended both the claim that any attitude can ground meaning and moral error theory?
Which philosophers have defended both the claim that any attitude (a pro attitude to anything) can ground meaning and moral error theory? It may even be the the received view among the population in ...
user67675
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Implication of Rorty's concession to Ramberg that true statements "get things right"?
Richard Rorty (1932-2008) was the paradigmatic deflationist re the concept “truth.” He was an epistemic naturalist and historicist, an instrumental pragmatist, anti-realist/essentialist, and ...
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What is the basis for answering philosophical questions?
This may come off weird, but I'm new to the subject of philosophy. In many aspects it seems to be fully theoretical and based on subjective perceptions of truth. So what can be a basis for answering ...
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Philosophy of the lymphatic system
If neurophilosophy is a legitimate from of philosophy why don’t we have philosophies pertaining to various other sub-personal processes/systems: autonomic, vestibular, and proprioceptive? Why not ...
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What are the practical ramifications of philosophy? How can we make it relevant to ordinary people? [duplicate]
Because philosophy is seen by many as a useless subject and a mere waste of resources, universities the world over has retired countless degree programs in philosophy.
So my questions are
How is ...
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Are the Efforts to Fuse Philosophy and Pop Culture Superficial?
The state of our aesthetic and consumer-based economy has brought philosophy to a transitional stage at many levels. Many wonder what will be its future or where philosophy should go from here. It is ...
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Is the question: why there is something rather than nothing?, the root of all philosophy?
I'm new to philosophy so bear with me. I've been reading Martin Heidegger (An introduction to metaphysics). In the book he claims that the question of why there is something rather than nothing is ...
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Pendulum Theory / Cyclical Theory in Philosophy?
In political science, the Cyclical Theory states that societal attitudes (Liberal-Conservative spectrum) move like a pendulum moving from one extreme to the other.
Are there any philosophers who ...
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Why do many attach great significance to having read the original writings by philosophers?
Many of my conversations go like this. I express an opinion on a philosopher, and my friends ask, have you read the original work? I say no, but I have read many discussions and interpretations by ...
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Questions on non-ontology
Ontology is one of the best known and most important branches of metaphysics - the study of "things", of "beings", or of "what there is" (in oppose to what "there isn't").
I have a few questions ...
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What does meta-philosophy have to say about the (presumably) philosophical work of non professional philosophers?
This question is prompted by an interesting comment discussion in a question I previously asked. Whereas nobody without proper mathematical training would attempt nowadays to do mathematics, it seems ...
user64708
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Has any contemporary philosopher argued that philosophy is dead?
Today a friend told me that Stephen Hawking claimed in 2010 that philosophy was dead. I've searched about this and indeed: he wrote that philosophy is ‘dead’ since it hasn’t kept up with the latest ...
user64708
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Am I a materialist?
I believe that there is nothing even close to non-trivial certainty in philosophy, at least outside of ethics and psychology. For this reason, I believe in monism at about 60%. Furthermore, I believe ...
user66128
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Where is the line between semantics and ontology?
To be more specific, for a long time, it's seemed to me that a lot of open questions in philosophy, such as "What is consciousness?" or "What is truth?" come down, in large part, ...
