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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Why doesn't philosophy have higher standards for its arguments?
Mathematical systems are an excellent model for organizing and conducting thought:
In the mathematics community, any argument in support of a conjecture, that deviates from "sound argument" never ...
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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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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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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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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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Where one should draw a line between X and Philosophy of X?
It seems clear to many scholars which issues belong to philosophy-of-X and which rather belong to X. And sometimes it is indeed obvious when some given issue is for example mathematical or physical ...
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Should I trust my own thoughts when studying philosophy?
I sometimes find myself disagreeing with Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy or other seasoned philosophers. However, I am scared to trust my own thoughts lest my ideas are erroneous. I do not know ...
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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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Are there clearly defined limits to philosophy?
How can you define the difference between for example Math and Philosophy and Sociology or Biology. What makes a philosophical question a philosophical question. Is this clearly defined?
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Is philosophy bad for you (if taken too literally)?
Hume seemed to prove that we are not justified in believing our inductions. Popper, who is very popular among scientists, thought that statements are only ever falsified. Moral error theorists say ...
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When did philosophers decide philosophy was not useful, and why? [closed]
Academics treat philosophy like more of a discipline one does simply because one can. If you were to ask an academic what the purpose of philosophy is, they're likely to be confused by the question.
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Are there philosophical theories that are either confirmed or refuted by the majority of experts?
Do there exist any philosophical theories that have been either confirmed or refuted by the majority of experts? That is, confirmed or refuted such that a consensus has been established about the ...
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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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How To Distinguish Between Philosophy And Non-Philosophy?
Surely not all thinking or intellectual effort is philosophy, right?
Where to draw line between philosophy and all other thinking?
What, if any, feature is present only in philosophy?
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Would philosophy be useless if there were a box of answers?
All of the ideas are mine, I don't know a lot about philosophy's terms, I'll be clear and I'll speak in human's terms.
Imagine someday everything is normal, kids going to schools, doctors going to ...
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What is the distinction between mysticism and metaphysics?
Mysticism and Metaphysics seem to share immediate similarity: both amount to sort of speculations pertaining to capture universal truth that cannot be confirmed nor refuted by the senses. What is the ...
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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 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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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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Why isn't the dictum "something can't come from nothing" a matter of consensus?
Isn't it obvious that from nothing (in the philosophical sense, i.e. absolute nonexistence) comes nothing? Isn't it also clear that physics has absolutely no saying on this dictum, as physics only ...
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Is our Philosophy, the Human Philosophy, the only possible Philosophy which can exist?
What I'm asking is if is there any possibility for a Non-human Philosophy, that is, a Philosophy founded on questions which we can't even conceive. Is possible a Philosophy of questions which only can ...
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What are some examples of solved philosophical problems?
Are there any examples of philosophical problems that have been solved? How can we know a proposed solution to a philosophical problem is correct?
Examples of "philosophical problems":
If a tree ...
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How to implement the so called 'principle of charity'?
The 'principle of charity' has been considered of great importance especially in scholarly communication. It is not very clear, nonetheless, how the principle can be implemented, even in simple ...
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Are we studying philosophy or philosophers?
In science, if one asks the question "What is the structure of DNA?", rarely will one get the answer "According to Watson and Crick, it's twin-helical". Similarly, a chemistry course does not begin by ...
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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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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 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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Defining terms in philosophy?
I always enjoyed philosophy, but I never thought to ask this question when I was still taking philosophy classes. So, I thought this was a good way to see what "philosophy" people think of this.
When ...
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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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Does doing comparative philosophy presuposse adopting cultural-relativism?
Assuming that there are several distinct philosophical traditions - say - Western, Chinese and Indian and that philosophers can actually compare the manner certain philosophical problems were handled ...
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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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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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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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Is philosophy about organizing our ignorance?
I am interested in B. Russell's quote:
Science is what we know; philosophy is what we don't know.
What is he saying here in terms of a definition of philosophy? In his sense, is that correct to ...
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Are arguments that Reason is circular themselves circular and/or self refuting?
Are arguments that Reason is circular themselves circular and/or self refuting?. I am basically open to the idea of using Reason to show Reason doesn't work, but really only for specific cases - case ...
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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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What are some good introductions to analytic ontology?
What is/are the best introduction(s) of analytic ontology? I know about a book written by Edmund Runggaldier and Christian Kanzian but still I don't have it.
I would like to read clear, simple ...
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Which problem is Russell focusing on while providing a solution, in his introduction to the Tractatus?
In the final part of his introduction to the Tractatus Logico-philosophicus, Russell provides a possible solution to the problem of the impossibility of self-reference of logic:
There is one ...
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Why did Daniel Dennett not adequately explain consciousness?
Dennett frequently talks about consciousness as if it has already been solved and that we're just inventing new problems because of some innate fear of naturalism.
In his (now rather old) book ...
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What is the argument for Heidegger's claim that philosophy can only be done in Greek and German?
Here it is said that Heidegger viewed German and Greek as the only languages in which doing philosophy is possible at all.
The article references several sources [I won't list them to save space] I ...
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When is something necessary, according to Hume?
Something is necessary when it is fundamentally true in all contexts, this is what I've understood from what I've read regarding Hume's problem of induction. However, uniformities are not true in ...
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Can a question be bullshit?
In his essay On Bullshit Frankfurt writes:
The fact about himself that the bullshitter hides, on the
other hand, is that the truth-values of his statements are
of no ...
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What makes philosophers statements different from anyone elses statements?
I answered a question recently. I had backed it up with logic and reasoning as well. But someone had told me that my answer was just a comment of opinion, and that I needed to add some insight from a ...
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Is formal education required to fully grasp (academic/analytic) philosophy?
If a person has access to all the readings but lack (peer/mentor)-interaction under formal setting (e.g: university, cutting-edge seminar...), is this auto-didactic study likely to fail (e.g: lead to ...
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What is the purpose of answers to metaphysical questions?
Generally speaking, metaphysics seems to deal with questions that cannot be verified empirically, which are thus beyond the understanding of science. Because of this I'm wondering whether the answers ...
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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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Philosophy of Philosophy and Experience [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the practical use of philosophy?
Does philosophy move us toward a deeper understanding of the human condition, or does philosophy push us away from understanding the ...
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Aren't all children philosophers? [closed]
As described by writer Jostein Gaarder in his book Sophie's World, to philosophize is to be astonished by things in nature around us, and we can always see children always surprised of things ...
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