Questions tagged [metaphysics]
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the essence of things, of the fundamental nature of being and the world and the principles that organize the universe. Metaphysics is supposed to answer the question "What is the nature of reality?"
1,696
questions
13
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How many Platonic ideals are there?
Suppose you have an unripe banana that is yellow with a greenish tint. We could say that this banana partially embodies the platonic ideal of yellowness. We could also say that to a lesser degree it ...
- 331
2
votes
4
answers
398
views
Are there any refutations to the Generic subjective continuity theory?
The Generic subjective continuity theory is a horrifying one, considering it would entail that we shall experience every concious experience including the worst of tortures ie, burning alive, etc. Are ...
- 67
1
vote
0
answers
83
views
Does existence consist of two categories?
The two categories I wish to describe is:
Eternal existence being uncaused and having always been
Short term existences such as human consciousness or other types which are destructible from their ...
- 29
0
votes
3
answers
251
views
Can we determine if a logic system is incomplete?
Can we determine if a logic system is incomplete? Let's say because I don't really have a good definition of what complete is that a complete logical system can be used as a foundational ground to ...
- 3,787
1
vote
3
answers
116
views
Is it possible to simulate a reality like ours using other logic than classical logic?
Are there alternative logical systems that could serve as a foundation for simulating a reality similar to ours, given that non-classical logics such as paraconsistent logic, while applicable in ...
- 3,787
1
vote
5
answers
1k
views
If nothing is preventing something from existing, must it exist?
The question in the title; if there is no existent precluding factor (whatsoever) for the existence of some x, must such a x exist?
- 429
-1
votes
1
answer
53
views
Can you achieve the same level of 'consistency' or similar if you remove or modify the law of identity in a logical system?
Can you achieve the same level of 'consistency' or similar if you remove or modify the law of identity in a logical system? Well, first, I consider it to be impossible to maintain the same level of ...
- 3,787
2
votes
1
answer
62
views
Correspondence between chapters and Bekker numbers in Metaphysics
Where can I find a table of correspondences such that if one work cites Aristotle's metaphysics by book and chapter, I can find the passage in an edition with Bekker numbers but no chapter divisions?
- 21
0
votes
2
answers
106
views
Can a mathematician create free will, rigour, etc etc? [closed]
So I've been thinking for a while:
Can a mathematician create free will?
And for the more rigorous:
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/4773643/cardinality-in-an-instance-where-evolution-...
- 1,920
0
votes
0
answers
34
views
Is grounding a logical relation?
Should we understand grounding relations as logical relations or as causal relations? Supervenience is a logical relation, for example, but I don't know what to say about grounding.
- 686
0
votes
1
answer
87
views
How could we get over a seeming contradiction in first cause causality without jumping to anything impossible?
This post is showing a contradiction in the existence of a first cause, meaning maybe it's not possible for it to exist. You might not get this immediately so look at the second paragraph and read ...
- 1
1
vote
0
answers
68
views
Under what conditions can we say that two things are ontological distinct?
I am curious as to under what conditions we say that two things are ontologically distinct. My hunch is that we say two things are ontologically distinct if they differ in their essential properties. ...
- 686
0
votes
1
answer
117
views
Where is it that I go when I dream? Part 2
The body is often referred to by some as a "Temple". If it is a Temple, then to be awake is like standing outside of same during the day and to have a dream is like entering the foyer of it ...
- 97
0
votes
0
answers
37
views
Seeking Guidance for Reading Aristotle's Metaphysics
I've recently embarked on a journey to explore Aristotle's Metaphysics, but I must admit, I'm finding it quite challenging to grasp. As a newcomer to Aristotle's works, I wonder if there's a guide or ...
- 9
1
vote
0
answers
105
views
Does utilitarianism imply materialism?
Does utilitarianism imply materialism?
Utilitarianism has for one component epicurianism, which is a materialist philosophy, and also consequentialism which cares about real life consequences of ...
- 1,396
1
vote
1
answer
94
views
Are all things the physical form/properties they have?
Trying to answer the question: "What are the things?"
I noticed that different things have different (physical) forms and that equal things have equal forms.
But what if it was a wrong ...
- 53
2
votes
2
answers
150
views
What does it mean for something to “break” infinite regress?
When it comes to the cosmological argument, proponents point out that a first cause is needed to stop an infinite regress of causes.
In epistemology, foundationalism is used to break the infinite ...
- 8,288
1
vote
0
answers
31
views
Is personhood different from personal identity?
I'm confused as to what the difference between these two terms are. Suppose that I am a cognitivist about personhood. Does this imply that higher order cognitive functions underwrite personal identity ...
- 686
3
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Has brain-to-brain communication been addressed in the literature, and if so, is there a fundamental reorganization of philosophy required?
Answering Is this a good argument against mental causation? led me to a simple metaphysical question, and I wonder if anyone in the Western Canon addressed it, particularly someone in the last century....
- 23.1k
4
votes
2
answers
97
views
Tautological Many Worlds?
this is my first question here so I hope I'm following the guidelines correctly. I recently found a relatively obscure physicist/philosopher who asserts that the concept of Many Worlds is ...
- 41
2
votes
1
answer
58
views
Quid Accidit? Quid Non Accidit?
We seem to be obsessed by what happened. Trump as president, happened! Moon landing, happened! Buddha died, happened!
What about(ism) things that didn't happen? Are they - nonevents - as opposed to ...
- 3,204
3
votes
1
answer
109
views
Killing with bare hands vs Rube Goldberg killing machine: How can we connect causes to persons, and so be morally responsible for effects by us?
What brought up this question:
I was watching a television show and was thinking of how powerful individuals can obtain hired guns to do their dirty work. The police and legal system then has ...
- 481
6
votes
7
answers
3k
views
Difference between how a physicist and mathematician approach science?
I am acutely aware of the fact that the marriage between mathematics
and physics, which was so enormously fruitful in past centuries, has
recently ended in divorce.
Freeman Dyson
Is there a ...
- 1,920
2
votes
2
answers
76
views
Does Artistole's principle of non-contradiction imply/concede/allow there are contradictions, we just can't learn much via them?
From Graham Priest and the SEP it seems like the world doesn't have to be a certain way with the PNC being necessary for "scientific inquiry, reasoning and communication" (SEP).
The world ...
- 2,385
0
votes
7
answers
361
views
Please criticize my argument for a first cause
Salaamualykum, I would like this argument to be strengthened by criticism: Everything has a cause, by cause I mean mean something that "therefores it" regardless of your definition. if ...
- 119
-2
votes
2
answers
101
views
If different realities can’t have probabilities, does this mean no reality is more reasonable to believe than another?
This question is ultimately a follow up to this one
For the context of the question, assume that a metaphysical reality is a reality that can be conceived without contradiction and that these ...
- 8,288
2
votes
5
answers
104
views
Can there be certain events that would still be predictable under indeterminism?
Let’s take the example of a bird landing on a tree branch. Suppose now that one knew everything there is about the universe billions of years before the bird landed, like Laplace’s demon.
Given this, ...
- 8,288
2
votes
5
answers
282
views
What is the problem with positivism?
Reading a review of Butler's Bodies that matter (Cheah 1996), I stumbled upon a sentence that echoes and embodies many other similar pejorative comments concerning positivism (see here):
This means ...
- 1,396
4
votes
1
answer
105
views
Does Descartes conclude that imperfection implies perfection?
In the third meditation, does Descartes' knowledge of his limitations, or his imperfections, lead to his conclusion that there must be something limitless, something perfect?
In his third meditation, ...
4
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Do objects exist as the way we think they do even when nobody sees them
Object permanence is the belief objects exist whether we see them or not.
However even if they exist, can we really claim they exist as an object that has certain colors, and thus claim they exist in ...
- 41
0
votes
1
answer
75
views
I think I finally understand alethic nihilism
So the definition of truth is that p is true if and only if p.
However, since the Liar Paradox states that p is true if and only if p is false, this is a contradiction.
So the words truth and falsity ...
- 151
0
votes
3
answers
307
views
If conciousness isn't physical does it imply god?
Think about it. The brain is designed for consciousness. Physical objects, other ones aren't conscious.
We know because they show no signs of consciousness. They can't move on their own, which is what ...
- 119
1
vote
2
answers
119
views
On the framing of causality?
So I shall restrict Nagarjuna's dependent arising of phenomena to the physical realm*. The source of my understanding is "Part Two, Chapter one - Examination of Conditions" of the book the ...
- 1,920
3
votes
2
answers
156
views
What is the philosophy that deals with concepts being correctly fitted to reality or "carving reality at the joints"?
In philosophy of science thinkers sometimes speak of certain theoretical concepts "carving nature at its joints" (I think this might have been used prominently by Hilary Putnam but I can't ...
- 986
4
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Everything must have a cause?
In a possible reality, if something came into existence without something giving rise to it, the fact would be that , there was nothing stopping something from coming into existence without anything ...
- 119
0
votes
1
answer
89
views
Alethic Nihlism
I read this article:
https://aeon.co/essays/on-the-advantages-of-believing-that-nothing-is-true
I just don't understand how someone can believe something is the case but is not true. It's like saying ...
- 151
4
votes
3
answers
99
views
What is Virtue?
I have been reading Plato and re-reading Nietzsche and both of them discuss Virtue without saying what it is. In Thus Spake Zarathustra Virtue seems to come in flavours where you have to pick one or ...
- 41
1
vote
3
answers
86
views
Is there any speculative attempt at proposing something as fundamental as time, space and matter that may not exist in our current universe?
There is a category that groups time, space, and matter together. This category is called "substance" or "substantivalism." I am wondering if there are speculative ideas of ...
- 3,787
2
votes
0
answers
77
views
About the world as representation
In "The World as Will and Representation", how can Schopenhauer say that the world is a representation if he himself EXISTS in his representation of the world? Isn't there a contradiction in ...
- 251
-1
votes
6
answers
357
views
How is Truth Different From Reality?
Is the whole question like "what is truth" just about finding definitions to things we know but can't put into words to explain (things that are currently ineffable). For example, everyone ...
- 151
3
votes
3
answers
200
views
What is Alethic Nihilism?
I recently came across this reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/15chen5/comment/jtwnkkw/
I think it has something to do with denying the truth predicate without denying the ...
- 151
2
votes
1
answer
301
views
Are there any arguments that show the genus-species distinction does not work?
I would be grateful if someone tried to answer the question above. What are some arguments that show that genus-species relation does not correctly describe the world, that it is not a correct ...
- 686
0
votes
2
answers
76
views
Computer Graphics Imagery (CGI) & Modality (Possibility)
The trend is obvious ... CGI is here to stay. Many movies wouldn't stand a chance in the box office sans computer generated images and I don't mean just the slew of superhero movies (DC & Marvel ...
- 3,204
3
votes
5
answers
166
views
Do mental events ever cause anything? Or are they merely effects?
When I seem to decide to move my arm, is it my “mental decision” causing this, or is the “mental decision” simply an after effect, a signature of sort in consciousness that occurs after physical ...
- 8,288
0
votes
4
answers
113
views
What's the meaning and roots of the notion of "fault"?
This may sound naive and I'm not a native english speaker, but recently I've started wondering what people really mean by the notion of "fault", for example in the context of saying "it'...
- 156
2
votes
1
answer
163
views
How might Western Metaphysicists respond to the puzzle of King Milinda/Nagasena’s Chariot
Example of the puzzle
How might Western Philosophers like Mereologcial Universalists or naturalistic metaphysicians reply to this?
- 329
1
vote
1
answer
95
views
Matter and form vs. noumena and phenomena
Aristotle says that the objects of experience are made up of matter which has taken up a form. This can be understood in a fairly unremarkable sense: in a statue of Aphrodite, the matter is marble, ...
- 7,598
2
votes
4
answers
130
views
If I use arguments to justify my belief in the existence of other minds, do I have to abandon the theory of mind?
If I use IBE arguments (the best explanation argument) or phenomenal conservatism to justify my belief in the existence of other minds, do I have to ignore theory of mind? That is, I should abandon ...
- 121
0
votes
0
answers
34
views
Plato's forms - sparse realism and scope of forms
Was Plato a sparse realist about universals? (because "Carve nature at its joints")
And did he think everyday human made objects and social kinds had forms? eg tables
Thanks
- 77
2
votes
2
answers
81
views
Are there any sources linking Schopenhauerian metaphysics (will as thing-in-itself) with our contemporary understanding of physics?
I'm especially interested if there are any attempts at reconciling Schopenhauer's metaphysical will with the seeming indeterministic nature of quantum physics. Thank you.
- 21