New answers tagged epistemology
1
vote
Do Gödel's incompleteness theorems and Tarski's theorem of indefinability of truth show we can never discover and prove every truth?
Descartes applied his Evil Demon to mathematics. He wonders whether a God of deception may have "brought it about that I too go wrong every time I add two and three or count the sides of a square,...
- 191
1
vote
Can philosophy be useful?
Philosophy plays in the humanities and social studies essentially the same role that logic, mathematics, formal systems and notation play in the exact sciences — the role of a research language for ...
- 11
0
votes
What is the relationship between philosophy and science?
From mythos (gods, spirits, demons, etc.) to logos (Philosophy, aka The Greek Miracle, ironic that!)
From philosophy to natural philosophy, characterized by an ever increasing role for mathematics (...
- 3,206
0
votes
Why is it impossible to predict or foresee the future but, if we could, what is the closest method to do so
Why is it impossible to predict or foresee the future but, if we could, what is the closest method to do so.
It's not impossible. Every gambler in a Casino predicts a future. Its a localized future ...
2
votes
Can philosophy be useful?
Philosophy explores the fundamental questions of the human condition.
What are we? Why are we here? What can we know about ourselves and about our surroundings? How do we think at all, how can we ...
- 1,614
4
votes
Can philosophy be useful?
What is useful to one person might be useless to another. So my reading of the question is: "Can philosophy be useful to me?"
Generally, when someone asks this question, it is because one ...
- 1,827
4
votes
Can philosophy be useful?
The question refers to the essay Everything of value is useful: How
philosophy can be socially relevant by the contemporary
philosopher Hans Radder.
Radders main thesis
As a discipline, philosophy is ...
- 24.4k
1
vote
Are atomic particles abstract objects?
Atomic physicist here. This is more philosophy-speak than I'm used to. But your claim that atoms are "scrutable" and therefore "abstract"... for whatever all that means, seems to ...
- 191
13
votes
Can philosophy be useful?
Absolutely.
I think especially in the realms of the personal, but also in the social and scientific as you've said.
For a start, being a theist and Catholic, I will of course have to point to how ...
- 528
0
votes
What is the relationship between philosophy and science?
Science has grown out of philosophy. Physics is still called natural philosophy in some ancient universities. Philosophy continues to spawn new scientific fields. Classical philosophy is founded on ...
- 1,972
2
votes
Will artificial intelligence lead to experimental philosophy?
AI and experimental philosophy are already in motion. This SEP article talks about the multidisciplinary scholars who engage in an experimental approach to philosophy. An example of this is BDI ...
- 22.9k
-1
votes
Will artificial intelligence lead to experimental philosophy?
I believe that the Google AI machine will try to convert all milk of the world into ice cream, so that kids all over the world would have enough of it, forever. On the other hand, we people with our &...
- 1,680
1
vote
Antiknowledge (as epistemic antigraphs)
Building on the idea of the role of doubt, put forward by Thinkingman, I wonder if there is a meaningful parallel with certain methods in formal options analysis. When deciding between a number of ...
- 13.4k
0
votes
How far can the concept of realism be extended?
I think that the concept of realism has to change in the context of panpsychism. If the fundamental stuff of the universe is matter-consciousness, then reality is by definition dependent on ...
- 1,972
1
vote
Can private experiences justify private belief in supernaturalism?
Is it ever rational or justified to believe in the supernatural on the basis of private experiences (of the kind for which publicly accessible evidence can hardly be produced)?
Anyone who is utterly ...
- 179
0
votes
What is the basis of the sunk cost fallacy?
Is the so called sunk cost fallacy truly a total fallacy, or does it have some kernel of truth? Certainly it is a widespread instinctive/impulsive form of reasoning.
Gambling addiction is an ...
1
vote
Order/disorder and complexity
Classically, the world was thought to divide into a binary of orderly-and-simple (squares, circles, Greek architecture) and chaotic-and-complex (the ocean, the weather, war). But we now have a more ...
- 27.1k
2
votes
What is the basis of the sunk cost fallacy?
There are situations where you have the choice: Either admit that you made a costly mistake or spend more money on the mistake.
If admitting a mistake is a cost to my reputation and the cost of ...
- 5,243
0
votes
Chaos vs statistical mechanics vs complexity science
Nonlinear dynamics is a field of mathematics with applications to physical science which is concerned with predicting the behavior of equations which exhibit large changes in the output values for ...
- 3,525
4
votes
Chaos vs statistical mechanics vs complexity science
As far as I understand it, I think chaos theory basically says:
There are some functions that depend so strongly on their initial conditions, that a very small difference in the initial conditions ...
- 573
1
vote
What is the basis of the sunk cost fallacy?
From a scientific stance, I think it is a form of "good enough" reasoning, which confers an evolutionary advantage. From a philosophical point of view, I do not consider it a fallacy. There ...
- 1,972
1
vote
Chaos vs statistical mechanics vs complexity science
Chaos denotes confusion, randomness and the apparent absence of any kind of order. Complexity suggests multiple effects and components interacting in a way that is difficult or impossible to fathom- ...
- 13.4k
2
votes
Chaos vs statistical mechanics vs complexity science
A basic concept in this field is the concept of “deterministic chaos”.
The well-known Mandelbrot set shows those complex numbers c where the iteration of the simple quadratic function f(z):= z^2+c ...
- 24.4k
0
votes
Can someone explain to me what a contingent fact is?
Considering, of course, that the expression "nothing can explain why" is based on the access to an infinite knowledge of the past, the present, and the future. That said, I would quote an ...
0
votes
Can private experiences justify private belief in supernaturalism?
Well, some things are meant to be subjective ; no-one can tell you whether your love for someone is rational or not; love is supernatural after all, perhaps life too. It's what YOU believe that counts ...
- 1,680
0
votes
Can private experiences justify private belief in supernaturalism?
There can't be a black and white answer. It depends on the nature of the statement believed, your standards of justification, and whether you judge they have been met. For example, millions of people ...
- 13.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Can private experiences justify private belief in supernaturalism?
It is important to discriminate between certainty and knowledge. Certainty is a subjective feeling, which can be highly convincing for oneself. Knowledge requires the ability to give supporting ...
- 24.4k
-1
votes
What is the best reference for understanding inductive theories of knowledge?
By focusing only in the way scientific knowledge is obtained and specifically in our times, I can't see how someone can deviate far from @Jo Wehler's sceptical approach towards inductive reasoning ...
- 1,680
-1
votes
Is science possible in a world where a god acts?
Science is only possible in a world where GOD acts -- there simply is no other source of order to the laws of physics.
However, since YHVH is ancient, these acts occur rarely. So this allows science ...
- 739
-1
votes
What is the best reference for understanding inductive theories of knowledge?
I’m sceptical that scientific knowledge can come from induction, at
all.
Induction may serve as a heuristic. But induction - to conclude
from finitely-many cases to infinitely many cases, or to ...
- 24.4k
1
vote
To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's own subjective experiences?
This is an extremely straightforward application of Bayes' theorem.
Suppose we give prior values to:
The probability P(H) that person A has an hallucination (using what we know about A, or what we ...
- 573
1
vote
To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's own subjective experiences?
Strictly speaking, intersubjective agreement is in-and-of-itself a personal subjective experience, and is therefore not entirely trustworthy.
In short; intersubjective agreement isn't a foolproof way ...
- 528
-1
votes
What is the relation between idealism and science?
Idealism - at it's most general form - is a class of nonconventional (relative to mainstream science) views, that a system is something more that the sum of its parts. It comes in many flavors and ...
- 1,680
1
vote
Are atomic particles abstract objects?
One way to approach the scrutability issue is by appealing to the role of encoding-vs.-exemplifying in one modern characterization of abstract objects. If we say that an object is abstract when it has ...
- 12k
2
votes
To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's own subjective experiences?
Trust or distrust is a subjective experience. It arises both in the presence and in the absence of intersubjective agreement. Justification efforts sometimes arise alongside the trust or distrust in ...
- 644
4
votes
To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's own subjective experiences?
There should always be some room for skepticism, even in the face of high intersubjective agreement.
For example, there are many common optical illusions, which most people mis-interpret (even if you ...
- 1,148
4
votes
To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's own subjective experiences?
To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's subjective experiences?
There's no convention by which one can answer this question across all societies....
- 22.9k
4
votes
To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's own subjective experiences?
I just watched a Star Trek episode in which someone says "I know this, trust me". The captain immediately swings into action, because he knows the person and trusts their judgement. In the ...
- 1,972
5
votes
Accepted
To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's own subjective experiences?
Intersubjective agreement isn't required at all, strictly speaking. But it does help.
For one particular topic, if we grant that some reasonable portion of humans are rational, it suggests that those ...
- 5,580
1
vote
Accepted
What do philosophers think about the beauty?
According to ancient greeks like Aristotle, beauty was measurable with symmetry;other philosoper like Freud speculates also that the sense of beauty has its roots in sexual stimulation and principally ...
0
votes
Are atomic particles abstract objects?
I may be struggling to appreciate nuances of your suggestion, but it seems to me that even in the treatment of macroscopic phenomena physicists tend to abstract general relationships and identify them ...
- 13.4k
0
votes
Are atomic particles abstract objects?
According to your quote from SEP there are several different
attempts to distinguish abstract objects from concrete objects.
You define “abstract := scrutable” (= open to being understood),
and you ...
- 24.4k
1
vote
Are atomic particles abstract objects?
Are you asking about fundamental particles? Perhaps they are functions rather than objects? Why cannot they be concrete objects? Or a composite? I am afraid that the intent of your question is unclear ...
- 1,972
1
vote
Are atomic particles abstract objects?
A very detailed analysis of what you are asking (in fact the whole book is about this) is written by one of the protagonists - Heisenberg - in his book "Physics and Philosophy". Just a quote ...
- 1,680
0
votes
Is science based on David Hume's "A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence"?
The short answer is yes. Hume is correct. I would recommend Karl Popper on the philosophy of science. He proposed that scientific hypotheses should be falsifiable, not verifiable. This diverges from ...
- 1,972
2
votes
Is science based on David Hume's "A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence"?
If you're interested in how science in general has changed, Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a must read. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Wikipedia. In it, the term "...
- 21
1
vote
Is Bhaskar's argument, that epistemology and ontology are separate, correct?
The point is that we necessarily experience, understand and know the world from a human perspective. There is a difference in principle between how things are and how we suppose they are, since our ...
- 13.4k
2
votes
Is the hallucination hypothesis always the best explanation?
There is a very powerful symmetry breaker- reality is experienced in broadly the same way by billions of other people. If you have an everyday experience, the idea that it might be an hallucination is ...
- 13.4k
1
vote
Is the hallucination hypothesis always the best explanation?
In an interconnected world , where consciousness of individuals are connected, it is possible to verify the subjective experience. Science has some understanding of the concept of interconnectedness. ...
- 1,841
1
vote
Is the hallucination hypothesis always the best explanation?
The difference is simple. Many people in this world share the same subjective experience. In the case of A, many people do not share that person’s subjective experience.
If everyone claims to share ...
- 8,282
Top 50 recent answers are included