46 votes

Why doesn't philosophy have higher standards for its arguments?

Do you have a proof that we don't hold ourselves to higher standards? There's actually a rather interesting little corner of mathematics called "proof theory." It deals with the question of what a ...
Cort Ammon's user avatar
  • 17.5k
20 votes

When did philosophers decide philosophy was not useful, and why?

I will enlarge upon Nuclear Wang's reply by turning the question around a bit, as follows. When did natural philosophers (also known as scientists) decide that philosophy was not useful, and why? I ...
niels nielsen's user avatar
19 votes

Why doesn't philosophy have higher standards for its arguments?

If I'm understanding your question correctly, then you're basically asking "why doesn't philosophy have the same level of rigor as mathematical proof?" I think there's two parts involved in ...
virmaior's user avatar
  • 24.6k
18 votes

Would philosophy be useless if there were a box of answers?

Since it was more for less settled that metaphysical questions can't be settled and moral statements are not factual ("is-ought" problem), the job of modern philosophy is mostly to study the ...
armand's user avatar
  • 5,133
17 votes

Why isn't the dictum "something can't come from nothing" a matter of consensus?

I disagree with your assertion that physics has nothing to say about this. There was a time when "nothing" was thought of as a box with no contents. Then it was discovered that it contained ...
niels nielsen's user avatar
15 votes

Should I trust my own thoughts when studying philosophy?

No infinite is less than the other There are actually a wild variety of infinities. See eg Strange but True: Infinity Comes in Different Sizes for an introduction. For a more in-depth picture of ...
CriglCragl's user avatar
  • 20.5k
15 votes

Is philosophy bad for you (if taken too literally)?

Can particular kinds of philosophising have disastrous consequences? Yes, and sometimes they have. Especially when they have been the motivation for extreme political movements. Can philosophising ...
Bumble's user avatar
  • 22.9k
14 votes
Accepted

Are there philosophical theories that are either confirmed or refuted by the majority of experts?

Yes, there are many "philosophical theories" that have been refuted by the majority of experts. An obvious example is Thales identification of "water" as the irreducible substance. Many pre-Socratic "...
Nelson Alexander's user avatar
14 votes
Accepted

How is Philosophy related to Science?

I find it useful to approach this question from the bottom up. You made a philosophical argument: My argument is that there is no way to deny the sure success of the sciences (like Physics, ...
Cort Ammon's user avatar
  • 17.5k
14 votes

Why doesn't philosophy have higher standards for its arguments?

Philosophical theories are more like scientific theories than mathematical theories, in that they have empirical content. As such, there aren't any (universally agreed upon) "first principles" that ...
Adam Sharpe's user avatar
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14 votes

When did philosophers decide philosophy was not useful, and why?

Philosophy became more limited in scope during the 19th century. In the time of the ancient Greeks, philosophy encompassed all forms of knowledge, but specialized subfields of physics, medicine, ...
Nuclear Hoagie's user avatar
14 votes

When did philosophers decide philosophy was not useful, and why?

In the old joke, a college president complains to his physics professors that they are always asking for expensive equipment. All the mathematics teachers need is pencil, paper, a wastebasket, he says,...
Nelson Alexander's user avatar
13 votes

Are there philosophical theories that are either confirmed or refuted by the majority of experts?

A problem in your question has to do with the concept of refutation and confirmation. If you think of refutation as empirical refutation, then trivially, only empirical sciences refute hypothesis. ...
Quentin Ruyant's user avatar
13 votes
Accepted

What is the distinction between mysticism and metaphysics?

Per Russell's "mysticism and logic", the difference between mysticism and logic (He uses the term logic as a tag for reason and the scientific method in general) is purely epistemic. They are two ...
Alexander S King's user avatar
13 votes

Does philosophy rely on intuitions? If so, does this mean all of philosophy is nothing more than hunches?

Does philosophy rely on intuition? Yes. Does that mean it is nothing more than hunches? No. To conclude so would be the rather elementary fallacy of composition: The fallacy of composition is an ...
J D's user avatar
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12 votes

Should I trust my own thoughts when studying philosophy?

Intuition Is Important in Philosophy However, I am scared to trust my own thoughts lest my ideas are erroneous. Well, coming from a place of fear is a bit irrational since the stakes don't seem to ...
J D's user avatar
  • 23k
10 votes
Accepted

What is the argument for Heidegger's claim that philosophy can only be done in Greek and German?

First, I want to mention an important rule (which of course has caveats), but the accuracy with which a philosopher writes about the history of philosophy is in general inversely proportional to their ...
virmaior's user avatar
  • 24.6k
10 votes

Why doesn't philosophy have higher standards for its arguments?

A proof is only as strong as the axioms it is built upon. Mathematics works over a very limited number of strong axioms to work with, which gives it a limited number* of things that can be proven, but ...
Tomáš Zato's user avatar
10 votes

Why doesn't philosophy have higher standards for its arguments?

Because it would then cease to be philosophy. Philosophy sees itself as the progenitor of all the sciences, as its questions lead to the paradigm shifts upon which branches of science are founded. ...
Carduus's user avatar
  • 353
10 votes

Would philosophy be useless if there were a box of answers?

Such a box cannot exist To begin with a bit of a story. At the end of the 19th century the mathematician Frege was developing a theory which could be used as a basis of all of mathematics. This ...
Sriotchilism O'Zaic's user avatar
10 votes

What is the difference between western and other philosophies?

Western philosophy (as commonly understood) is a set of philosophical systems originating in the Middle East and Europe that are heavily influenced by biblical hermeneutics (talmudic argumentation) ...
Ted Wrigley's user avatar
  • 18.5k
10 votes

Why isn't the dictum "something can't come from nothing" a matter of consensus?

Because "something can't come from nothing" leads to infinite regress/explanatory failure when you ask the question, "Where did things come from?" We will assume that "...
user3067860's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

How to implement the so called 'principle of charity'?

You are right that reading means interpreting, and we can never be sure that we did not misinterpret the author's intentions. But it is as with any human endeavor, we are fallible. The principle of ...
Conifold's user avatar
  • 42.5k
9 votes

Is arguing pro choice because "a woman has the right to control her body" invalid?

I don't think it's the best argument for someone on the pro choice side (apart from being useful at persuading others perhaps). The reason I don't think it's a very strong argument (and I'm pro-...
Franz's user avatar
  • 483
9 votes

What is the logical distinction between “the same” and “equal to?”

Non sequitur I'll go off of the example in the comments, namely “One dollar” = “money” : “Nickel” = “money.” Therefore, “one dollar” = “nickel.” This is non sequitur - there's no logical reason to ...
Peteris's user avatar
  • 1,269
9 votes

Should I trust my own thoughts when studying philosophy?

The irony of your question is that you ultimately decide who or what you trust. If you don't trust your thoughts, then you trust your thought that your (other) thoughts aren't trustworthy. If you ...
CJ Dennis's user avatar
  • 289
8 votes
Accepted

Is it thought that analytic philosophy is in decline after the linguistic turn?

Good overviews of the more recent history of analytic philosophy are Burge's Philosophy of Language and Mind: 1950-1990 and Philosophy of Mind: 1950-2000 (ch.20), the philosophy of science side in a ...
Conifold's user avatar
  • 42.5k
8 votes

Is philosophy about organizing our ignorance?

"A man might say, with enough truth to justify a joke: 'Science is what we know, and philosophy is what we don’t know.'" -Bertrand Russell “Philosophy for Laymen” Universities Quarterly 1 (Nov 1946), ...
MmmHmm's user avatar
  • 2,401

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