95
votes
Why do some people care so much about "empirical truth"?
Neither Harris nor Hitchens dismiss or ridicule non-empirical philosophy itself. Harris, in particular, calls himself a philosopher and studies Eastern religions and similar traditions. What they ...
- 1,585
58
votes
What is the difference (if any) between "not true" and "false"?
"p is false" implies "p is not true", but not vice verse because p can also be nonsense.
"2 + 2 = 5" is both false and not true.
"2 + 2 > red" is neither true nor false because it is nonsense.
If ...
- 2,178
57
votes
Accepted
Is "This sentence is written in English" nonsense?
"This sentence" is an indexical term. An indexical is a term like "I", "today", or "this city" where the reference of the term depends on the context of the ...
- 7,444
50
votes
Accepted
Why do I accept some inconsequential claims as "obviously true" without evidence? E.g. "Most people don't like to be hit on the head with a hammer."
First, because they are "inconsequential". Nothing hangs on it for you, there is no need to act on them and accept the consequences also, it is a "cheap", easily swayable "acceptance". But this still ...
- 42.5k
35
votes
Is mathematics truth? As in the sense of that which is manifest or possible in reality?
Ill formed question. Mathematics (specifically, logics) define what truth is. You are trying to test the validity of the tool with the tool itself. The answer would be a plain "yes". Otherwise (if you ...
- 6,831
33
votes
Is every sentence we write or utter either true or false?
Various candidates would be:
self-referential sentences such as
"This sentence is false."
opinion-based sentences such as
"Chocolate is the most delicious ice cream flavor."
sentences where the ...
- 2,490
33
votes
Why do I accept some inconsequential claims as "obviously true" without evidence? E.g. "Most people don't like to be hit on the head with a hammer."
These are simple conclusions from inductive reasoning.
I don't like it when I hit my thumb with a hammer.
I don't like it when I hit my head on something.
Even though I haven't been hit on the head ...
- 1,767
25
votes
Accepted
Does every truth have to be provable based on evidence?
The answer is a point of contention between realism and anti-realism. Truths that "do not have evidence" are termed verification-transcendent truths (coined by Dummett), and realists are committed to ...
- 42.5k
21
votes
Is mathematics truth? As in the sense of that which is manifest or possible in reality?
I think it is a mistake to assume that there exists something like a context-independent notion of truth.
Let me explain what I mean with the context dependence of truth.
Consider the following ...
- 1,511
17
votes
Why do some people care so much about "empirical truth"?
I agree with the comment of @Philip Klöcking concerning the success story of empiricism in science. Apparently philosophy is not based on experience, in particular it is not based on observation. But ...
- 23.8k
17
votes
Why do some people care so much about "empirical truth"?
It is not just that empiricism works, and in 300 years has brought us from semaphore lines to global high speed interconnects, or that non-empiricism is a fervent breeding ground for falsehoods and ...
- 399
16
votes
What is the difference (if any) between "not true" and "false"?
In the classical logic something is neither true nor false if it is grammatically malformed to have a truth value, so 2+5 or "x is blue" are not "true", but not "false" either, they are not truth-apt. ...
- 42.5k
16
votes
Is mathematics truth? As in the sense of that which is manifest or possible in reality?
Despite some claims, the Cartesian myth that math is independent of physical reality is arguably false. Mathematics is NOT independent of the physical systems which embody it. Physical systems are ...
- 22.7k
16
votes
Is every sentence we write or utter either true or false?
The OP asks the following:
Can I write or utter any sentence which is neither false nor true?
Yes. An example would be Tomorrow I will rise at precisely 6 am. That sentence today is neither true nor ...
- 19.2k
14
votes
Is mathematics truth? As in the sense of that which is manifest or possible in reality?
tl;dr: Yes to pragmatists; no to everybody else: For them, mathematics is about correctness, not about truth.
While it is true that mathematics obviously was — and, perhaps less obviously, ...
- 1,594
14
votes
Is "This sentence is written in English" nonsense?
This sentence is written in english.
Cette phrase est écrite en anglais.
These are different sentences; they have different words to each other. An accurate translation of the first sentence into ...
- 1,810
13
votes
Is there a difference between believing something and behaving as if it were true?
Is there a difference between believing something and behaving as if it were true?
Yes, and the distinction is recognized in epistemic terminology.
Truth that is actually or really true is generally ...
- 22.7k
12
votes
Why is belief necessary for justified true belief?
Your (1) and (2) are not enough. Here is an example: suppose I have excellent reasons to believe that the earth is round (I've seen photos, listened to lectures, etc.), and that it is in fact true ...
- 6,456
12
votes
Is every sentence we write or utter either true or false?
Is every sentence we write or utter either true or false?
NO. A sentence is "a textual unit consisting of one or more words that are grammatically linked. [... The] words [are] grouped meaningfully ...
- 36.1k
12
votes
Why do I accept some inconsequential claims as "obviously true" without evidence? E.g. "Most people don't like to be hit on the head with a hammer."
Maybe not so much a philosophical / logic-based argument, but in science there is a very helpful principle that most reasonable people (not only scientists) seem to have internalized:
Extraordinary ...
- 280
12
votes
Is to be able to describe something to be able to judge that it's true or not?
I think your questions seem to have the common denominator of trying to apply the straitjacket of logic to everyday speech. When we say 'unicorns have four legs' it is an idiomatic shorthand for ...
- 12.9k
11
votes
Accepted
Is there a way to avoid Gödel's incompleteness affecting mathematics as a whole?
It is a natural idea, but unfortunately the answer is no, it is not feasible. The root of incompleteness is not numbers, but the possibility of (implicit) self-reference, arithmetic is just the ...
- 42.5k
10
votes
Is finding truth possible?
You've stumbled upon an old problem in philosophy, The Paradox of Inquiry, first formulated in Plato's Meno.
The problem can be reformulated as follows:
Either you know the answer to a question, or ...
- 6,456
10
votes
How is Wittgenstein’s “notorious paragraph” about the Gödel's Theorem not obviously correct?
Timm Lampert, cited by the OP, quotes Wittgenstein (§8 of Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics, Appendix 3):
‘True in Russell’s system’ means, as was said: proved in Russell’s system; and ‘...
- 19.2k
10
votes
Is mathematics truth? As in the sense of that which is manifest or possible in reality?
“You can’t have i apples”
As @Conifold points out you cannot even have
√2 apples.
I'd go further.
Can you have -2 apples ⅓ apples?
I'd say (from a certain pov) no.
All physics is based on ...
- 1,401
10
votes
Accepted
Is it consistent to say "X is possible but false"?
Well, in English you would use the subjunctive tense and say, "possibly I could have had a cat in my room, but in fact I do not." That's a reasonable statement to make. "I could have ...
- 11.1k
9
votes
Accepted
What is the current state of the Correspondence Theory of Truth?
First, correspondence theories of truth are generally associated with realism, not idealism. The point of a correspondence theory is that there is a correspondence between mental or linguistic ...
- 5,830
8
votes
Why is belief necessary for justified true belief?
According to Eric Schwitzgebel,
Contemporary analytic philosophers of mind generally use the term “belief” to refer to the attitude we have, roughly, whenever we take something to be the case or ...
- 19.2k
8
votes
Accepted
How to disprove "I'm entitled to my opinion"
Welcome to this SE, Daniel. I think the problem with the argument is what you are trying to prove:
how can I disprove that there exists an inherent privilege (an entitlement) to believe whatever ...
- 19.2k
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