Notice the bit where we can chose between realism and antirealsim? That's my suggestion for the answer to the OP. That the choice between realism and antirealism is a choice about how we talk about stuff, not a debate about metaphysical actualities. — Banno

I asked Nagase once how Davidson's stuff squares with realism vs antirealism, and he said that stuff gets tacked on later by personal biases. :up:

I agree. Whether it's property exchange or information exchange, community confidence is necessary. That confidence is engineered. It's one part technology and one part social practice. Time in use proves and reinforces the value of the strategy, whatever it is. A sentence is a piece of technology.

Cool :up:

Are you serious?

But there are models available to predict this — Benkei

Where? I've been looking into this for a while because I've been exposed countless times and never got it. I'd like to know if someone has done some substantial work on it.

What do you mean, we don't know how it works? — Benkei

If pre-pandemic, you had an infection with one of the old coronaviruses, what are your chances of having resistance to one of the COVID-19 strains? If you had a flu shot, what are your chances? — frank

How is that a mystery? — Benkei

Unfortunately, we don't know how it works. If pre-pandemic, you had an infection with one of the old coronaviruses, what are your chances of having resistance to one of the COVID-19 strains? If you had a flu shot, what are your chances? We don't know because that data isn't available.

"At least six studies have reported T cell reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 in 20% to 50% of people with no known exposure to the virus." -- BMJ

With Germans, it's 1/3. In the middle of the epidemic everyone (including German doctors) wondered why Germany was having an easier time with the pandemic. A few speculated native immunity, which seemed nuts at the time because how would they have ever been exposed to this virus? Now we have a mystery to solve because it's confirmed that a significant portion of the human population is naturally resistant to COVID19.

That information comes from climatologists, the same ones who say we're already in AGW.

Consider that question for a moment, and then tell me again how it's the bare sentence and not the use made of it that matters. — Srap Tasmaner

You can have a Davidsonian theory of meaning where the meaning of a sentence is it's truth conditions. That takes care of use. The truth bearer is still just the sentence.

True or false?

I'll do worse next time.

Once again what looks like metaphysics is a choice of language. — Banno

Right. I mentioned earlier that worldview (or hinge propositions) are in play regarding dinosaur truths. It's not something that gets worked out logically.

But also the language we use about time can use some influence from physics.

The wouldn't you need an interpretation of the interpretation? — Banno

Usually we can pick out the meaning of an utterance from context. If we can't, we can ask. For instance if Bill is looking at a global weather Doppler and says, "It's raining.". We can ask him: where?

Yep. Take it as a warning not to try to answer that question via your homegrown intuitions.

Seeing as he doesn't provide an answer, that's pretty sad. But also probably accurate. — Banno

He's not an evangelizer, he walks you through what physicists know about the topic, sort of like a flow chart. Toward the end of the video he addresses what path you have to go down in order to avoid solipsism and maintain a materialist stance. Yes, there's some philosophy in there, but that's just the nature of the topic.

I'll not watch the video. — Banno

That's fine. He's one of the best sources for questions about physics. You're missing out.

What leads you to believe I didn't watch the video? — Janus

Sorry, the point was that there are a number of options for answering the question about propositions regarding the future.

But where and how does it say that? — Banno

Watch the video. He's an American, but he sounds Australian, so it should be easy in your ears. He's a physics professor in NY.

What is it that you think the video shows? It doesn't appear to provide an answer to the titular question... — Banno

The question about whether there are unknown true propositions about the future. The answer is: probably.

I understand the idea that there is no universal now. No obsevers see time in reverse though do they? — Janus

No. If you don't want to watch the video, you can read the transcript by clicking on the title and scrolling down to where it says "transcript."

Einstein says the order of events depends on the observer's frame of reference.

I :heart: S. Korea

So you take him literally, but not seriously. As opposed to taking him seriously, but not literally. — Banno

I take the voters seriously. This is no longer a country where belief in democracy prevails.

Trump as Pompey, not Caesar. Maybe. — Banno

More like Moe from the Three Stooges.

Well, it's not looking good, at the hands of "the patriot of the year".

A shame for the US, but democracy may thrive elsewhere. — Banno

Trump is just there to avoid prison. It's his VP who's worth watching. He's younger, smarter, and opposed to Enlightenment values. For real.

Sentences are true and cardboard boxes have 8 corners. Your claim that sentences merely express (abstract) propositions and that it is these (abstract) propositions that are true is like the claim that cardboard boxes merely exemplify cubes and that it is these abstract cubes that have 8 corners. — Michael

Sentences are also abstract objects. But you can adopt behaviorism and truth anti-realism, which says the truth predicate just serves a social function. Why are you opposed to those options?

it will be interesting to learn, over the next few years, if the institutions that underpin democracy are as strong in the USA as in South Korea. — Banno

I can already tell you the answer to that: nope.

am assuming you mean Mark Twain didn't study metaethics, normative ethics, nor applied ethics: in fact, I don't believe they existed as defined areas of ethics back then (given that it came along with Analytic Philosophy). More importantly, I am noting what is necessary to provide a treaties, an analytic proper, in ethics and not what is best for works of (american) literature. What is most convincing to people (politically), is certainly not a robust and rigid analysis of ethics. — Bob Ross

Thanks for taking care of that. You're doing a great job. :up:

I don't know, Huckleberry Finn never studied meta-ethics.

If we uploaded your consciousness to a self repairing robot and checked back in 10,000 years from now and asked you about the sentence thing, we'd find your view had not changed at all. Gotta respect that.

How is it not putting the cart before the horse to talk about this being good, or thinking about if this would be good and how it would be, before the metaphysics of goodness? — Bob Ross

Because morality is a road you walk. You fall, you get up, you learn, you try again. You learn what it feels like to be forgiven, how it's like being 10 feet tall. You come to see how bitterness twists your soul, but you don't know how to stop. And so on, and on.

The metaphysics of morality doesn't enhance the journey too much, does it?

:up:

@Pierre-Normand

Hi! If you have a second, you could explain the difference between sentences and propositions for us?

Sometimes I use the word "sentence" rather than "proposition" — Michael

Even after reading the SEP article? I give up.

I didn't mention propositions. — Michael

You did formerly. I told you that you weren't using the word correctly, we debated that, you persisted in referring to sentence-propositions, which isn't a thing, now you realize you shouldn't use that particular word.

No need to even mention propositions. Using that word will only cause confusion.

I wasn't: I was advocating that everyone is giving the OP an incorrect starting position, which was whatever the responder thought is chiefly good (or good). — Bob Ross

I didn't do that.

Sentences are also abstract objects.

If you believe goodness is innate knowledge, then why did you campaign to have people explain what it is?