• If you were asked to address Climate Change from your philosophical beliefs how would you talk about
    Climate change, together with the Anthropocene extinction, is the Tragedy of the Commons writ large. [...]Banno

    Yeap (y)

    , I'd just refer to the scientists that study such things, and then perhaps ask: What's the worst that can happen if we (try to) do something about it? And weighed against the risks of doing nothing?
  • Qualia and Quantum Mechanics
    It doesn't seem that quantum mechanics can downright bridge the gap (Levine, Chalmers).
    How would that work?
    Suppose, for the sake of argument, that the model could.
    Would we then have downright disproven solipsism, be able to determine that someone/thing is self-aware, have "redness" (the experience) somehow fall out of a mathematical equation, ...?

    On the other hand, I suppose quantum mechanics might provide some additional insights or (correlative) explanations.
    Perhaps like psychology/iatry, biology (and evolution), neurology, etc.
    And such insights surely remain worthwhile in their own right; "mysterious'ism" is hardly a goal onto itself in this context.
  • Hard problem of consciousness is hard because...
    Regarding the post above...
    Sample reasoning:

    1. think of rocks, small and large, different shapes, multicolored and dull-colored
    2. individual specimens of basalt, marble, limestone, etc
    3. they're all rocks, but their physicals are different, and they're not the same rock
    4. therefore rock is different to any physical rock (independent thereof)

    What arranged the rock exercise?

    • going through the exercise above requires thinking
    • there are numerous naturally occurring rocks that are all rock

    What to make of this stuff, @Wayfarer ...?
    Populating Platonia? Hypostatization? ...?
  • An Argument Against Realism
    the absurd statement “knowing makes no difference to what is known.”PessimisticIdealism

    You grandparent was born that year.
    How does you knowing or not make any difference to that?
  • Exploring analytical philosophy with Banno
    Isn't the philosophical verbiage (meandering) a bit misleading here?
    Perception depends on the perceived either way.

    oczns6a1whrabwfr.jpg
  • A listing of existents
    Yes you can miss existents, and that's the point of one of my objections.Metaphysician Undercover

    Of course you will miss some, most actually, but not all.
    You can't miss examples thereof.

    Fundamental particles are supposed to be existents, and I don't encounter them ever.Metaphysician Undercover

    So, that's moving into exactly what various things are, not merely that they are.
    Different inquiries. Merely "exist" is the latter.

    There may also be all sorts of other existents which human beings haven't encountered, and may not even be encounterable to us. It is a mistake to define "existents", as things which are evident to me, or even to us.Metaphysician Undercover

    Right, we don't just define the term "exist" by other terms (indefinite regress / circularity).
    Whatever exists altogether has no complement anyway.

    So, how's this for a provisional description then? Existence has no complement, and whatever exists is part thereof.
  • A listing of existents
    3) Process. The question arises if things are existent that require a length of time, that in less than which time they do not exist. But processes clearly exist, so it would appear that things exist within some bounds that do not exist outside of those bounds. I think that's interesting.tim wood

    Maybe this is a bit better, or at least closer to what I was on about ...

    • spatial - objects (left-right, top-bottom, front-back, where)
    • temporal - processes / events / occurrences (starts-ends, comes-goes, when)

    5) self and others. I think those have got to be ideas/mental constructs.tim wood

    What I was thinking at the time was just the partitions rendered by (ontological) self-identity / individuation versus whatever else (other).
    But maybe that's not so relevant here. Nevermind, "these are not the droids you're looking for".
  • A listing of existents
    Don't we need a definition of what it means to "exist" before we can proceed with an inquiry like this?Metaphysician Undercover

    I'm not sure that insisting on such a definition is fruitful (or feasible).
    If you insist on defining the term "exist" by other terms, then you've just taken a step towards indefinite regress or you end up with circularities.
    I mean, you can't really miss existents, and there's not much of a complement to contrast with.
    "Exist" is fairly basic, and categorizing different sorts of "existents" seems more fruitful, like @tim wood has been doing.
    For example, I'd say both reality and fictions exist, it's just that fictions aren't real.
    Besides, we use such terms, and that use (in whatever context) gives them common meaning.
  • A listing of existents
    Some of the typical categories that seems to come up regularly ...

    real and fictional
    maybe existentially mind-independent and mind-dependent (qualia?)
    spatial (left to right, top to bottom, front to back) and process (starts and ends, comes and goes)
    interactees and interaction (and transformation)
    self (indexicals) and other
    particulars (examples) and generals (abstractions)
    maps and territories (models and evidence)

    ... or some such like.
  • Unanswerable question about human origins.
    A general theory of everything (not just the unification thing) — a model — would have something like a one-to-one mapping with the world.
    If we had such a model, then the model (cf map) would be a proper part of the world (cf territory).
    That is, the model would be a proper part of what it models, and the model would also model itself.
    I think this would lead to a fractal'ish infinite sort of structure, which may not be impossible, just odd.
    (By "proper part" I mean wholly included in the world, and not identical to the whole of the world.)
  • Supernatural magic
    It was Meinongianism I was thinking of.Mark Dennis

    This could turn into a long side-avenue all by itself. :)

    @Ying might have some insights on Meinong's jungle.
  • Supernatural magic
    [...] It could be God or his messenger/prophet ( :rofl: ) or Descartes' demon. I sincerely hope it's not the latter. To think of it even the former possibility is laden with difficulties.TheMadFool

    Doesn't this stuff fall under "don't know"?
  • Supernatural magic
    Give me a time Machine, a cigarette lighter, a pressurised can of flammable liquid, a gun and a hoard of modern Anti biotics and I have the power to be perceived as a god in much of the past so long as I keep everyone in the past ignorant of how I am performing these “Miracles”.Mark Dennis

    Right. This would be ignorance.


    Clarke's three laws:
    3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
  • Supernatural magic
    Magic!Wayfarer

    So (per Feynman), magic = don't know ?

    That at least confirms the argument in the opening post, then (except for the implicit baggage that magic carries around).
  • Supernatural magic
    , I guess, for the purpose here, real can be contrasted by fictional.
    So, your Harry Potter model is real, and Harry Potter is not.
  • Supernatural magic
    aware of your ignoranceOmniscientNihilist

    Let's not pretend to know what we don't. :up:

    don't know — Opening post
  • Supernatural magic
    Another gap, ?

    Levine's explanatory gap / Chalmers' consciousness conundrum is a can of worms.
    That being said, we do know things, though, both about mind and the world; appeal to supernagic seems a bit ... odd.
    We might also be able to account coherently for that gap before trying to bridge it (self-identity, individuation, ...).

    zeh9b68v0sbw9bo2.jpg
  • Supernatural magic
    Even Sauron (and telekinesis), ? :)
    What about as an explanation?
    Perpetually a tentative gap-filler, or ...?
  • Might we be able to use a machine to read the thoughts of a person?
    There has been (and is) some research/studies in these areas ...

    Brain makes decisions before you even know it (Kerri Smith; Nature; Apr 2008)
    Mind-reading program translates brain activity into words (Ian Sample; The Guardian; Jan 2012)
    Scientists Use Brain Waves To Eavesdrop On What We Hear (Peter Murray; Singularity Hub; from the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology; Feb 2012)
    Neural Decoding of Visual Imagery During Sleep (Horikawa, Tamaki, Miyawaki, Kamitani; Science AAAS; Apr 2013)
    Researcher controls colleague’s motions in 1st human brain-to-brain interface (Rajesh Rao, Andrea Stocco; University of Washington; Aug 2013)
    Brain decoding: Reading minds (Kerri Smith; Nature; Oct 2013)
    Mind-Reading Computer Instantly Decodes People’s Thoughts (Tia Ghose; LiveScience; Jan 2016)
    Device that can literally read your mind invented by scientists (Ian Johnston; The Independent; Apr 2017)
    After 15 years in a vegetative state, nerve stimulation restores consciousness (Cell Press via EurekAlert! / AAAS; Sep 2017)
    Computer system transcribes words users “speak silently” (Larry Hardesty; MIT News Office; Apr 2018)
    Amazing New Brain Map of Every Synapse Points to the Roots of Thinking (Shelly Fan; Neuron via Singularity Hub; Aug 2018)
    Our brains reveal our choices before we're even aware of them, study finds (Lachlan Gilbert; University of New South Wales; Mar 2019)
  • Ontological Argument Proving God's Existence
    Anselmian onto/logicing:

    1. Dracula is the most dangerous conceivable vampire (our definition)
    2. a real vampire is more dangerous than a fictional vampire (trivially true)
    3. if Dracula was not real, then a more dangerous vampire was conceivable (which would contradict 1)
    4. therefore Dracula is real (from the above)

    Or maybe:

    1. define Vlad as the most "vampirish" being
    2. a fictional being cannot bite and turn me, a real being can
    3. for Vlad to be the most "vampirish" being, Vlad must be able to bite and turn me
    4. therefore Vlad is the real deal, since otherwise 1 is contradicted

    Should we be concerned...? Or not...?

    cmhuws7eki77j7h4.jpg
  • The causa sui and the big bang
    fine tuningWayfarer

    Science is model → evidence convergence; evidence, observation, experimental results accumulate, and models converge thereupon. The models incorporate constants, e.g. lightspeed, elementary charge, the molar Planck constant, 3+1 dimensional spacetime.

    So, in analogy, we build a reasonably working machine (model), then wonder why changing that wee cog (constant) over there breaks the machine (model). Not just that; while attempting to generalize our assessment wholesale, we overlook what kinds of dull and wondrous machines might be built in other universes. Because we still only have a sample size of one; but that's how the fine-tuning argument proceeds nonetheless. For that matter, some religious people still claim the likes of heaven and hell, which presumably then are supposed to be other possible worlds (however anthropocentric).

    Fine-tuning comes through as a pseudo-argument, at least when based on how "fine-tuned" is sometimes used in science. Something similar holds for intelligent design arguments.

    Besides ...
    π was created and fine-tuned so we can have circles?
  • The causa sui and the big bang
    The point is that there is far greater likelihood of the magnitude of billions to oneWayfarer

    Not just that.
    Every particular was vanishingly unlikely.
    Every particular unfolding of our universe is vanishingly unlikely in the sea of possible worlds.
    Focusing particularly on life or consciousness (as we know them) is perhaps a bit anthropocentric.
  • Design, No design. How to tell the difference?
    Heat death seems orderly (to me). Fine-tuned?

    "Fine-tuned" is used in different ways by religious folk (Christian, Muslims, etc) and scientists (physicists, chemists, etc). Typical scientific definition/use:

    1. science is model → evidence convergence (evidence, observation, experimental results accumulate, and models converge thereupon)
    2. the models incorporate constants (lightspeed, elementary charge, the molar Planck constant, 3+1 dimensional spacetime)
    3. by dialing the constants in the models (like they were variables), and deriving the consequences of the models, various ranges of in/stability can be supposed
    4. additional smaller ranges are derived from the models in which life (implicitly as we know it) can presumably come about
    5. fine-tuned is (defined as) the ranges found in 3 or 4, against other mathematical values of the constants, that variables otherwise might take
    6. apart from these scientific constants, we also have mathematical constants, like π and e, that are used in scientific models

    "π was created and fine-tuned so we can have circles?" :)

    Our best models per se, suggest micro-chaos and macro-regularities (some of which are trivial). So, this is a fairly narrow definition, especially against a backdrop of possible worlds.

    Christians also posit Yahweh, to whom such laws presumably do not apply, but nonetheless is possible according to them. Muslims also posit heaven (for example) as another world. What we'd then be looking for, is an assessment of all possible worlds. Feasible?

    Maybe some see faces in the clouds, but that's not much of an argument, though.

    Wikipedia » Ramsey theory — order from chaos
    Wikipedia » Ramsey's theorem
    Wikipedia » Universality (dynamical systems) — emergence
    Wikipedia » Self-organization
    Wikipedia » Chaos theory » Spontaneous order
    Wikipedia » Texas sharpshooter fallacy:fire:
  • Procreation and the Problem of Evil
    This world is the best of them.frank

    I thought heaven was supposed to be the thing?
  • How much philosophical education do you have?
    @alcontali, it's almost like you're vaguely characterizing capitalism?

    free enterprising → $s → power → influence (conspire?) → maintain (free enterprising etc) → ...
  • The power of truth
    we all know what true isBanno

    Hey that could make for a cool-sounding adage of sorts.

    "We all know what true is, but we don't know all that is true."
  • Atheism is untenable in the 21st Century
    I view consciousness as metaphysical necessity3017amen

    How come?
    As mentioned, there are simple possible worlds without, absence thereof is hardly impossible.
    (Hence why I asked if you meant that consciousness is necessary for our world.)

    In other words, consciousness and its primacy is required or needed to understand (apprehend) all forms of necessity and necessary truths, right?3017amen

    Skipping "primacy" — to understand/apprehend, sure.
    But I wouldn't mix up belief/knowledge and truth/ontology.
    Knowledge depends on truth, not vice versa.
  • Atheism is untenable in the 21st Century
    necessary consciousness (some people say necessary Being)3017amen

    That'd be a strong bare assertion at best, incoherent at worst.

    Consciousness is not necessary in general, since there are simple possible worlds (self-consistent wholes) without. But necessities hold for all possible worlds.

    Unless you mean consciousness is necessary for our world (or you've abandoned possible world semantics of modal logic) or something?
  • Moral choice versus involuntary empathy
    , I haven't seen a youtube about it. Feel free to summarize here.

    , right. Empathy is typically involved in moral judgment.
  • Select problems with Craigian cosmology
    outside of or not bound by timeWayfarer

    Suppose x is defined as not spatial, "outside of space". Well, then obviously x is nowhere to be found. And x cannot have any extent, volume, area, length, or the likes, not even zero-dimensional (like a mathematical singularity).

    Suppose x is defined as atemporal, "outside of time". Well, then there can be no time at which x exists. And there can be no duration involved, x cannot change, or be subject to causation, cannot interact, and would be inert and lifeless.

    The closest that comes to mind is abstract objects (perhaps a variety of Platonia). (As an aside, you don't define things into existence, word magic style.)

    An object is abstract (if and) only if it is causally inefficacious. — https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/abstract-objects/

    I don't think that's what Craig has in mind for his deity. Unless ...
    time is unparsimoniously multiplied, perhaps adding ("orthogonal") temporal dimensions.jorndoe

    strictly speaking 'the transcendent' doesn't exist, as 'existence' is what 'the transcendent' is transcendent in respect toWayfarer

    Yeah, this one's yours, not heading down that rabbit hole. Not particularly coherent. Equivocating, information-free linguistic constructs.

    If Craig was to declare "Yahweh does not exist", then how would that be any different from atheism? Besides, I'm guessing his sales numbers would plummet. :)

    The fine-tuning thing is separate. Maybe a different thread?
  • Atheism is untenable in the 21st Century
    Yet another mystery...3017amen

    An argument from ignorance rather than just admitting you don't know...?
    By the way, without you first postulating theism there's nothing to discuss.
    Hence, the onus probandi is on you.
    Yet, going by ignorance isn't the best evidence/justification around.

    I will demonstrate [...] using logical inference [...] Deity3017amen
    Tick tock tick tock3017amen

    ...
  • Preacher, why should anyone take your word for it?
    Evidently, any such deity either has no messages of utmost importance for all mankind, or is not real.

    (Which, by the way, also is justified by how these faiths spread, and their places and times of emergence.)

    Would parsimony be of any use here?
  • Preacher, why should anyone take your word for it?
    the proverbial ‘truth-seeker’Wayfarer

    (y)
  • Preacher, why should anyone take your word for it?
    but there is also an enormous amount of common ground, particularly amongst the mystics of the higher religionsWayfarer

    Sure, except the majority reject such perennialism.

    Note well: 'some people don't and it cannot be helped'.Wayfarer

    The old "spiritual blindness" thing?

    We have people claiming a personal relationship with Jesus (the fellow that died ages ago, not this or this); others claiming to communicate with Shiva; Muhammad allegedly had personal sessions with Gabriel (on Allah's behalf) in a cave when by himself; for that matter, some claim to speak with extraterrestrial aliens; ...

    They're all equally sincere apparently, and claim to have important messages from others, except those others, the supposed real authorities, remain suspiciously silent.

    The peculiar situation goes further still. There are scores of professional apologists, making a living from crafting arguments to promote their particular stories and faiths. (I think Craig might be one of the more popular ones per se.) Deities neither evident nor necessary, just humans.

    If you don't see anything questionable here, if you abandon critical inquiry, then I'm not quite sure how to explicate.

    And where's Jesus? :)
  • Preacher, why should anyone take your word for it?
    You appear to be arguing for old Protestantism. You even referenced one of the old bits of Protestant dogma: that the papacy is Antichrist.

    Did you become a Lutheran or something?
    frank

    The quote wasn't me, just some folk I spoke with some time ago. Your comment reminded me of The Devil's Dictionary:

      RELIGION, n.  A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the
      nature of the Unknowable.
          "What is your religion my son?" inquired the Archbishop of Rheims.
          "Pardon, monseigneur," replied Rochebriant; "I am ashamed of it."
          "Then why do you not become an atheist?"
          "Impossible!  I should be ashamed of atheism."
          "In that case, monsieur, you should join the Protestants."
    

    :)
  • Preacher, why should anyone take your word for it?
    Just to add a bit more to the story, I know this fellow that has integrated Shaivist mysticism and a kind of radical pragmatism (mainly after Peirce). All fairly elaborate. In this case, there are mystics, well versed in Vedic texts, and those folk are then taken as authorities, only they can genuinely understand or "communicate" with Shiva. I listened to some of what they had to say. Different, interesting enough for what it is, yet still much the same.

    It is a peculiar habit of God's that when he wishes to reveal himself to mankind, he will communicate only with a single person. The rest of mankind must learn the truth from that person and thus purchase their knowledge of the divine at the cost of subordination to another human being, who is eventually replaced by a human institution, so that the divine remains under other people's control. — Patricia Crone (commenting on Islam and the like)

    Preacher, why should anyone take your word for it?
  • Preacher, why should anyone take your word for it?
    Seems only @Wayfarer had much to add.

    Typical responses could be religious perennialism of sorts, unassuming deism, non-descript panendeism, panpsychism (hi @bert1), "the god of the philosophers", something like that. Maybe the universe is a forgotten experiment, an abandoned petri-dish, "a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan" (quoting Worth in "Cube" (1997)), a dream, The Matrix, Zhuangzi's butterfly, Bostrom's hypothesis, ...?

    Well, the preaching indoctrinating proselytizing theists typically deny such like hands-down in favor of their own narratives. (Sometimes even launching threats, still on behalf of universal, silent super-beings.)

    Or, is it all just human story-telling, testaments to human creativity and imagination? Well, whichever the case, how would we differentiate? "Whereof one cannot speak" and all that? Information-free (linguistic) constructs or whichever idealizations, immunized of any counter/evidence?

    FYI, "the god of the philosophers" as per Donald H Wacome in a speech on Dec 1990 (embedded links mine):

    The God of the ancient philosophers is an abstract object; he has all the reality of the square root of 16. This so-called God is not alive. He is beyond time and change, not the Ancient of Days but the Eternal One. The God of the philosophers is passionless, incapable of being moved to hot anger and tears by the human condition. He is serene and untroubled. The God of the philosophers knows everything about the future; he can't interact with human beings as free creatures on whom the as yet open future in part depends. The God of the philosophers is simple; there is no depth or complexity in his personality. As an abstract object, he is captured in the nets of our philosophical theories. He has his prominent place in our neat and rationally explicable scheme of things. We know what he's like and he is basically predictable. The God of the philosophers, the God of much of the theological tradition, is a creature of the human mind and, as such, is ultimately in our control. — http://home.nwciowa.edu/wacome/gbgp.htm

    (Maybe I should have added a poll, some voting options.)

    Anyway, more importantly, what do you think is the deal with all the diverse opinionated preachers (indoctrinators proselytizers) out there, apparently pretending to speak on behalf of "otherworldly" super-beings?
  • Preacher, why should anyone take your word for it?
    I get the idea of the kind of folks you’re expressing your view too. Should we listen? :)I like sushi

    Reasoning about the peculiar situation, was the idea. Kinda' what the forums are for, yes?

    That's the definitive piece, isn't it?Serving Zion

    No.


    Preaching, incidentally. :)

    Do you take this really important information directly from Socrates?Noble Dust

    More tu quoque'ery? Nope, t'was just an analogous anecdote.

    I think you could answer this question perfectly easily yourself.bert1

    Why thank ye. The intent was participatory inquiry, though.

    Is that the thrust of it?Wayfarer

    Nope. It's fairly straight forward. The sales-people that come knocking on your door, children being subject to directed indoctrination, preachers/imams/pujas that never conclude a sermon with "oh, by the way, we don't know", ..., pretending to speak on behalf of various actual authorities.

    Same reason why we don't take your word for it that God doesn't exist!3017amen

    Well, that'd be you saying so, like "Shiva is a devil" maybe or something? Hasn't been mentioned prior in this thread, which was an inquiry into that peculiar situation.

    Which are still from humans saying something as if it is true.PoeticUniverse

    (y) And, on others' behalf too, others that supposedly are universal, almighty, etc, yet silent, hidden, apparently indifferent, ...
  • Atheism is untenable in the 21st Century
    not to be taken seriouslyalcontali

    (y)

    I was referring to the majority out there.
    The preachers indoctrinators proselytizers that all claim to be speaking the truth of the matter.
    And that is what we're after, yes?
    It's not like the pastors/imams/pujas conclude their sermons with "Oh, but we don't know".

    Hence asking how you feel about them. (Apparently, some piss you off.)