• On rejecting unanswerable questions

    Ahhhhh, ok, now I get it. Thanks for the explanation! I have to say this is a very positive and optimistic view :up:
  • On rejecting unanswerable questions
    It’s the “no unquestionable answers” part that is meant to convey a kind of skepticism. The “no unanswerable questions” part is there to guard against skepticism going too far into nihilism.Pfhorrest
    Ok, I agree, but the fact that he rejects answering unanswerable questions raises another question for me. How does he define whether a question is unanswerable? By searching his brain, and if the answer is "I don't know", the question is unanswerable?


    It’s saying to not give up just because you haven’t answered a question yet. Assume there is some answer that you just haven’t found yet. And consequently give any possible answer a chance. But then (because no unquestionable answers either) test each of those possibilities and reject the ones that fail, and consequently discard any supposed possibilities that could not in principle ever be tested as meaningless, not even saying anything.Pfhorrest

    I'm not sure that I really understand what you mean here. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I take it that you're trying to say that Bill thinks we should try our best to answer all questions and never take "I don't know" as an answer?
  • On rejecting unanswerable questions
    but he has at least got a degree in this, which means he has read a lot more philosophy than I have so I persevere in the hope that I might learn something.Kaarlo Tuomi

    :up: :up:
  • On rejecting unanswerable questions

    hahahah, that's a really good point. When I first read this post, my first thought was that "Bill" was in denial, but I wasn't sure if that was an accurate enough description, so I did some research and thought that skepticism was the closest match to his philosophy.

    I suppose the fact that "Bill" rejects unanswerable questions just sounds a bit like denial to me, but it could be because I misread him or whatever. I consider myself kind of a skeptic, but sometimes even I think it's a little too negative and somewhat arrogant kind of view.
  • On rejecting unanswerable questions

    I think Bill is what is known as a skeptic, philosophically. They look at a philosophical question carefully, but once they find out that it's "unanswerable", they simply suspend judgment. they then go into a stage of calm and tranquility, a sense of freedom from the anxiety that they had from not being able to answer the question.
    Hope this helps! Let me know what you think!