:up:They’re both nothing-but-isms. And since idealism is the original nothing-but-ism, and the physical is a concept, physicalism might also be described as a form of idealism. It’s a hasty projection of an ideal concept onto reality. — Jamal
478. Does a child believe that milk exists? Or does it know that milk exists? Does a cat know that a mouse exists?
479. Are we to say that the knowledge that there are physical objects comes very early or very late?” — On Certainty
On Certainty — plaque flag
The essential point is that in characterizing an episode or a state as that of knowing, we are not giving an empirical description of that episode or state; we are placing it in the logical space of reasons, of justifying and being able to justify what one says — Wilfrid Sellars
That's not knowledge. I'm talking about (conceptual) knowledge not sniffs and glances. — plaque flag
There is a fine line between arrogance in terms of saying what we can't achieve, that's correct. On the other hand, it's even more arrogant to think that we can achieve everything, if only we tried enough. — Manuel
I think it's perfectly clear that we won't be able to learn much, if anything, about free will (and will actions more generally considered). Why do I say something so presumptuous? Intelligent people have been discussing it for over 2000 years without an iota of progress. Now, if someone denies that we have free will, OK. — Manuel
I do think insisting on the mystery of consciousness can be done in an interesting way (forgetfulness of being), but I also think Dennett is right to be frustrated with those who block the road of inquiry. — plaque flag
how it arises from matter — Manuel
even if I think they won't be able to explain the so called "hard problem" — Manuel
I also think Dennett is right to be frustrated with those who block the road of inquiry. — plaque flag
To me the hard problem is maybe a diluted version of the forgetfulness of being. — plaque flag
Wittgenstein and Heidegger both discussed something like the strangeness that the world (any world) is here. — plaque flag
If we really are robots or blindly-propagating genetic machines, then the only reason to value humanity as such is convention or sentimentality, it has no real basis, because nothing important is at stake. — Wayfarer
I've never understood this. How is it strange? — Tom Storm
It matters to us. What better reason do we need? — Tom Storm
Dennett is one of those American philosophers of mind, so unlike most of their British counterparts, who is comfortable conversing with and responding to the work of evolutionary biologists and cognitive scientists. His heroes, cited frequently here, are Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins in biology, Alan Turing and Claude Shannon in artificial intelligence and information theory. His enemies are creationists and mysterians in general, philosopher John Searle, polymath linguist Noam Chomsky, and biologists Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin. His aim is to provide a materialist account of the evolutionary origins of the human mind and consciousness by way of an extension of gene-based natural selection into human culture through the invocation of memes. — The Guardian
Water was rushing down the slate, and I was shocked by the thereness of all that beauty, shocked to be alive, shocked that something (anything) was. I had other encounters with this shock / wonder, but they decreased with age. Perhaps it's just a feeling. — plaque flag
I don't think he can have it both ways - if we really are robots or blindly-propagating genetic machines, then the only reason to value humanity as such is convention or sentimentality, it has no real basis, because nothing important is at stake. — Wayfarer
What if it doesn't matter to others? What if I am the authority in a one-party state who doesn't recognise human rights? Would that matter to you? — Wayfarer
What if I am the authority in a one-party state who doesn't recognise human rights? — Wayfarer
The point is humans choose their values and also ignore them and a belief in god or transcendence has never safeguarded rights or preserved the sanctity of human life. — Tom Storm
The fact that religious institutions routinely violate their own principles is not an argument those principles. — Wayfarer
Am I to believe you'll stop loving your family if it's somehow proved to you that there is no god and just Darwinian evolution ? — plaque flag
But what is this subject ? — plaque flag
I wonder though why we would need to build a metaphysics on such a transitory experience of surprise. — Tom Storm
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