Recent Responses
Is nothing impossible? Is it just that a lot of things have infinitely small probabilities of occurring?
Alexander George
October 8, 2005
(changed October 8, 2005)
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(This evening, shortly after reading this, I had dinner at arestaurant in NYC — and there was Mayor Bloomberg at the next table. I heard someone say, "Nothing's impossible after all.")
I'm not sure what an infinitely small probability would be. Perhapsjust a probability of 0? But that s... Read more
To what extent does belief preclude speculative thought? If to believe is to accept a proposition as being true (as my dictionary claims), do we undermine our belief by testing the proposition? To what extent does testing a proposition imply doubt. I attend a private Christian university, so I find this question extremely important. I have given up using the word "believe" completely because it seems to undermine my need to question things. When people ask if I believe in God, Jesus-as-Christ, the Trinity, I feel I have to say, "no." Would proclaiming belief in those things while questioning their validity undermine what we mean by "belief"? Did this question even make sense?
Tamar Szabo Gendler
October 23, 2005
(changed October 23, 2005)
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Traditional discussions of this question suggest that thereare two ways of understanding the relation between belief and knowledge. On theone hand, there is a tradition (tracable to Plato) which says that havingbelief about something precludes having knowledge about that thing. (Plato... Read more
When something disastrous happens, like Katrina, "logic" says: so much the worse for a loving God. But for the believer, what comes out, instead, are things like "God never gives us more than we can handle" and "We have to praise the Lord, and thank him, that <i>we</i> are OK." Why? (Or is this just a psychological or sociological question? Or did I watch too much Fox news?)
Alan Soble
November 11, 2006
(changed November 11, 2006)
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Plantinga writes, in the quoted passage, "what God sees as better is, of course, better. " Oh? Of course? Having solved to his own satisfaction the problem of evil, can Alvin also solve the Euthyphro-style dilemma that arises here? (1) A world is better because God sees it as better vs. (2)... Read more
I am interested in how scholars in different disciplines make sense of their work and the place of that work in their lives. For philosophy I read <i>Falling in Love With Wisdom: American Philosophers Talk About Their Calling</i> (Karnos & Shoemaker, 1993). Can you point me in the direction of other such pieces by philosophers? Thanks, Burt
Peter Lipton
October 8, 2005
(changed October 8, 2005)
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You might look at some philosophers' autobiographies. Some of these are disappointing, but two that aren't are John Stuart Mill's Autobiography and Anthony Kenny's A Path from Rome.
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Suppose that I'm working on a medical treatment for a project with no known cure or even treatment. My subjects report that they feel much better after receiving the treatment, but subsequent study shows that the treatment is, in fact, ineffective and all that I'm seeing is the placebo effect. Can I ethically tell them the truth and thereby make them feel worse subjectively? Would that violate the "do no harm" principle of medical ethics?
Jyl Gentzler
October 8, 2005
(changed October 8, 2005)
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The injunction “Do no harm” is hard to follow unless one knows whatcounts as harm, and there is no clear consensus about this issue. Itdoes seem that by making a person feel worse, I am harming her. Feelingbad is in itself a bad thing, and it might also lead to other badthings. If I feel bad,... Read more
It seems to me that one of the things that philosophy does, at least for me, a beginner, is to expose mysteries where I thought there were none. Do any of you feel the same way, do you like that chill up your spine when you realize what you thought was self-evident might not be? Is the feeling that you have solved the problem more exciting than the feeling of wonder?
Amy Kind
October 8, 2005
(changed October 8, 2005)
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I think this feeling of wonder is common among philosophers. It's one of the things that attracted me to philosophy in the first place. And many philosophers have commented on this phenomenon -- e.g., William James in Some Problems of Philosophy:
Philosophy, beginning in wonder ... is able to f... Read more
Why should I believe you?
Jyl Gentzler
October 11, 2005
(changed October 11, 2005)
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Fair enough, Alan. Based on my experience of human beings, the more sociableand cheerful attitude that you suggest seems appropriate as ageneral day-to-day attitude toward others. I’m generally not worriedthat people are lying to me.
But I understood the question differently– not as direc... Read more
I am interested in how scholars in different disciplines make sense of their work and the place of that work in their lives. For philosophy I read <i>Falling in Love With Wisdom: American Philosophers Talk About Their Calling</i> (Karnos & Shoemaker, 1993). Can you point me in the direction of other such pieces by philosophers? Thanks, Burt
Peter Lipton
October 8, 2005
(changed October 8, 2005)
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You might look at some philosophers' autobiographies. Some of these are disappointing, but two that aren't are John Stuart Mill's Autobiography and Anthony Kenny's A Path from Rome.
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If we built a computer that could analyse our minds, and it figured out how they work and explained it to us, would we be able to understand?
Alexander George
October 8, 2005
(changed October 8, 2005)
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The great Austrian logician, Kurt Gödel, proved a remarkable theorem in 1931 that he thought was relevant to this question. His theorem wasn't about minds, but with a bit of license, it could be taken to have some implications about them. For instance, this one: Assume our minds are like... Read more
I believe in allowing other people to live out their respective journeys in life - this requires a lot of tolerance sometimes. How does one reconcile respecting another person's journey with the great harm the person can do in the community by their actions? A right-wing zealot with his/her black-and-white world view versus a left-wing person whose view on life comes with a much more complex color-shaded world view. It is the right winger, that threatens the community with his/her worship of free-market capitalism (which really isn't so free-market), their dependence on lying and twisting the facts to fit their narrow view of the world (they just do it a lot more than liberals), and imposing their heretic version of Christianity on the rest of us. How does one respond ethically to counter the right-wing influence in this country yet respect this person's journey of self-discovery and their contribution (eventual perhaps?) to the community?
Jyl Gentzler
October 8, 2005
(changed October 8, 2005)
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When you say that you “believe in allowing other people to live outtheir respective journeys in life,” do you make no exceptions? Do youthink that it’s a good idea to let anyone do anything that he or shesees fit? Liberals who are committed to tolerance often draw the lineat actions that thre... Read more