Recent Responses
Does it make sense to define atheism as "a lack of belief in a God" rather than as "a belief in the nonexistence of God?"
Andrew N. Carpenter
January 1, 2010
(changed January 1, 2010)
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I don't see anyphilosophical reason to conflate the conventional distinction betweenatheism and agnosticism, although I think that there exist somepolitical and social pressures to do that in contemporary Americansociety: some individuals who affirm atheism in private are morecomfortabl... Read more
What underpins acceptance of scientific theories by non-scientists? In a recent argument about climate change, I maintained that, as a non-specialist, I’m not in a position to judge the validity of theories or critiques of theories of anthropogenic climate change but I instead have to make a judgement about the reasonableness of believing in statements that a certain body of people make about the world. My point was that in the absence of any dramatic evidence to the contrary it’s much more reasonable to believe that the IPCC (and almost everyone else) is right than it is to believe either that there’s a huge con or a huge mistake. I think this is right but am I missing something more?
Miriam Solomon
December 24, 2009
(changed December 24, 2009)
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You ask an important question about how non-experts should make reasonable judgments when there is expert disagreement. It is not enough to say that the reasonable choice lies with the majority opinion; the majority has been both unreasonable and/or wrong often enough. I think it is im... Read more
What does Kant mean by "intuition"? I've been reading a small book by Jaspers on Kant's whole philosophy, but he is so unclear about this word "intuition" and the word seem important in some way to what Kant is saying.
Andrew N. Carpenter
December 21, 2009
(changed December 21, 2009)
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A most interesting question from long ago, and two good answers! I don't know if you are interested in a more detailed response, but in case you are I'll add some more details. Please ignore if this is too much for your interests, and please understand that, as both Sean's and Doug... Read more
Does punishment serve any useful long term purpose? It always seems like punishments that are excessively harsh lead to civil unrest, and punishments that are not harsh enough are thereby render quite useless. So is there a medium at which punishment is a useful tool in society, or is it just an archaic mode of retribution?
Andrew N. Carpenter
December 21, 2009
(changed December 21, 2009)
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There's been lots of interesting philosophical work on punishment, including discussions that defend a retributive account of punishment and discussions that justify punishment on other grounds, for example, deterring future crime. So, if any of those defenses or justifications is c... Read more
What does Kant mean by "intuition"? I've been reading a small book by Jaspers on Kant's whole philosophy, but he is so unclear about this word "intuition" and the word seem important in some way to what Kant is saying.
Andrew N. Carpenter
December 21, 2009
(changed December 21, 2009)
Permalink
A most interesting question from long ago, and two good answers! I don't know if you are interested in a more detailed response, but in case you are I'll add some more details. Please ignore if this is too much for your interests, and please understand that, as both Sean's and Doug... Read more
Hi, I read in a book, which according to Kant, "our concepts seem to agree with the facts because both have a common origin, the human condition. We can explain only those aspects of the world assigned to it by ourselves, so the nature of deep reality remains forever unattainable." In a discussion of physical reality, said that this concept of Kant is outdated. It is true that information? Where can I find this argument against the thought of Kant. Thanks!
Douglas Burnham
December 20, 2009
(changed December 20, 2009)
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Please have a look at responses to similar questions: click on'philosophers' on the list of categories, and then search for 'Kant'.
I'd like to comment here on the quotation that you cite, becauseit seems to me (at least when taken out of context) to be amisleading representation of wha... Read more
Does it make any sense to say that a person has an "obligation to develop her gifts/talents to the utmost"?
Eric Silverman
December 19, 2009
(changed December 19, 2009)
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It seems that there are a couple of ways that it might make sense to claim that someone has 'an obligation to develop her gifts'. Let's suppose that I believe ethical egoism is correct (that each person morally ought to do that which benefits them the most). I might believe that developi... Read more
We often admire people who are true to their convictions, even when we believe that those convictions are actually wrong. Is there anything morally valuable or praiseworthy in simply acting in accordance with what you think is right (regardless of whether it is, in fact, right), or does the moral significance of a particular action have to do only with whether it accords with objective moral standards?
Douglas Burnham
December 17, 2009
(changed December 17, 2009)
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Kant's ethics gives us a convenient way of thinking aboutthis question. He distinguishes between the moral law (categorical imperative)and a 'maxim'. By the latter he means the rule we actually follow in ourdecisions. It is, he argues, a uniquely human characteristic that we canformulat... Read more
If there is no such thing as consciousness, how can I conceive of consciousness, or of what consciousness must be like? Conversely, if consciousness exists, when did I "get" it, and where does it go when I'm meditating?
Jonathan Westphal
December 17, 2009
(changed December 17, 2009)
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There are lots of things that don't exist that we can conceive of, most obviously fictional characters and objects, though our conceptions of them may be less detailed or thorough-going than our conceptions of things that do exist. (They may also be more detailed. We may know more abo... Read more
Are there any topics that philosophy doesn't touch on?
William Rapaport
December 15, 2009
(changed December 15, 2009)
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I'm sure that there are some topics that philosophy hasn't touched on. But I'm equally sure that there are no topics that philosophy couldn't touch on. I believe that, for any topic X, there is the philosophy of X. As Plato said, "The one who feels no distaste in sampling every st... Read more