Recent Responses
The rapid growth of scientific research has resulted in, and is probably also the result of, the impressive solution of successive scientific problems. Do the panelists think that the rapid growth of philosophical research in Universities can be explained correspondingly in terms of impressive solution of philosophical problems? If not, then by what?
Alexander George
November 4, 2005
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Has there been "rapid growth in philosophical research in"universities? How should we measure that? Perhaps by looking at theincrease in the number of philosophical journals? And in terms of thenumbers of articles and books published per year? I would expect that,judged by such measures,... Read more
According to Descartes' demon hypothesis, would it be possible for the demon to deceive us about the rules of logical inference e.g. could my belief in the law of non-contradiction be caused by the demon?
Peter S. Fosl
November 12, 2005
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May I weigh in a bit? I think that panelists are right to suggest that while the dream argument addresses the veracity of perception about the world, the demon argument goes farther and addresses mathematical and logical inferences. I'd like, however, to return to Peter Lipton's question... Read more
Can we prove anything, or is the best that we can hope to achieve an invitation to compare the plausibility of the premises of an argument with the plausibility of the negation of the conclusion of that argument?
Richard Heck
November 5, 2005
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There's also this point: If one has shown that, if X is true, then Y is true, then one has proven, without making any assumptions, that, if X, then Y. One might say that, if one has given an argument, then one has assumed that it is legitimate to use whatever principles of argument one appli... Read more
This is a question about the role of education. I wonder how far is education away from institutionalization? Sometimes teachers think they are helping their students to gain the ability of being free, while in fact they are putting their students into prison by telling them what is the content of freedom. Hope this was not a vague question. And if I am very interested in this question, whose works you recommend to read?
Nalini Bhushan
November 4, 2005
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Albeit idiosyncratic in some ways, there's a little book byJiddu Krishnamurti, entitled 'Education and its Significance for Life' (1953)that you might enjoy. Krishnamurti was deeply concerned about humanfreedom in the psychological (rather than political) sense, connecting a lossof freedo... Read more
Is happiness an absolute or a relative state?
Mark Crimmins
November 4, 2005
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Obviously there's more than one thing we might mean in saying that someone is happy. Are we describing a momentary or a stable state? A bright mood and outlook or deep satisfaction? Even if we've sorted these things out, saying simply that someone "is happy" seems to make a yes-0r-no mat... Read more
What happens to a moment after it occurs?
Mark Crimmins
November 4, 2005
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Nothing happens to moments; things happen at them. After a moment passes, nothing that happens anymore happens at it.
Apast moment might, however, still be remembered and spoken of. Doesthat require that in some sense it "still exists" and is indeedeternal? For surely there is something... Read more
Is it theoretically possible to disprove the existence of God? Could a future conceptual or scientific breakthrough ever really absolutely prove the non-existence of a higher power?
Nicholas D. Smith
November 4, 2005
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I am uneasy with the phrase "absolutely prove...non-existence." It is difficult to imagine what sort of scientific discovery could "absolutely prove" the non-existence of something. I am inclined to think that scientific evidence just doesn't work that way.
On the other hand, there ha... Read more
Can a group of people or a single person for that matter, be said to 'own' a particular set of behaviours? I'm thinking along the lines of sacred rituals of indigenous peoples, where parts of those rituals (specific actions as part of the ceremony, meant to be kept secret) are appropriated or copied exactly by others outside of the original group without permission.
Nicholas D. Smith
November 4, 2005
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I am not sure whether ownership is the right way to frame this question. It seems that it might be more perspicuous to think of the question in terms, perhaps, of duties we owe to one another, in terms of respect for other cultures (and others' cultures), or of virtue considerations su... Read more
Is there a moral imperative to strive for personal achievement? Said another way: If a genius allows hmself to be underemployed and lazy, is that laziness more of a severe wrong (or waste) than the laziness of an ordinary man?
Nicholas D. Smith
November 4, 2005
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Your question seems to bring to bear a number of important ethical notions. From what is called a "consequentialist" perspective, in which goodness is understood in terms of consequences, plainly the laziness of a genius will be more consequential than that of an ordinary person. One... Read more
I am contemplating having children, yet can think of no good reason to have them. That is, all reasons seem to be selfish reasons. It seems impossible to do something for a person that doesn't exist yet. Are there any good reasons to have children that aren't selfish?
Nicholas D. Smith
November 4, 2005
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I think some philosophers would argue that there are good reasons not to have children, given population pressures. But I am inclined to take a rather different tack here, by asking you why you seem to suppose that self-interest is the same as the vice of selfishness. One of the thing... Read more