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For the philosophically unsophisticated, why is it significant that logic cannot be reduced to mathematics? What difference would it have made if that project had succeeded; what is import that it failed?
Your ability to balance your
Michael Shenefelt
July 13, 2015
(changed July 13, 2015)
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Your ability to balance your checkbook, or to draw logical inferences in everyday life, won’t be affected in the least by difficulties in figuring out just how logic and higher mathematics are connected. Nevertheless, the relationship between logic and mathematics... Read more
Is lying by omission really a form of lying?
Allen Stairs is right in
Michael Shenefelt
July 10, 2015
(changed July 10, 2015)
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Allen Stairs is right in suggesting that it is possible to lie by saying nothing, and perhaps it is worth adding that lies of this sort often form the basis of prosecutions for fraud.
Fraud is legally complicated, but the basic idea is that you can injure someone by ca... Read more
I'm a lawyer. One of my previous clients asked me for specific legal advice that he later used to commit financial fraud. I strongly suspected at the time that he was going to use my advice for that very purpose but I told him anyway because I like him as a person and I also disagree with the law that prohibits the particular type of fraud that he committed. Have I acted immorally according to virtue ethics?
First, a thought about the
Allen Stairs
July 9, 2015
(changed July 9, 2015)
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First, a thought about the question: you ask whether you've "acted immorally according to virtue ethics." You might be trying to understand what light virtue ethics in particular casts on a case like this, or you might be interested in whether what you did was wrong, period... Read more
Is there a book that looks at the Bible through the lens of philosophy? I know there are books like "Philosophy & Seinfeld", where a cultural artifact is subjected to philosophical analysis. Surely there must be something like that for the Bible?
The Bible has been subject to
Charles Taliaferro
July 9, 2015
(changed July 9, 2015)
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The Bible has been subject to enormous philosophical attention. This is not only true for all the great medieval philosophers and the philosophers in late antiquity, but for many modern philosophers such as Pascal, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant --for Kant, the book... Read more
Is lying by omission really a form of lying?
Allen Stairs is right in
Michael Shenefelt
July 10, 2015
(changed July 10, 2015)
Permalink
Allen Stairs is right in suggesting that it is possible to lie by saying nothing, and perhaps it is worth adding that lies of this sort often form the basis of prosecutions for fraud.
Fraud is legally complicated, but the basic idea is that you can injure someone by ca... Read more
I have a question about causality solely when it comes to human behavior. Suppose I argue that the presence of oxygen on Earth was the cause of an office building on fire. It is certainly true that if there had been no oxygen on Earth there would have been no fire. It is also true that if there had been no arsonists or negligent persons, nor any flammable material, there would have been no fire. So is it true that when it is assumed that one of several necessary conditions was the sole and exclusive cause of an effect, then the reasoning is fallacious due to the possibility that humans might have free will which somehow shifts responsibility away from nature or scientific processes?
Assuming I understand it, the
Stephen Maitzen
July 2, 2015
(changed July 3, 2015)
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Assuming I understand it, the reasoning you described is fallacious regardless of anything having to do with human free will. True, the presence of something combustible is a necessary (but fortunately not sufficient!) condition for the occurrence of a fire. But if I... Read more
Is it possible to disprove or refute the seemingly indubitable Cogito ergo sum? Is it possible for even that to be doubted? Is it possible for something to think, but it does not exist? In my opinion, I think that the only "thing" of which anything that "thinks" could be certain, is that, "there is something," "it is," "there is," or "it is." I feel that for one even to doubt that "there is something," there has to be "something," or one could not doubt at all, or that there could not even have been a "one" in the first place to do anything let alone "doubt." I have just confused myself now, and I apologize for not explaining this much better. I am trying to go beyond René Descartes, and "truly" find "something" that could not be doubted at all, or is it possible to doubt anything or everything, even that statement itself, ad infinitum, and even that?
There are two questions here:
Allen Stairs
July 2, 2015
(changed July 3, 2015)
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There are two questions here: first, can Descartes' cogito be doubted—is it open to doubt that "I" exist? Second, more generally, is there anything that's not open to legitimate or reasonable or rational doubt? (What people are psychologically capable of doubting maybe a... Read more
Hello, What I am about to say is a desperate call for help. I am reaching out to you so that I may be assisted with this dear worry I have been plagued with for several years… Basically, I am paranoid about what will happen to me after I die. Because of argument amongst equally learned, intelligent, capable philosophers, I can’t figure out what the afterlife (if there is one) will consist of. The reason this is an obsession and highly alarming to me is because several different religions state you must believe such and such in order to escape hell (eternal torture). You can’t simultaneously be a follower of incompatible religions, so it’s like you’re taking an eternal chance in believing anything. Moreover, it seems the superiority of one religion over the other cannot be determined. Philosophers argue about this stuff night and day, and the arguments never end...nothing is ever decided for certain. No one can be sure of anything. Must I believe that when I die, I’ll more than likely go to some sort of hell? My morals aren’t terrific, you know. This is driving me mad! It is something I dwell on ALL the time. Life is so terribly fragile, and any of us could go at any time. I’m at a higher risk of death than a lot because of heart disease problems in my genes. What is a man supposed to do in a predicament like this? You probably have beliefs about the afterlife, but how can you be SURE of them when you are aware of the other equally knowledgeable minds that don’t believe as you do--that have solid arguments for their own worldviews and against your own? You can’t say that you’re somehow superior to a whole mass of intelligent minds!
Allen Stairs offers a
Charles Taliaferro
July 30, 2015
(changed July 30, 2015)
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Allen Stairs offers a spirited reply, and an amusing last line, but I am a bit more sympathetic with your worry. You might check out the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on beliefs about the afterlife which I co-authored with William Hasker. There is a terrifi... Read more
Why does fiction make us feel so emotional sometimes? Rationally, my mind knows that the stories I read aren't true and are all completely made-up, but even knowing this, I can't help but find myself tearing up at certain well-written stories. Is there any reason to feel this way at all or is it all just a waste of emotion?
You should also read, "How
Jonathan Westphal
June 25, 2015
(changed June 25, 2015)
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You should also read, "How Can We Be Moved by the Fate of Anna Karenina?" by Colin Radford, and the literature that developed in response to it.
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What happens, morally speaking, if I promise to do something that happens to be slightly immoral? Do I still have some kind of obligation to do it?
I think a lot hinges in your
Jonathan Westphal
June 25, 2015
(changed June 25, 2015)
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I think a lot hinges in your question on the word "slightly". Is there a moral obligation to keep a promise to do something that is "slightly immoral"? I think that the answer has to be "No", since the value of duty to keep promises is not in question, and the act... Read more