Recent Responses
I've always thought it odd that rivers are said to have a single "source". Isn't a river the result of all its tributaries? What gives one source priority over the other tributaries to a river? Isn't the distinction mostly made-up?
Allen Stairs
July 26, 2012
(changed July 26, 2012)
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An interesting question. Start with an artificially simple example: a stream system with the branching structure of a simple "Y." If the two upper parts were equally wide/deep, equally far from the intersection point and at more or less opposite angles to the lower stream, it's hard to see why we'... Read more
Can Darwinian science explain the uncanny fact that a crow both looks and sounds ugly whereas as a prettier bird makes a prettier song? What possible purpose could such an aesthetic unity serve and why would humans be able to recognize it?
Allen Stairs
July 26, 2012
(changed July 26, 2012)
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The first question is whether there's a fact to be explained. Do "pretty" birds typically have "pretty" songs? And do "ugly" birds typically have "ugly" songs? I'm no expert, but I'm betting not. Peacocks are usually considered attractive; their songs not so much. Swans are (conventionally, at lea... Read more
I recently read a text by Michael Fried, "Art and Objecthood," in which he rather vehemently opposes "theatricality," suggesting that it is the antithesis of modernist art (or the "art of our time"). He never really seems to explain why he is so opposed to it, but he uses extremely aggressive language (to my mind), talking about the perversion of art sensibilities, the corruption of art by theatricality, the "problem" with Minimalism (without saying what kind of problem he's talking about), etc. I was wondering if someone could shed some light on what is so terrible about theatricality, such as to merit such strong language.
Jonathan Westphal
July 26, 2012
(changed July 26, 2012)
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I haven't read the Fried piece, but I do see that there is an obvious objection to "theatricality". The objection is that it is phony and therefore cheap. Or one could go further. One form of phoniness is insincerity, another is sentimentality. Consider for example the difference between Remb... Read more
Do we have a moral duty to demolish the delusions of others? I suspect not. I know many people who, in my opinion, are deluded in their religious and political beliefs, but I steer clear of trying to persuade them to drop these beliefs. If at some point these delusions fail them and leave them in tears, it's not my fault. These are self-inflicted woes, right? I respect the right of others to fool themselves. Now, on a personal level, a girl has decided, without any encouragement on my part, that she would like me for a husband. Unasked, she showers me with gifts but reckons, I feel, that she will be getting them all back, anyway, once we are married. She is pleasant company. I enjoy the gifts. I don't lead her on with false promises. She is self-deluded. One of these days it is all going to end in tears. But I have no more responsibilty for those tears than I do if an acquaintance discovers that his religious sect is a load of bunkum and feels a miserable clown as a result,do I? Well, do I?
Allen Stairs
July 25, 2012
(changed July 25, 2012)
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The answer to the question you begin with is easy enough: in general, no. No doubt there are exceptions. Spelling them out in a simple a rule would be difficult, but your case isn't a hard one. Feeding someone's false beliefs, especially for one's own advantage and with no regard for the other per... Read more
Seeing that most languages require that sentences to have tense, can we actually have any progress discussing time? I mean every sentence by its structure already assumes a understanding of time , how do we ever transcend the bounds of our current understandings of time if we still using "time" bound language?
Charles Taliaferro
July 21, 2012
(changed July 21, 2012)
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Great issue(s)! Two thoughts to consider: first, it may not be obvious that all language is time-bound or tensed. The sentence 'two plus two equals four' or 'squares are four sided' might be interpreted as tensed (both sentences were true on Monday, and on Tuesday, etc) but they may also b... Read more
At what point does an action change from something you do sometimes to a habit? At what point does a habit become an addiction? Do those same points exist in reverse and are they in the same spot? Is this more of a medical question or maybe physiological? Is it a mental change you make (whether you know it or not) or a physical change? Why is it so hard to break but so easy to make worse?
Charles Taliaferro
July 21, 2012
(changed July 21, 2012)
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Great set of questions. Certainly, these are matters that involve psychology and have an application in medicine, though philosophers from Ancient GreeK though onward have found it important to reflect on responsibility, habits, and determining when actions are truly voluntary. I suspect v... Read more
Can someone point me in the direction of literature that tries to develop a philosophical understanding of how language change over time? Or is there not much literature on the subject?
Sean Greenberg
July 20, 2012
(changed July 20, 2012)
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The topic of the philosophical significance of language change is very interesting, yet it has not received much philosophical attention. There are distinct ways, however, in which one might understand the topic, which need to be distinguished in order to isolate distinctively philosophical asp... Read more
Why does inconsistency entail validity?
Richard Heck
July 19, 2012
(changed July 19, 2012)
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Without disagreeing with anything Alex has said, let me just add one more thing: There are logicians who sympathize with this sort of question, and so who would deny that an argument with inconsistent premises is always valid. There are logics, that is to say, that do NOT validate all inferences o... Read more
I need a thorough explanation on what the term 'qualia' defines. How would I use it in an expressive way? It's hard for me to formulate it in a sentence. In order to fully comprehend -- I'll need for the word to be deconstructed. Please and thank you.
Sean Greenberg
July 19, 2012
(changed July 19, 2012)
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A quale (plural, 'qualia') is supposed to be the 'feel' of some experience, such as seeing red, hearing middle C, or tasting chocolate. I think that the idea is supposed to capture the common--although not universally accepted--intuition that there is something that 'it is like' to have a certa... Read more
Suppose I write a computer program that randomly strings words together, and the first output it produces happens to be "I am a janitor." Is the output an instance of language? Does it mean anything, and if so, what?
Sean Greenberg
July 19, 2012
(changed July 19, 2012)
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In Reason, Truth, and History, Hilary Putnam imagines a similar scenario, supposing that an ant's movements through the sand produce marks that have the form of English words: Putnam asks, as you do, whether those marks should be taken to be words. I'm inclined to answer--as Putnam does--that t... Read more