Recent Responses
Is this argument evidence of the existence of heaven: "For every need humans have there is a corresponding means of fulfillment. There is hunger and so there is food, there is lust and therefore sex. Finally there is desire for eternal happiness, therefore there must be heaven." I don't think that this is a good argument but I don't know how to refute it. Thanks.
Peter Smith
May 12, 2009
(changed May 12, 2009)
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Note, desiring something isn't needing it. I may desire a villa in Tuscany, but I don't need one. And, whatever is the case with needs, plainly it isn't the case that for every human desirethere is a way of fulfilling it (especially given other people's desires). Maybe lots of us would love a villa i... Read more
This question is directed (mainly) to Peter Smith. I've read you "Introduction to Gödel's Theorems" (that's how I ended up here) and found it fascinating. At a certain point it the book, it is asserted that G (that is, a Gödel Sentence) is Goldbach type. My question is the following, what are the odds (I don't mean statistically, just your opinion) that the Goldbach conjecture is in some manner an example of a Gödel Sentence naturally (?) arising? I am aware that most mathematicians believe the Goldbach Conjecture to be true, even if all attempts to prove it have failed so far. So, could it be that it actually is true, but to be proven, additional axioms would have to be added to regular arithmetic, or the former would have to be modified in some fashion? Has anyone tried to prove this? Have they succeeded? Sorry for the messy English, I hope my question can be understood, and thanks for writing such an interesting book.
Peter Smith
May 9, 2009
(changed May 9, 2009)
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I'm really glad you enjoyed the Gödel book!
Suppose that S is Goldbach's conjecture. And suppose theory T is your favourite arithmetic (which includes Robinson Arithmetic). Then Theorem 9.3 applies to S. So if not-S is not logically deducible from T, then S must be true.
So if we had a proof that S i... Read more
I am not trained in formal logic, so I was hoping you could help me with the moral argument for the existence of God, postulated as follows: 1. If God doesn't exist, then objective moral standards don't exist. 2. Objective moral standards exist. Therefore God exists. I don't really understand why the arguer is allowed to throw in premise 2. It seems that in order to prove that objective moral standards exist, you must first prove that God exists (because the objective moral standards come from God). Since the truth of premise 2 depends on the conclusion of the argument, it seems the argument collapses into a circle. I guess what I'm really saying is that any theist I know would concede that premise 1 is actually an if and only if statement (again, because morality is inextricably linked with God). After all, if you could prove that objective moral standards exist without appealing to God, then you've demonstrated morality's independence from the existence of God and thus nullified the argument. I think the argument fails for other reasons, but is this particular criticism valid? Thanks for your time.
Allen Stairs
May 7, 2009
(changed May 7, 2009)
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Although I think the argument is fraught with difficulties, I don't think it simply begs the question. Suppose this hypothetical theist -- call her Thalia -- is arguing with an agnostic, Agatha, who nonetheless believes that there are objective moral standards. Agatha has real-life counterparts, and... Read more
Is it possible to read Kant as holding a position that does not reject the existence of a reality external to mind while maintaining that we can only know representations of that reality not reality as it exists in itself?
Jennifer Church
May 7, 2009
(changed May 7, 2009)
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It is common to interpret Kant as insisting that the objects we observe in space and time exist independently of any particular observation we make of them,but also insisting that space and time are forms that we impose on our experience rather than characteristics of reality as it exists in it... Read more
Is is philosophicaly valid to ask (and answer) a question based on false or impossible premises? For instance, I could ask something like "If I'm sure that the baby I'm carrying is going to be an evil person, like a new Hitler, or is going to be a mass murderer of serial child molestor, what is the moral thing to do, interrupt the pregnancy or have the baby?" but the premise of this question is false/impossible because there's no way of knowing how a fetus is going to turn out as a person. How do you philosophers deal with these types of questions?
Marc Lange
May 7, 2009
(changed May 7, 2009)
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That a question begins from making false or impossible presuppositions does not keep us from understanding the question or responding to it with the correct (i.e., true) answer. After all, we know that I am alive today, yet we can reasonably assert things like "Had I been hit by a car while crossing the... Read more
I always assumed that there could be no contradictions -- that the principle of non-contradiction was absolute, so to say. Recently, however, I read about dialetheism and paraconsistent logic and realized that some philosophers disagreed. It seems all of logic falls apart if contradictions are permitted. I fail to understand how their position makes any sense (which could admittedly be just a failure on my part). So is it possible someone could better explain their viewpoint? Surely none of them believe that, say, one could simultaneously open and close a book, right?
Richard Heck
May 2, 2009
(changed May 2, 2009)
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So far as I know, no "dialethists" believe that all contradictions are true. But there is a significant disagreement about whether it's just weird cases, like the liar, that give rise to contradictions, or whether there might be contradictions that are in some sense observable. Graham Priest thinks th... Read more
I always assumed that there could be no contradictions -- that the principle of non-contradiction was absolute, so to say. Recently, however, I read about dialetheism and paraconsistent logic and realized that some philosophers disagreed. It seems all of logic falls apart if contradictions are permitted. I fail to understand how their position makes any sense (which could admittedly be just a failure on my part). So is it possible someone could better explain their viewpoint? Surely none of them believe that, say, one could simultaneously open and close a book, right?
Richard Heck
May 2, 2009
(changed May 2, 2009)
Permalink
So far as I know, no "dialethists" believe that all contradictions are true. But there is a significant disagreement about whether it's just weird cases, like the liar, that give rise to contradictions, or whether there might be contradictions that are in some sense observable. Graham Priest thinks th... Read more
I always assumed that there could be no contradictions -- that the principle of non-contradiction was absolute, so to say. Recently, however, I read about dialetheism and paraconsistent logic and realized that some philosophers disagreed. It seems all of logic falls apart if contradictions are permitted. I fail to understand how their position makes any sense (which could admittedly be just a failure on my part). So is it possible someone could better explain their viewpoint? Surely none of them believe that, say, one could simultaneously open and close a book, right?
Richard Heck
May 2, 2009
(changed May 2, 2009)
Permalink
So far as I know, no "dialethists" believe that all contradictions are true. But there is a significant disagreement about whether it's just weird cases, like the liar, that give rise to contradictions, or whether there might be contradictions that are in some sense observable. Graham Priest thinks th... Read more
Let us assume science has demonstrated that vegetarians and careful vegans are just as healthy as – indeed, considerably healthier than – meat-eaters. (It has.) Robert Nozick came up with an interesting hypothetical for those who continue to choose meat in a world where this is so – for those today who opt for the real bacon over the soy bacon not because it’s necessary for one’s health, and not because they bear ill-will towards pigs, but simply because they like the taste more: “Suppose . . . that I enjoy swinging a baseball bat. It happens that in front of the only place to swing it stands a cow. Swinging the bat unfortunately would involve smashing the cow’s head. But I wouldn’t get fun from doing that; the pleasure comes from exercising my muscles, swinging well, and so on. It's unfortunate that as a side effect (not a means) of my doing this, the animal's skull gets smashed. To be sure, I could forego swinging the bat, and instead bend down and touch my toes or do some other exercise. But this wouldn't be as enjoyable as swinging the bat; I won't get as much fun, pleasure, or delight out of it. So the question is: would it be all right for me to swing the bat in order to get the extra pleasure of swinging it as compared to the best available alternative activity that does not involve harming the animal?” It appears to me that Nozick is, if anything, too charitable to modern meat eaters, most of whom pay factory farms to subject animals to sustained, excruciating pain rather than ending their lives with a comparably humane blow to the head. Would any of the meat-eating philosophers in this forum care to explain how their behavior is more justifiable than said bat-swinging?
Jean Kazez
April 30, 2009
(changed April 30, 2009)
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Thank you for the question. Having taught an animal rights class for many years, I'm embarrassed to admit I'd never run into this argument. I've now tracked it down to this very interesting excerpt from Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia, which I think I'll put on my syllabus. So thank you!
Ana... Read more
There's no moral obligation on us to bring into existence lives that are good; on the other hand, if we know a life will be bad, perhaps we are under an obligation not to create it. So, perhaps, not knowing whether the lives we introduce will be good or bad, but knowing there's a significant risk they'll be bad, are we morally obliged not to risk introducing such bad lives?
Jean Kazez
April 30, 2009
(changed April 30, 2009)
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If you haven't been reading David Benatar's book Better Never To Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence, then you might want to read it, because his argument is very much like yours.
Perhaps we ought to say that there actually is some obligation to bring into existence lives that are good.... Read more