Emil O. W. Kirkegaard blog
I was watching The Unbearable Lightness of Being when a scene suddenly made me realize a possible problem with regularity theory of physical laws and the ought implies can principle. Regularity theory’s view of physical impossibility Regularity theory implies that what it means to say that something is physically impossible is just to say that…
Continue ReadingQuote from The Web of Belief “Rather, believing is a disposition that can linger latent and unobserved. It is a disposition to respond in certain ways when the appropriate issue arises. To believe that Hannibal crossed the Alps is to be disposed, among other things, to say “Yes” when asked. To believe that frozen foods…
Continue Reading“Philosophy, throughout its history, has consisted of two parts inharmoniously blended; on the one hand a theory as to the nature of the world, on the other an ethical or political doctrine as to the best way of living. The failure to separate these two with sufficient clarity has been a source of much confused…
Continue ReadingRead this great article about copyright, the film industry and the usual stuff.
Continue ReadingFast: “We need to keep in mind that “I know that I know” is ambiguous between 1) I am certain and 2) I have knowledge that I know. The latter is very often true, but the former is very rarely true.” Emil: “Why do you think it is ambiguous between them? It seems to me…
Continue ReadingIt has been thought for many years (especially since Hume’s first Enquiry1) that induction lacks a justification. This justification for induction, it has been thought for long, is necessarily if it is rational to use induction. The argument for why there is no justification, indeed there cannot be a justification, can be presented like this:…
Continue ReadingInduction and deduction are foundational to human rationality because it is impossible for a human to stop using them. Indeed what it means to be humanly rational is that one uses these reasoning systems. There is no sense in trying to discover any justification for these two reasoning systems because even if we discovered that…
Continue ReadingI found the text on the internet and I have created this fine PDF version. W. V. Quine, J. S. Ullian – The Web of Belief
Continue Readingn Proposition Symbol Explanation 1 Peter is gay. P1 Premise 2 Peter is male. Q From 1 Valid? Perhaps. A truth table with show: P Q ¬Q P∧¬Q T T F F T F T T F T F F F F T F If the superconjunction of all the premises and the negation of…
Continue ReadingA complete argument is as argument that is stated or presented such that: 1. One can see all the propositions in the argument. 2. All the propositions in the argument are numbered. 3. It is explained what kind of purpose all the propositions have. (Premise, inference or assumption.) 4. All inferences are stated, it is…
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