“World of is” vs “World of is not” is a false dichotomy.
“I lose interest” is possibly the worst and most uncharitable of all forms of philosophical rhetoric. (Hence my ‘turnabout’.)
Luke gave a false impression of what non-naturalistic ethics comprises by providing only a single example of such a position—a position which was absurd because it presumed the existence of a deity.
Even Hume allowed that works of mathematics need not be “committed to the flames”. Mathematics, to my mind, does not deal with the “world of is”, neither does it deal with the “world of is not”. Yet if someone were to provide a non-reductionist, but axiomatic, ‘definition’ of ‘good’ using the methods and practices of mathematical logic, I certainly would not dismiss it as “uninteresting”.
But mathematics does deal with the “world of is” either potentially or as “rules of thought” (all thoughts are in minds). God, on the other hand, is different.
In my mind, the practice of mathematics is the practice of distinguishing between the “world of is” and the “world of is not;” if something is mathematically provable, it is; if something is mathematically disprovable it is not.
Can you elaborate?
“World of is” vs “World of is not” is a false dichotomy.
“I lose interest” is possibly the worst and most uncharitable of all forms of philosophical rhetoric. (Hence my ‘turnabout’.)
Luke gave a false impression of what non-naturalistic ethics comprises by providing only a single example of such a position—a position which was absurd because it presumed the existence of a deity.
Even Hume allowed that works of mathematics need not be “committed to the flames”. Mathematics, to my mind, does not deal with the “world of is”, neither does it deal with the “world of is not”. Yet if someone were to provide a non-reductionist, but axiomatic, ‘definition’ of ‘good’ using the methods and practices of mathematical logic, I certainly would not dismiss it as “uninteresting”.
But mathematics does deal with the “world of is” either potentially or as “rules of thought” (all thoughts are in minds). God, on the other hand, is different.
In my mind, the practice of mathematics is the practice of distinguishing between the “world of is” and the “world of is not;” if something is mathematically provable, it is; if something is mathematically disprovable it is not.
Existence and non-existence pretty much exausts all possibilities here, no?