J.

Karma: 6

J. 28 Aug 2008 19:00 UTC
0 points
on: Against Modal Logics
Caledonian, aside from the continental school, could you please give some examples of people trying to posture to be profound? In philosophy graduate programs today, you are explicitly told not to posture.

Also, could you give an example of a philosophical problem that science has solved. E.g., What makes right actions right? What makes a society just? What makes mathematical claims true?

Your polemic is embarrassing. Your post was a form of masturbation.

J. 28 Aug 2008 1:03 UTC
−5 points
on: Against Modal Logics
I read this blog for Hanson’s posts, but unfortunately you are one of his co-bloggers. I wouldn’t be surprised if you delete this or fail to post it, but whatever. Anyways, I occasionally read something you write, and I am struck by how dismissive you are of contemporary philosophy, usually treating it as a strawman or cartoon.

Can you please put your money where your mouth is and publish a philosophical paper in a good journal (such as Philosophical Review, Nous, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Journal of Philosophy, Ethics, Mind, or Phil Studies?) Lots of philosophers would love your approach. (I think you will fail to publish anything, not because the discipline is biased against you, but because you are at best a seventh rate thinker self-deceived into thinking he’s a second rate thinker. I’m not saying that to be abusive, but, really, to be frank.)

Once you do this, I will begin taking you seriously. Until then, I consider you a very smart crank.

P.S., since you frequently write on topics other than your specialty (the singularity), such as moral realism, reductionism, etc., please make your publication one of these topics.

J. 20 Mar 2008 10:18 UTC
4 points
on: Joy in the Merely Real
Psy-kosh,

Suppose God hands a you a 4-d map of the universe that shows all of the events that occur and all of the things that exist. On a common (but by no means only reasonable) interpretation of what lawfulness means, the idea is that if given the laws of nature, the state of affairs in one time slice implies the state of affairs in any other. So, given Ln (laws of nature), if S0 (state of affairs at time slice 0) then S1 (state of affairs at time slice 1). That kind of thing. (Complications: no unique time-slices due to relativity, perhaps some laws of nature might be time-reversal variant, etc.)

However, it’s logically possible that the 4-d map doesn’t admit of those sorts of laws. It might just be that there is no non-trivial set of rules about the relationship between the state of affairs at one time slice versus another. (Trivial laws will still hold. Imagine a lengthy disjunctive law of nature that simply says something like if S1 then S2, then S3...if S2 then S1 then S3… etc.)

Whether the universe is going to admit of non-trivial rules or not is an empirical thing, not a logical point. It’s a good methodological assumption that the universe is lawlike, but it’s not logically necessary.

J. 25 Nov 2007 20:03 UTC
2 points
on: Religion’s Claim to be Non-Disprovable
TGGP:

Presumably you think that the statement, “X is a truth only if falsifiable” is true. Is this statement falsifiable?

It isn’t falsifiable on empirical grounds. It might be falsiable on a priori grounds, though I bet that’s not what you have in mind. If you admit of a priori grounds, though, you’ve opened the door back up for ethics despite it not being empirically testable.

J. 22 Nov 2007 4:26 UTC
2 points
on: Not for the Sake of Happiness (Alone)
One often sees ethicists arguing that all desires are in principle reducible to the desire for happiness? How often? If you’re talking about philosopher ethicists, in general you see them arguing against this view.

J. 16 Oct 2007 18:17 UTC
0 points
on: How to Seem (and Be) Deep
BW,

Based on your comments here, I’ve increased my subjective probability that you will not write a great philosophy book significantly.

J. 14 Sep 2007 0:27 UTC
3 points
on: Human Evil and Muddled Thinking
When did Tyler say that overcoming bias is not important? Are you talking about this post here: http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/08/how-important-i.html

He says it’s not the most important thing in the world, not that it’s not important. So, is your reading of Cowen biased? Or did I miss something?