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Monthly Archives: July 2008

Do you think that the following argument is a good one : X says that a certain metaphysical view is correct. X says that if this view M is correct, it should produce certain effects in the psychology of people that realize it. (Make them super-smart, or super-kind for example). It is observed that X has this type of psychology. Thus the metaphysical view M is true.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

I am part of a minority of philosophers who believe that some variant on the argument you proposed can be incorporated into a strong inductive argument –in fact I’m currently at work on just such a project, named “Pragmatic Metaphysics”. However, the argument as so stated is an example of the formal fallacy “affirming the [...]

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What makes a question Philosophical in nature?

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The word “Philosophy” literally means love of wisdom, so one answer might be questions asked strictly out of the love of wisdom or knowledge –questions whose primary purpose is not one of practical utility. I don’t favor this definition, however, because I believe philosophical questions have a lot of utility, although not always in an [...]

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How can primary and secondary reflection, allow us to experience the world profoundly, and proffer a genuine sense of freedom?

Thursday, July 3, 2008

“Primary” and “Secondary Reflection” are concepts from the work of Christian Existentialist Gabriel Marcel. To provide a rough and inaccurate summary, primary reflection is the initial attempt to mentally apprehend an external reality as something foreign and separate, whereas secondary reflection is considers the subject as part of the larger whole within which the observer [...]

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what is kants compromise?

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

“Kant’s Compromise” is a name for the fact that the philosopher Immanuel Kant is generally viewed as creating a middle ground between the warring philosophical outlooks of (Continental) Rationalism, as epitomized by French philosopher René Descartes, and (British) Empiricism, as epitomized by Scottish philosopher David Hume. The former emphasized the mind, and the use of [...]

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