| Subject | Date Asked |
|
| Philosophy and pharmaceutical ethics | 10/8/2009 |
Q: Charles K. MacKay Is it possible to get or find books which are connecting this two areas? I would ...
A: See: http://www.amazon.com/Studies-Pharmacy-Ethics-Robert-Veatch/dp/0195308123 ...
|
| nietzsche | 8/19/2009 |
Q: I have been reading the book called "Why I am So Wise" by Friedrich Nietzsche. I am currently ...
A: Nietzsche always has an ironic, sarcastic side to his writing, even when he is at his most serious. ...
|
| Philosophy | 8/13/2009 |
Q: May I know about Thomas Aquinas 5 ways of proving god's existence though I have read it I could not ...
A: Try this on for size: http://www.jcu.edu/philosophy/gensler/RE/R-B2--00.HTM The idea in the first ...
|
| Ethics and Cults | 8/6/2009 |
Q: MacKay, Is it it ethical to indoctrinate people into a cult? I am using Lifton's (1961) definition ...
A: It depends on whether you're inside or outside the cult. If you're inside, it's obviously ethical to ...
|
| Scientists are the explorers | 8/6/2009 |
Q: I have problems with this question "'Scientists are the explorers of today.'Discuss." i)Can you give ...
A: Explorers in the past (Columbus, Hudson, etc.) tested the assumptions of their time (Hudson --there ...
|
| Television sex n violence | 7/28/2009 |
Q: Hai, do you mind explain & describe to me what this whole sentence means, please "Television sex and ...
A: Sorry to be late getting to you. Essentially, the sentence describes a "feedback loop". like the ...
|
| I'm having a philosophical dilemma.. | 6/21/2009 |
Q: Okay, well you probably have already heard this question hundreds and hundreds of times before, but ...
A: You ask a whale of a lot of questions about each of which whole libraries have been written. So let ...
|
| God? | 5/30/2009 |
Q: Can you logically argue against the existence of God? I need to do so for a class so, of course, I ...
A: The only effective way to argue against the existence of anything on purely logical grounds is the ...
|
| Philosophy | 5/28/2009 |
Q: What is the distinction between deductive and inductive arguments?
A: The essence is that deductive arguments are true by virtue of the meaning of their terms; inductive ...
|
| morality and nothing | 5/28/2009 |
Q: how are you? I have a question about morality and nothingness. If nothingness is to be defined as ...
A: You're essentially defining "nothing" as "empty space." That's not the way philosophers (or speakers ...
|
| John F. Kennedy Quote | 5/6/2009 |
Q: What does the this quote mean? "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for ...
A: Kennedy was trying to respond to right-wing critics who accused him of wanting to expand social ...
|
| relation with itself? | 4/9/2009 |
Q: MacKay can someone have relation with himself? (does it contradict the definition of relation?) is ...
A: This is one of those incredible tangles that medieval philosophy liked to get itself into one of ...
|
| God paradox | 4/8/2009 |
Q: I would like to ask you a few questions about God and omnipotence. The paradoxical question "can ...
A: This is an old, old, old puzzle. We ascribe omnipotence to a God who is clearly a god of Greek ...
|
| Logical consistency | 3/15/2009 |
Q: How important is it to be logically consistent?
A: Outside of mathematics, physics, and a few other fields of science, logical consistency "counts" ...
|
| Does world exist? | 2/25/2009 |
Q: Does the real world exist? And can we believe it is the same as it appears to be?
A: This question has bedeviled photospheres for centuries. We have now, in the past century, come to ...
|
| Socrates | 2/25/2009 |
Q: I was wondering if you could tell me 3 ways in which Socrates has had an impact on todays society? ...
A: (1) Plato used him as his spokesman in the Dialogues, which frame the question that are still ...
|
| Ethics: rule of rescue | 2/24/2009 |
Q: Would you go out of your way to bring about a 1/100% decrease in the likelihood of a premature ...
A: The hidden assumption behind the way the problem is posed is the hidden assumption is that more life ...
|
| John F. Kennedy Quote | 2/19/2009 |
Q: I understand the quote, but I would like to have another person's more in depth view of it. "The ...
A: I strongly recommend two books that reveal a lot about education; Cultural Literacy by E. D. Hirsch ...
|
| Fallacious reasoning | 1/30/2009 |
Q: I'm trying to think of the technical phrases (or Latin term if applicable) for the type of hazy ...
A: There are no formal or informal fallacies involved here, and hence, no Latin terms. What is going on ...
|
| plato allegory of the cave understanding question | 1/25/2009 |
Q: Hey there are some lines in the allegory of the cave by plato which has totally confused me.. i ...
A: You're reading an old, probably the Jowett, edition of the Dialogues, and that has the big problem ...
|
| Political Science | 1/18/2009 |
Q: Is politics a science or art?
A: The best answer is art. We know virtually nothing about how to test and falsify hypotheses about ...
|
| Ideals | 1/14/2009 |
Q: I don't know exactly what subject the following question pertains, so excuse me if I have addressed ...
A: The question you're asking is an oldie but a goodie -- and has been debated since the time of the ...
|
| The Bucket List | 12/4/2008 |
Q: I have a presentation that is due on monday for my Philosophy classl. The project consist of a list ...
A: Nothing like waiting until the last second, huh? Oh, well... "The Bucket List" (TBL) is about the ...
|
| plato | 11/30/2008 |
Q: I am having difficulty figuring out the argument for the existence of god in Plato's law's book X. ...
A: The reason you're having trouble is that the arguments for the existence of God in the Laws are ...
|
| hi | 11/14/2008 |
Q: I am currently in a Philosophy of Epistemology class and as a requirement i need to write a paper on ...
A: Were I you, I could use the Gettier/justified true belief issue. It seems so right, at first glance, ...
|
| Hegel and racism | 10/30/2008 |
Q: I would like to know wether you think that Hegel could be charged with racism? Thank you in advance ...
A: As we now understand racism, virtually everyone who lived in Hegel's time was a racist. I also think ...
|
| giving and taking offense | 10/29/2008 |
Q: Have any philosophers seriously tackled the issue of giving and taking offense? To me, the idea of ...
A: Of all the philosophers, the one who addresses this the most is Kant. See: ...
|
| Political Philosphy | 10/29/2008 |
Q: What are two or three examples of how Aquinas agrees with Aristotle regarding his political ...
A: There are lots of possible parallels, but three obvious ones are these: Both of them believe that ...
|
| War? | 10/20/2008 |
Q: How do most people define the definition of "winning a war?" There is of course that Chinese proverb ...
A: "Winning a war" depends on the war's objectives. In World War II, for example, the Unites States and ...
|
| Freudian/Jungian View of History? | 10/1/2008 |
Q: MacKay, I'm reading on my own time a book about historiagraphy. I'm trying to figure out what the ...
A: The short answer to the question is "no" -- neither Freud nor Jung every asserted that every aspect ...
|
| I don't understand anything anymore | 9/24/2008 |
Q: I'm afraid you'll have to forgive me if I've chosen the wrong area in which to explain my query. Up ...
A: I'm still trying to formulate something that will be of help -- I really think a depression this ...
|
| I don't understand anything anymore | 9/23/2008 |
Q: I'm afraid you'll have to forgive me if I've chosen the wrong area in which to explain my query. Up ...
A: I'm truly, truly sorry that you have had such a hellacious 15 years. My prayers and sympathy. There ...
|
| What matters? | 9/2/2008 |
Q: I'm trying to delude myself into think that what I'm doing matters but somehow i can't get past that ...
A: Before we can ask if what you're doing matters, we have to ask what matters to you and those around ...
|
| Should I ignore this 2 website? | 8/3/2008 |
Q: Should I trust this 2 website? I have encounter this 2 website, which question reality once again, ...
A: I've already answered this. Another way to think about it, however, is this: If the object and the ...
|
| Should I ignore this 2 website? | 8/2/2008 |
Q: Should I trust this 2 website? I have encounter this 2 website, which question reality once again, ...
A: Read your question carefully, and you'll see that you always have to posit SOME real objects even to ...
|
| Does human have the same taste sensation? | 7/17/2008 |
Q: -Do human brain interpret taste similarly? Is it possible for us to perceive the same taste when we ...
A: On a biological level, there is every reason to think that all tastes taste the same to all humans; ...
|
| hi | 7/16/2008 |
Q: I am studying the laws of philosophy and currently focusing on utilitarian and punishment. I ...
A: The issue you're raising here takes a number of forms, the most recent one being the "tortured child ...
|
| Numbers | 7/2/2008 |
Q: What are numbers?
A: There have been numerous answers. My own view is that a number is a mark used in a language game we ...
|
| What is the real world like? | 7/1/2008 |
Q: I think this is the second time I ask you a question... recently I come across a article in the ...
A: Quickly: Matter is real. Manifestations of matter, such as minds, are therefore real. The world ...
|
| What is the real world like? | 6/30/2008 |
Q: I think this is the second time I ask you a question... recently I come across a article in the ...
A: The issues being raised here are old, old ones in Western philosophy, and Islamic belief in one ...
|
| is it somthing else | 6/9/2008 |
Q: When I think of soul I get some image in my mind. And what image I get in my mind is something that ...
A: The question you ask belongs to two realms: metaphysics and philosophical anthropology. The first is ...
|
| Intrinsic Human Nature in Hinduism | 5/19/2008 |
Q: I was wondering if you could enlighten me as to, in the overall Hindu religion (realizing there are ...
A: As you will see from the following article, it is very hard to say that there IS an "overall Hindu ...
|
| philosophy/religion | 5/13/2008 |
Q: I have read some philosophy as well as studied religion; I am now reading Kant, Sarte, and Freud ...
A: Each of these philosophers has a different idea. For Kant, we are the phenomenal appearance of a ...
|
| Schopenhauer and PSR | 5/2/2008 |
Q: I've just finished volume I of "The world as world and representation" and some things are still ...
A: This is an area with which I have little familiarity -- frankly, I have always thought of ...
|
| Descartes | 4/23/2008 |
Q: What is it about the human mind ("the thinking thing") that makes it uniquely suited to give ...
A: Basicallt, the "thinking thing" (res cogitans) is the good old Christian soul with a fancy Latin ...
|
| Difference between Kant's ethics and rule utilitarianism | 4/22/2008 |
Q: The major difference between Kant's ethics and rule utilitarianism is intent for Kant, which is most ...
A: Sure. Kant's ethics require one to do those things which are consistent with the categorical ...
|
| Charles Mills views on Kant's ethics | 4/22/2008 |
Q: I am doing a paper for my Ethics class and am wondering according to Mills, would Kant's ethics best ...
A: "Colorblind" here is not to be taken literally. It's shorthand for whether or not any individual ...
|
| Charles Mills views on Kant's ethics | 4/22/2008 |
Q: I am doing a paper for my Ethics class and am wondering according to Mills, would Kant's ethics best ...
A: Absolutely colorblind. For Kant, we are all morally equally and there is no conceivable ...
|
| The Rorty Revolution | 4/21/2008 |
Q: You said that "...that we can deisng a "truth machine" which consists of procedures everyone ...
A: Let's look at it this way: (1) Wittgenstein showed that truth, whatever it is, cannot consist of a ...
|
| Knowledge | 4/8/2008 |
Q: MacKay My question concerns the task of gathering knowledge about any subject: What are the sources ...
A: This question has been debated since the dawn of philosophy and tens of thousands of pages have been ...
|
| Worldview | 3/25/2008 |
Q: "The Implications of Beginning with Epistemology over Ontology". What is meant by this?
A: Sorry to be a bit delayed in answering this. At any rate -- Most philosophers have started out on ...
|
| laws of thought | 3/21/2008 |
Q: i want to know the three laws of thought in philosophy and there meaning and various implication
A: There is an extended discussion, covering everything you want, at: ...
|
| Phaedo | 3/4/2008 |
Q: I have two questions: 1. Why does Socrates defend the need to purify the soul? 2. How is philosophy ...
A: One of the difficulties with Plato is that one is never sure when what he has Socrates saying are ...
|
| Easy question | 3/3/2008 |
Q: How does one pronounce the phrase "a priori"? I've heard the vowels pronounced about every way ...
A: My training is in both classical Latin and Roman Catholic church Latin. How much either of these ...
|
| question | 2/29/2008 |
Q: somebody said, " you can´t never ask the question that you don´t know already the answer to " do ...
A: This is almost exclusively used in reference to the courtoom technique of trial lawyers -- the idea ...
|
| Plato | 2/22/2008 |
Q: Can you help me understand Plato's conception of knowledge, truth, and certainty?
A: Lost of books have been, and continue to be written, about the technical details of Plato's view, ...
|
| Emmanuel Levinas | 2/4/2008 |
Q: How is the name "Levinas" pronounced? Thanks -- Joe
A: He's of Jewish ancestry, and the levi part is like the Biblical Levi: lee-vie. Accent is on the ...
|
| theory about God | 2/2/2008 |
Q: Can you please direct me to the theory about God which is based in logic and deduction rather then ...
A: Virtually all of the logically based theories of God are of the "for things to be as they are, they ...
|
| Transhumanism and more. | 1/26/2008 |
Q: what do you think of Transhumanism? Are there any recent developments that have taken place in the ...
A: I think it is inevitable that eventually we will become cyborgs and live in harmony with artificial ...
|
| Burden of proof | 1/21/2008 |
Q: Given A is B and A is not B Which statement lies the burden of proof? Thank you. ANSWER: Think ...
A: We simply have to start with which claim seems more improbable. There's no alternative to subjective ...
|
| Burden of proof | 1/21/2008 |
Q: Given A is B and A is not B Which statement lies the burden of proof? Thank you. ANSWER: Think ...
A: (Infinitely...) many more existential statements ("There is at least one...")are false than true. ...
|
| Burden of proof | 1/21/2008 |
Q: Given A is B and A is not B Which statement lies the burden of proof? Thank you.
A: Think of all the possible nouns and all the possible adjectives. Most of the statements we can ...
|
| ÇáÝáÓÝÉ | 1/21/2008 |
Q: Sir Dr. esteemed appreciate your cooperation to answer Our questions 1.Can you update personal ...
A: I think we're running into a bit of a language problem here, which is entirely my fault since I'm ...
|
| Using Wittgenstein to reform Religious thinking | 12/25/2007 |
Q: At Christmas - Continuing to Reflect About Religion Today Since graduating from the College of ...
A: Quite a load you've taken on. Wittgenstein was a tortured mystic (in at least one side of his life) ...
|
| German Philosophy | 12/23/2007 |
Q: just German philosophy? What was their philosophy in the 19th century is it much different then it ...
A: By '19th century" I mean the period 1800- 1899. It's one of the oddities of dating (since the years ...
|
| Jobs? | 12/3/2007 |
Q: Well i was a computer engineering major till i took a philosophy course and realized i don't care ...
A: I'm delighted that you are pondering the deeper questions, but I would strongly dissuade you from ...
|
| Kant | 12/1/2007 |
Q: I have read that Kant emphasised epistemology over ontology. I broadly understand what these two ...
A: Good questions; they indicate that you are really thinking about this stuff and understanding some ...
|
| Kant | 11/30/2007 |
Q: I have read that Kant emphasised epistemology over ontology. I broadly understand what these two ...
A: Ontology is the theory of what there is. Epistemology is the theory of how we know things, among ...
|
| philosophy | 10/22/2007 |
Q: how does determinism aids in the growth of science?
A: The set of cultural practices we call "science" depends for most of its tasks on the assumption that ...
|
| Nihilism and Suicide | 10/6/2007 |
Q: If Nihilists believe life is futile and mostly painful, why don't they just commit suicide? Wouldn't ...
A: Nihilists don't necessarily believe that life is futile and mostly painful, although this may ...
|
| Philosophy teaching | 9/4/2007 |
Q: My boyfriend is in his first year of a Ph.D philosophy program and just started teaching an ...
A: First of all, teaching can be learned; it is not an innate skill. Your BF would be less than human ...
|
| how to | 8/29/2007 |
Q: you have a fox a duck and a bucket of corn ,you have to get each one across the river in a boat one ...
A: Take the duck first. Being a carnivore, the fox won't eat the corn. Then take either the corn or the ...
|
| Ref: philosophy | 7/4/2007 |
Q: Good Afternoon Mr. Mackay, I was wondering where does thought,and ideas come from? How are ...
A: You raise two separate issues. The answer to the first is that the general ability to think, form ...
|
| philosophy for non-philosophers | 7/3/2007 |
Q: I'm wondering if you can name some great books on philosophy for non-philosophers. There are two ...
A: The problem here is that philosophers vary so widely, and so many of them are (from a modern ...
|
| Levinas | 6/26/2007 |
Q: (Another expert was unable to respond to my Q): I am at a complete loss at what Levinas means by ...
A: See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_saying_and_the_said The simplest way to put it is that ...
|
| psycology | 6/18/2007 |
Q: importance in the study of psychology?
A: I am guessing that your question is actually whether or not philosophy has anything useful to say ...
|
| Hart & Dworkin's nature of law and legal interpretation | 5/28/2007 |
Q: I'm taking a class in philosophy ethics. I'm a little confused and I'm hoping you can shed some ...
A: The simplest and starkest way to draw the distinction is this: Hart is a logical positivist. It ...
|
| mark twain... | 4/26/2007 |
Q: this is with regards to mark twain's little bessie. what would you explain to a child (like little ...
A: The question you post is one of the oldest in philosophy. How CAN a good God permit evil? There are ...
|
| Dante's Inferno | 4/19/2007 |
Q: Do you think that Dante's Inferno contradicts the Bible or Christian beliefs?
A: There is no contradiction. The Inferno is, among other things, an attempt to present a vision of ...
|
| ethics | 4/8/2007 |
Q: Mackay, From a non theistic philosophy: If there is no God, no objective and obsolute observer, ...
A: Obviously, this merits a book. Still, when I've taught ethics, I've put it this way: imagine a ...
|
| Platoo | 4/4/2007 |
Q: I am not sure if can asnswer this , but it is actualy Your answer wha tI am asking, Is the trinity ...
A: See here: http://www.iep.utm.edu/g/god-west.htm ..look under "Greeks." This is pretty much ...
|
| post-structuralism (derrida) | 4/4/2007 |
Q: This is frustrating to look for a book for beginners concerning on derrida's thoughts. Yet, it is so ...
A: Here things get a tiny bit sticky, primarily because clarity was not Derrida's or Foucault's ...
|
| Platoo | 4/3/2007 |
Q: I am not sure if can asnswer this , but it is actualy Your answer wha tI am asking, Is the trinity ...
A: No. The Trinity is NOT a teaching that was brought into Christianity by Plato. I mentioned in an ...
|
| post-structuralism (derrida) | 4/3/2007 |
Q: This is frustrating to look for a book for beginners concerning on derrida's thoughts. Yet, it is so ...
A: To quote from the www.wikipedia.org article on "deconstruction": Jacques Derrida coined the term in ...
|
| Platoo | 3/30/2007 |
Q: I am not sure if can asnswer this , but it is actualy Your answer wha tI am asking, Is the trinity ...
A: Plato would have found the idea of a personal God -- one with an intellect and a will like ours -- ...
|
| Platoo | 3/22/2007 |
Q: I am not sure if can asnswer this , but it is actualy Your answer wha tI am asking, Is the trinity ...
A: No. Plato probably was a monotheist -- a believer in one God -- but would have thought the ...
|
| help | 3/16/2007 |
Q: what are some good philosophy questions?
A: 1.) Why is there anything at all rather than nothing? 2.) If a tree falls in the forest and no one ...
|
| FOUCAULT | 3/7/2007 |
Q: Foucault's epistemology begs the question if all knowledge, and therefore power, is strictly aligned ...
A: The postmodernist school, of which Foucault is one of the founders, maintains that each and every ...
|
| DERRIDA | 3/7/2007 |
Q: Having read 'margins of philosophy' by Derrida, is it fair to say that 'Derrida uses binary ...
A: See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing Derrida is of the school that thinks nothing is a ...
|
| Resources? | 3/2/2007 |
Q: I am an undergrad student and am really interested in philosophy. I have very little knowledge in ...
A: "Squashed Philosophers" is an excellent source for condensed philosophical stuff; see: ...
|
| discovery | 2/27/2007 |
Q: Ken Wilber said: "...discovery begins at the moment you consciously become dissatisfied with life. ...
A: While it is true that some discovery results from dissatisfaction, that is not always true. One ...
|
| philosophy | 2/26/2007 |
Q: to what extent can philosophy be regarded as a science
A: It's not the job of philosophy to be a science; part of its job is to examine the claims made by ...
|
| pawns | 2/8/2007 |
Q: Would you agree that nowadays a human being became a cog in a large economic machine that his hands ...
A: You're making a dichotomy between total automation and total creativity, and I think it's a false ...
|
| Life is like a dream | 1/8/2007 |
Q: I still got a few question to ask you. 1.To put it simply,so you mean we were not able see the ...
A: "Life is like a dram" is simply a literary comparison device using the words "like" or "as." I threw ...
|
| Life is like a dream | 1/3/2007 |
Q: I got few question I need to ask you. It seem to be easy, but I just don't understand. 1.Why does ...
A: One reason one might feel that life is like a dream is that, lkike many dreams, it is over too soon. ...
|
| denominations- are they logical? | 12/27/2006 |
Q: Can you help shed some light on my plight, pardon the rhyme :) Regarding Christianity: If you ...
A: First of all, there are differences in faith that can't be accomodated without denominational ...
|
| Have you see Matrix the movie? | 12/16/2006 |
Q: I have 3 questions I wanted to ask to you. 1.Is Matrix a fiction or non-fiction?does Matrix really ...
A: Yes, I've seen the whole series. Matrix is fiction. We have no evidence that the world we live in, ...
|
| Epistemology | 11/12/2006 |
Q: What is H.H. Prices' theory in "The Given?" Are there any objections or falsehoods to his theory ...
A: "When I see a tomato there is much that I can doubt. I can doubt whether it is a tomato that I am ...
|
| The Problem of Evil (Formal Proof) | 11/9/2006 |
Q: Charles, I am trying to give a proof of validy to the follow argument. "If God exists, then He ...
A: Assuming that by "formal proof" your instructor means a proof in symbolic logic, I would do it this ...
|
| Technology and Human Behavior | 11/9/2006 |
Q: I'm a senior journalism major and I'm constructing an article. Maybe I can rephrase the question. I ...
A: This really belongs in the realms of sociology, marketing, or both, rather than philosophy. Try ...
|
| x | 11/3/2006 |
Q: "THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY: A TREATISE IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE BY PETER L. BERGER, ...
A: Definitely worth buying and reading, although I would buy a used copy from amazon.com if a used one ...
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| Valla &Petrarch | 11/2/2006 |
Q: Problem. Our lector of philosphy, has given us questions about works that are not available in our ...
A: The English text of "On Pleasure" is at: http://www.idehist.uu.se/distans/ilmh/Ren/valla-good.htm ...
|
| freedom | 11/1/2006 |
Q: "Positive freedom, according to Fromm, is identical with the full realization of the individual's ...
A: Let's contrast this with negative freedom -- "freedom from." The Constitutional prohibition on ...
|
| a logic question, but there's no logic category | 10/30/2006 |
Q: I still don't understand this though. I can see that C would know his color in the case of BBW, and ...
A: The information given allows us to know (when we get to the end of the whole process), that A is ...
|
| a logic question, but there's no logic category | 10/30/2006 |
Q: How do I even start to go about solving the following problem? And could you show me the steps on ...
A: There are lots of ways to look at this. One of the simplest is this: make a table that shows all the ...
|
| Plato's Pharmacy | 10/29/2006 |
Q: i want to read Derrida's essay plato's pharmacy but cannot find it online can you suggest me some ...
A: I can't find it online either, and it's unlikely that it would be there available free since it's ...
|
| F. H. Bradley | 10/18/2006 |
Q: The Encyclopedia A-Z browse is under the heading AllExperts and doesn't cite Wikipedia. So ...
A: I was completely unaware we had an encyclopedia; you've taught me something. If you are concerned ...
|
| save the world or save your friends | 10/13/2006 |
Q: If you're a hero, and you have to make a choice, are you supposed to save the world or save your ...
A: If your friends are part of the world, you can't save them without saving the world. <evil grin>. If ...
|
| Typical Matrix question | 10/7/2006 |
Q: I have a couple general questions. The first one is fairly unanswerable in my opinion, but I just ...
A: Whether possibilities are endless and whether or not we can know about them are two different ...
|
| Does God Exist | 9/26/2006 |
Q: I am also inclined to believe that there is no argument which establishes the existence( or ...
A: Sorry to be late in replying; I've been pondering to see if I had anything original to give you in ...
|
| Does God Exist | 9/25/2006 |
Q: Do you believe that God exist or does not exist? What is your best argument? What is your reutation ...
A: I believe that God exists. I don't believe that there is any argument that proves this. The ...
|
| Buying foreign or domestic | 8/18/2006 |
Q: I don't want to be unpatriotic, but sometimes I feel like I should buy foreign products in order to ...
A: This is really an ecomomics, not a philosphy question; it presupposes that, first, one ought to ...
|
| Discrimation | 8/16/2006 |
Q: How does racism impact our society?
A: In numerous ways -- emotional, economic, personal, intellectual, etc. I would suggest that you check ...
|
| Paying relatively | 8/9/2006 |
Q: This may sound like a petty question but I've noticed that ebay charges a person for both inserting ...
A: You're being exploited, in the sense defined by Roemer in the book, "Free to Lose" -- there is ...
|
| kant's formula of humanity | 8/8/2006 |
Q: "So act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at ...
A: This is simply one of Kant's variations on the Golden Rule. Here, it means that everyone should be ...
|
| How can logic help in the attainment of truth | 8/1/2006 |
Q: How can logic help in the attainment of truth
A: Formal logic is useful in the pursuit of truth only in the sense that no logically false statement ...
|
| a paper im doing | 7/18/2006 |
Q: ok well the question im asked in my paper is as follows.. what is thought? what is mind? if u could ...
A: There's so much that has been said and written about this that I couldn't even begin to summarize ...
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| being and non being | 7/15/2006 |
Q: Is a non being a part of a being?? What is a non being anyway?
A: Imagining a "nothing" that is a really a "something" has gotten philosophers tied up in knots since ...
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| unity in philosophy | 7/13/2006 |
Q: Philosophy is man's Quest for unity of knowledge, a perpectual struggle to create concepts that ...
A: What if the universe really is fragmented? What if there are no principles, philosophical or ...
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| intelligence | 7/4/2006 |
Q: can intelligence be measured?how?
A: Sure it can. The classic way is to take the ratio of "what this kid knows at age x" and divide it by ...
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| destiny | 6/29/2006 |
Q: is there such a things like destiny? Why? Give an Exanple...
A: There is no convincing, general evidence that each human being has a special outcome of their lives. ...
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| where should we go after death | 6/28/2006 |
Q: if hell and heaven is only an idea, where are we really going after our physical death?do we really ...
A: If hell and heaven are only ideas, it is hard to argue that the universe is so organized that we go ...
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| utilitarianism | 6/24/2006 |
Q: In Utilitarianism, it is mentioned that "an action is right if it produces the greatest number of ...
A: In a word, no. Utilitarianism, in any form, is concerned both with maximizing happiness (in response ...
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| evil in the world | 6/21/2006 |
Q: From a philosophical stand point... is human happiness possible?
A: Has anyone every been happy? Then happiness is possible. It's a psychological state, not a ...
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| bioethics | 6/15/2006 |
Q: why is active,voluntary euthanasia is morally permissible it should not be legally permissible?
A: The only reason I can think of is this: Suppose active, voluntary euthanasia is regarded as morally ...
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| Nicomachean ethics | 6/7/2006 |
Q: I'm taking an ethics class and i'm having a hard time understanding Aristotle. I have three ...
A: Just got out of the hospital, sorry for the delay. 1.) Yes, but a person with virtues will usually ...
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| Nietzsche 'God is Dead' experts | 5/29/2006 |
Q: I am doing some reasearch work on Nietzsche's idea of "god is dead". Can you provide me a few main ...
A: The basic idea, as I understand it, is that the "slave morality" that Nietzsche wants to overthrow ...
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| philosophy is "i know not what"by ludwig wittgenstein | 5/17/2006 |
Q: write an esaay on philosophy is i know not what by ludwig wittgenstein
A: Wittgenstein thought that as various "language-games", such as physics, developed enough rules and ...
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| Hello Charles!
Sometimes,... | 5/16/2006 |
Q: Sometimes, quite often actually, I have a feeling that I'm wasting my time. I am aware that our life ...
A: This actually belongs much more in the category of counseling or psychology than philosophy -- ...
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| Mill and Kant | 5/12/2006 |
Q: Lately, I have been reading about Kantian ethics and utilitarianism. I really enjoy how Kant ...
A: Because Kant never addresses content, but only form, he has no effective response to Mill. This can ...
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| Hello Charles!
Maybe it's... | 5/8/2006 |
Q: Maybe it's a kind of stupid and very broad question but if you were to give somebody a recipe for ...
A: I would say three things, to start with: (1) The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates); ...
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| normative political theory | 4/24/2006 |
Q: sorry for the delay ,i have travelled and returned to find your reply.thank you for taking time to ...
A: Clearly there is a difference. Empirical political theory is most of the work that political science ...
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| logic | 4/6/2006 |
Q: How does logic help in the attainment of truth?
A: At least in western logic, statements that are logical contradications can't be true. Other than ...
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| normative political theory | 4/4/2006 |
Q: My name is Samir Ibrahim and currently reading social and political theory. on my readings on ...
A: The key element to understanding the status of logical positivism versus normative political theory ...
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| History & syntax | 3/25/2006 |
Q: is it right or wrong in English language? Thanks. <What is history, when isn' t the past ...
A: I gather that this is an English grammar question, and those really don't fall into the realm of ...
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| Marx | 3/1/2006 |
Q: What does Marx mean by stating that capital is not physical things (equipment and materials) or ...
A: Simple. For something to be regarded as capital, here has to be capitalism. Capitalism is a set of ...
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| Hello my name is Bridget Buyna.... | 2/27/2006 |
Q: I am a senior at Shaler Area High School and in my English class we are saying experts for the ...
A: People think that "the grass is always greener on the other side" - i.e., the other side of the ...
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| Hello Charles!
How to understand... | 2/17/2006 |
Q: How to understand the term "to abandon your own self, to deny your own ego" Is it connected with the ...
A: The phrase is probably connected with eastern philosophy of some sort, because many (but not all!) ...
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| Budda | 1/18/2006 |
Q: If you meet the Budda kill him. Why?
A: With all due respect, it's "Buddha", not "Budda." The idea behind the original aphorism, which ...
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| Hi
Is it possible that... | 1/11/2006 |
Q: Is it possible that there is "a good side of bad" Bad is always Bad, in my humble opinion. thanks
A: I would, in general, agree that bad is bad, period. But further evil need not grow from it, good can ...
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| morality | 12/27/2005 |
Q: What makes men special compared to any other living or non-living thing if he/she is raised like a ...
A: You question assumes something probably untrue: that robots will never be capable of more than ...
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| - | 12/22/2005 |
Q: It seems to me that veganism and vegetarianism are kinds of rebellion. However i think that it's a ...
A: You're right; people have always eaten meat and probably always will, but the only compelling ...
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| happiness | 11/18/2005 |
Q: what is the true cause of happiness? they say the truth will set you free. thank you.
A: I've answered almost this same question for you before -- in utilitarian terms, happiness is the ...
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| European view of early modern times | 11/17/2005 |
Q: I am studying history for a college class and was hoping you could point me in the right direction. ...
A: I believe that this refers to the Renaissance, not the Enlightenment. Books could be, and have ...
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| knowledge | 11/14/2005 |
Q: Followup To Question - How do you know? Can knowledge be transferred from one human being to ...
A: Consider an experiment. I don't know how to buidl a generator. Joe gives me the plans for one. I ...
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| - | 11/12/2005 |
Q: I've read somewhere that people are just apparently worse and more cruel than animals. I was ...
A: It appears that animals with large brains relative to their body size (I use that instead of "higher ...
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| knowledge | 11/9/2005 |
Q: How do you know? Can knowledge be transferred from one human being to another? Answer - Clearly, ...
A: I am more and more persuaded that the modern pragmatistis, like Richard Rorty, are correct in their ...
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| H G Wells & the British Empire | 11/6/2005 |
Q: HG Wells said of the British Empire ''Nothing of the sort had ever existed before. First and central ...
A: In Britain, which has an unwritten constitution which is enshrined in numerous court decisions that ...
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| universe | 10/27/2005 |
Q: i would like to know is the universe random or is it preordained to follow certain rules, or why ...
A: You ask a question that would take a least a book to answer in full, but let me try a very short ...
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| philosophy | 10/24/2005 |
Q: I know that pascal wager is that if god exists, believing in him will have a huge pay-off, whereas ...
A: Clifford believed that believing anything on insufficient evidence was morally wrong for mankind as ...
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| Epistemology: Sense experience | 10/23/2005 |
Q: Is sense experience a reliable source of knowlegde? Thank you for your help! Deann
A: I meant, of course "phantom limb pain" rather than "phantom lumb pain." If by "reliable" you mean ...
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| - | 10/23/2005 |
Q: While reading i came across such a sentence: "I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I ...
A: I read this as an exhortation to be open to experience, to consider possibilites that a narrow quest ...
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| philosophy | 10/20/2005 |
Q: my question today is what is the argument from evil. what is the distinction between moral evil and ...
A: This is not my central area of expertise, but I can at least deal with the surface of the questions. ...
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| Philosophy | 10/19/2005 |
Q: Sir could you answer these questions, these questions are not homework. These questions are ...
A: I'm simply not familiar with the cosmological argument in the level of detail that the answers to ...
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| moral theory | 10/18/2005 |
Q: i am now beginning to write my senior thesis. i am trying to pick which topic i want to write on, ...
A: Each of these theories depends totally, if not so obviously, on an impartiality requirement. For ...
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| Aristotle vs. Aquinas | 10/17/2005 |
Q: What comparison can be made between Aristotle and Aquinas' view on human happiness and the good?
A: The key thing to understand here is that Aqunias used the most general categories and concepts of ...
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| Philosophy | 10/13/2005 |
Q: i'm taking a philosophy class and having trouble. My question is I know the four primary areas of ...
A: Metaphysics deals with the kind of "stuff" the world is made of and why it's there. Epistemology ...
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| 4 General Philosphy Questions Please | 9/4/2005 |
Q: 4 General Philosphy Questions Please Hi, Im new here, How are you? i started taking philosophy ...
A: This sounds suspiciouyly like a homework question, which I usually don't answer, but I'll give it a ...
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| Greek philosophy | 8/31/2005 |
Q: I read that the early Christian councils such as Nicea in AD 325 used Greek ontology to define the ...
A: The source for all these distinctions, which became so important in Christian philosophy, was ...
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| The Hegelian Dialectic | 8/12/2005 |
Q: I understand the principle that thesis verses antithesis creates a synthesis. I'm having trouble ...
A: Absolutely, Hegel was an absolute idealist, of the Romantic period. As for the dialectic, consider ...
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| question | 7/25/2005 |
Q: When reading i came across such a sentence: "In this life on earth there is no 'final harbor where ...
A: First of all, this is poetic imagery, and poets usually produce stuff with multiple meanings. One of ...
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| - | 7/9/2005 |
Q: How do you understand the last line of this quotation especially "breathing through the eye of a ...
A: This is a matter of simple literary interpretation PROVIDED that the English is an adequate/accurate ...
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| Is the world heading toward a socialism? | 7/3/2005 |
Q: How are you? I know that we cannot predict the future, but i would like to know and according to ...
A: Marx believed that the transition to socialism could take 500 years or more. We are in a period now ...
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| - | 6/5/2005 |
Q: "Losing all hope is freedom" Do you agree with this quotation and what are your thoughts about it? ...
A: This is one of the many variations on Janis Joplin's "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left ...
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| plato | 5/28/2005 |
Q: respected sir i want to know the influence of plato on western thought the ideas,the theories the ...
A: Plato was responsible for (at least) the following ideas: (1) Idealism -- the position that the ...
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| Free Will | 5/24/2005 |
Q: I was trying to establish the other day that there is spituality (I assume this would be ...
A: See Daniel Dennett's new book, Freedom Evolves. It explains very well how we do not need to depart ...
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| - | 5/22/2005 |
Q: What do you think about this: "Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything" I think it ...
A: Basically, your interpretation of the first quotation is right. Assuming that this comes from an ...
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| deontological and utilitarian reasoning | 5/17/2005 |
Q: what is the difference between deontological and utilitarian reasoning?
A: Deontological reasoning refers to duty, which is usually determined without regard to circumstances ...
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| Kant question | 5/13/2005 |
Q: I'm currently studying Kant. Do you know what he means when Kant says that "rational nature exists ...
A: What he means is that any rational being -- a being able to be aware of its own existence, to have ...
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| Re: Kant | 5/11/2005 |
Q: Mackay how are you? I have to answer two questions, and I was wondering if you can help me out: (1) ...
A: One version of the categorical imperative is, "Act always so that you could will that the maxim of ...
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| Death | 4/26/2005 |
Q: What is the philosiphical view point of death, and life after that
A: There is no one position on this; Christian, Muslim, and some Jewish philosophers tend to believe in ...
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| general philosphy | 4/19/2005 |
Q: I have this question to consider and I am at a lost as to how to answer it. The question is "What do ...
A: You have part of the answer. I would say that the following are elements, although even the most ...
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| Quattro Pro 4.0 | 4/18/2005 |
Q: Charlie; I am actually using Windows 98. Part of my system upgrade was going from PC133 to DDR ...
A: OK, now that we know you are using 98 -- the change to higher-speed memory should not have ...
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| what is the purpose of life (questions and answers about it) | 4/18/2005 |
Q: what is the purpose of life (questions and answers )about it
A: Most modern philosophers who are in the Anglo-American tradition, and many who are in the ...
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| Quattro Pro 4.0 | 4/17/2005 |
Q: I have been using this software since the raly 90's & use it mainly because of the superior printing ...
A: Assuming that by EMS you mean "expanded memory" that is managed through an add-on and not "extended ...
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| 'the other' and journalism | 4/8/2005 |
Q: Ive been thinking a lot recently about whether our obsession to celebrity has anything to do with ...
A: No, this has nothing to do with Kant. The philospher most currently associated with it is Emmanuel ...
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| - | 3/28/2005 |
Q: Do you have a feeling that all humans are essentially alone. Though we have parents, friends we are ...
A: Definitely no, we are not alone, because if we were, language would be impossible, and we could not ...
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| Re: Questions | 3/25/2005 |
Q: Mackay how are you? I need some help on Philosophy questions, I hope you can help: 1. ...
A: 1.) True 2.) What's A? You appear to have left out one of the answers as answer A is ...
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| question | 3/11/2005 |
Q: Reading the samurai code I've come across such words: "I have no home; I make the Tan T'ien my ...
A: From a google search that turned up many hits: tan-t'ien: A human being's life force consists of ...
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| pragmatism | 3/9/2005 |
Q: Could you please explain William James' theory of meaning concerning pragmatism. Also, how does it ...
A: For most non-pragmatic philosophers, "meaning" is an abstract, universal entity to which words ...
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| question | 3/6/2005 |
Q: How do you understand these words? "To command the forest of enemy blades arrayed before you ...
A: This is an easy one, for once. If you know the enemy's mind or spirit completely, you can predict ...
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| Concepts | 3/6/2005 |
Q: I am struggling with a unit dealing with 'concepts', and I wonder if you can explain to me 1) ...
A: If you substitute "idea" for "concept" things get a lot clearer. All a concept is is an idea that ...
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| god | 2/27/2005 |
Q: i just want to know your philosophical view about god. thank you.
A: This is really far too complex a question to answer in an All Experts format, and my views are ...
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| question | 2/3/2005 |
Q: I know that Buddhists claim that our version of what we think reality is, is the illusion. It means ...
A: You've made a very good analogy that doesn't quite hold water, for the following reasons: (1) ...
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| kant | 2/2/2005 |
Q: respected sir does kant make any sort of discrimination in ethical matters on the basis of gender? ...
A: Kant makes no discrimnation on the matter of gender, and emphasizes the formal and abstract elements ...
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| Plato | 1/31/2005 |
Q: What is the relationship between the sun , the line,and the cave in Plato's republic. Steve
A: Although there are several levels of allegory and metaphor here, basically, the sun is the world of ...
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| Phaedo | 1/30/2005 |
Q: How does the argument for the forms based on the imperfections within experience work in the Phaedo ...
A: The argument in the Phaedo is essentially the same argument Plato makes in all the other dialogues ...
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| I'm looking for a philosophy definition or quote | 1/23/2005 |
Q: I am looking for a definition or quote on individualism for my debate team case. I was searching and ...
A: This definition comes from the University of Hong Long philosophy department, and is as good as ...
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| question | 1/20/2005 |
Q: "Enlightenment or delusion? Who is to say which person has which. Like the evening moon they appear ...
A: This may be from a Shintoist (the oldest religion in Japan), but not a Buddhist or a Hindu. Both of ...
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| question | 1/14/2005 |
Q: W.B. Yeats said: "Between extremieties Man runs his course" Could you explain these words to me in ...
A: Any and all extremities -- abject fear to total overconfidence, atheism to fundadentalism, couch ...
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| question | 1/10/2005 |
Q: I have found such a passage in "The Secret Significance of Aikido, poetic Songs of the Way" "A ...
A: First, regarding Aikido in general, see: http://www.aikidofaq.com/ That said, and keeping in mind ...
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| philosophy | 12/31/2004 |
Q: These are the words of a famous martial artist: Ultimately you must forget about technique. ...
A: The whole quote has to be taken as one thought, in the context of the Buddhist/Hindu doctrine that ...
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| correct vs. true | 12/23/2004 |
Q: I have a friend who is a long time student of Spinoza. He recently emailed me to ask if I felt some ...
A: Well, not quite. Most logicians would argue that correctness certainly is one aspect of the ...
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| correct vs. true | 12/23/2004 |
Q: I have a friend who is a long time student of Spinoza. He recently emailed me to ask if I felt some ...
A: Consider a mathemtical theory, which, as far as we know, has no real-world application. (It's hard ...
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| philosophy | 12/22/2004 |
Q: How do you understand these words? "Looking at this world Only a coward complains of what he sees ...
A: It's important to remember that both platitudes and poetry have very little to do with modern ...
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| Hegel | 12/15/2004 |
Q: My name is Gonzalo, Gil and I will like to know if you could help me with a question I have with ...
A: You're half right and half wrong. Hegel believed that philosophy -- specifically, his -- was Spirit ...
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| Hume | 12/12/2004 |
Q: Is there really any difference between what Hume calls custom or habit, and what we would call ...
A: I think you're misinterpreting Hume. He is most famous for having boldly and clearly stated that ...
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| Jean-Paul Sartre | 12/11/2004 |
Q: Sartre claims that he is an Existentialist humanist. What does he mean?
A: Existentialism, at least as Satre characterized it, is the idea that we have no essence (i.e, we ...
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| Hi Charles. Thanks for your... | 12/4/2004 |
Q: I have one followup question. When various philosophers such as Wittgenstein say that universals ...
A: To give a painfully short answer for a philosopher, "Yes." There's an excellent article here: ...
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| Hi Charles, I have never understood... | 12/3/2004 |
Q: I have never understood the idea of "universals." Do these refer to the actual existence and ...
A: There's a good, if brief, discussion here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_%28metaphysics%29 ...
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| Karl Marx | 11/29/2004 |
Q: What did Marx mean when he said the capitalistic system "sows the seeds of it's own destruction?"
A: The short answer is, "a lot." A longer answer is this: Marx had several reasons, mostly ...
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| locke and berkeley | 11/22/2004 |
Q: I am a college student who is constantly fighting with his philosophy professor in class on ...
A: Locke is trying to make a distinction between the qualities that are "really" the objective ...
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| post modernism | 11/18/2004 |
Q: What is it. If you could explain it for me like i am a 12 year old I thank you. I understand plato, ...
A: There are various kinds of postmodernism. As set forth by Richard Rorty in the book, "Philosophy and ...
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| why? | 11/14/2004 |
Q: why do we sometimes ask "why" questions? please help.. thanks a lot...
A: We asky why because we have a conceptual framework that allows for explanations (of our actions and ...
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| ethical realism | 11/11/2004 |
Q: sir i have to write an article consisting of three hundred words on ethical realism i have searched ...
A: See the following link: http://www.pitt.edu/~kis23/2305.htm As that states, it's hard to know if ...
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| kant | 10/27/2004 |
Q: sir when i started studying kant as an undergraduate i was stirred by his thoughts okay that is not ...
A: The commentators on Hegel are not much clearer than Hegel was; I would suggest looking at the Hegel ...
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| Nietzsche Quote | 10/16/2004 |
Q: 1) From what source and when did Nietzsche say, "All sciences are now under the obligation to ...
A: I can't locate the source, even though this is a common quote of Nietzsche's -- it's probably from ...
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| Educational psychology-philosophy | 10/5/2004 |
Q: Is my synthesis valid? The Curriculum-centered paradigm in education was mainly influenced by John ...
A: Realistically, we know so little about what really works in education that any synethesis may be ...
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| Philosophical agnosticism | 10/3/2004 |
Q: You can never tell,' ‘I don't know,' ‘It all depends,' ‘It's a matter of opinion.' Do these ...
A: Truth and meaning are linked; if any statements mean anything, then at least some statements (in ...
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| Moral philosophy and epistemics | 8/26/2004 |
Q: Can ethics plausibly be replaced by an epistemic practical theory, as argued at the following link: ...
A: My answer would be no, because humam morality is a cultural artifact that contains "irrational" ...
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| Philosophical inquiry | 8/26/2004 |
Q: Can you give me an example of "a beginning that does not have to have a predecessor"? I've thought ...
A: In Catholic and (generally...) orthodox Christian philosophy/theology, God has no beginning and no ...
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| What is meant by this statement:... | 7/9/2004 |
Q: What is meant by this statement: "Just as we can never conclusively confirm a scientific hypothesis, ...
A: This is just wrong. Karl Popper, in several books, defined the key to the scientific method as ...
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| Do you think capitalism is an evil plan to feed rich and kill the poor? | 6/10/2004 |
Q: How are you today? Thank God for this great service of www.allexperts.com because it is ...
A: I agree with you totally, but it is important to understand that capitalism (and other social ...
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| A quote | 6/3/2004 |
Q: This is not your area of expertise I'm sure, but I thought I'd try. My daughter saw a quote ...
A: Knowledge that is passed on, or shared, is not lost, but multiplied. Another way to look at this is ...
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| popular phrase | 5/30/2004 |
Q: Hey Charles, You may have helped me before. Many people (often religious) say stuff like "Well, I ...
A: One may well choose to believe that "things happen for a reason" but the critical question is, what ...
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| Zeno's tortoise | 5/25/2004 |
Q: I am curious about Zeno's paradox of the tortoise. I have read several mathematical ...
A: "Meter" did mean any measure, and, if one thinks about the paradox, it works with any measure of ...
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| Nietzsche | 5/8/2004 |
Q: I was wondering whether there were any social factors contributed to the emergence of Nietzsche's ...
A: God and certainty had been dying for quite some time. Nietzsche did, among other things, push ...
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| “Analytic” and “Continental” Philosophy | 5/6/2004 |
Q: What is difference between “Analytic” and “Continental” Philosophy? I understand that certain ...
A: It matters a great deal. After Continental undergraduate training, I went to grad school at Cornell, ...
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| Life is a school. | 4/21/2004 |
Q: Have any philosophers written about the idea that "Life is a school?" If you know of any, would you ...
A: Plato theought that all learning was remembering what we had seen when, as pre-born beings, we had ...
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| Proof for the existence of God- Ontological Argument | 3/10/2004 |
Q: What makes some people think that the ontologial argument proves that there is a deity? What makes ...
A: Kant has the best reason why the argument, as stated, is flawed -- existence is not a perfection; ...
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| Schizophrenic Socrates? | 3/5/2004 |
Q: A well-known and respected psychology text includes much discussion of the possibility Socrates was ...
A: Julian Jaynes, in his book "The Origin of Consciousness in the Beakdown of the Bicameral Mind" ...
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| spirits/ghosts | 12/27/2003 |
Q: I'm looking for any philosophical writings and theories on spirits/ghosts. Do you know any works on ...
A: See: http://www2.truman.edu/~edis/writings/articles/exorcize.html I turned this up with a search ...
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