Philosophy Weekly Newsletter - Thursday, September 29, 2016

Philosophy newsletter

Top new questions this week: What is the difference between hard determinism and compatibilism, under the assumption of physicalism? (For the purposes of this question, I am assuming that some form of physicalism holds.) When I read about hard determinism and compatibilism, it struck me that they seem to be placing different ... free-will determinism physicalism compatibilism   asked by Kevin 3 votes answered by Isaacson 1 vote Crux of Chapter 13 of Leviathan? So I've read Chapter 13 of Leviathan, and my impression is that the aim of Hobbes in Chapter 13 of Leviathan is to show that the state of nature—the state in which a certain artifact, namely a ... ethics epistemology metaphysics ontology political-philosophy   asked by user371374 3 votes What does Thrasymachus accuse Socrates of when stating he argues like an informer? In Benjamin Jowett's translation of The Republic, Thrasymachus accuses Socrates of arguing like an informer (340): You argue like an informer, Socrates. And later: Indeed, Thrasymachus, and ... plato the-republic   asked by Steven Jeuris 2 votes answered by Ram Tobolski 2 votes Is discrimination in society bi-directional? Today I had a discussion with someone about the what is discrimination in society. The person I was talking with thought that discrimination is only one-way, what he meant is that a party puts down ... relations   asked by TheKitsuneWithATie 2 votes answered by Chris Sunami 6 votes On Rousseau's consent and legitimacy Right now I'm reading Rousseau's Second Discourse and Discourse on Political Economy. Rousseau describes the founding of civil society in the Second Discourse as a step that everyone agrees to, and ... ethics epistemology political-philosophy rousseau   asked by user23333 2 votes Would the ontological argument disprove the Christian god? The ontological argument of Descartes tries to show that a supremely perfect being (=god) must logically exist. Let's assume that this logic were valid. We would have proven that a "perfect" god ... philosophy-of-religion ontological-argument   asked by elias_d 2 votes answered by Ram Tobolski 3 votes Is it necessary to read neoplatonic works (e.g. Plotinus, Porphyry,etc...) to understand St. Augustine's books? I heard that St. Augustine of Hippo did put Neoplatonic thoughts in his works like "Confessions" ( I have the book but didn't read it yet). Is it necessary to read neoplatonic books like the Enneads ... philosophy-of-religion   asked by mil 2 votes answered by mobileink 1 vote Greatest hits from previous weeks: Is it immoral to download music illegally? I should first point out that the title is more to capture a common occurrence of the broader idea I want to address in this question. It is also somewhat incorrect in that—at least in the US—I'm not ... ethics rights legal   asked by stoicfury 49 votes answered by Rex Kerr 22 votes Is it a fallacy to say that a sane person cannot apply rational thought to the motivations of the insane? A common argument in today's news is that: Someone commits a heinous crime by shooting a bunch of people. Anyone who commits a heinous crime must be insane. Sane people cannot apply rational thought ... logic fallacies argumentation psychology rationality   asked by YPCrumble 23 votes answered by Conifold 23 votes Can you answer these? Crux of Heinrich von Kleist's "On the Gradual Construction of Thoughts During Speech" Here is the paper "On the Gradual Construction of Thoughts During Speech" by Heinrich von Kleist. This is quite a dense paper, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Can anybody who has already ... epistemology metaphysics philosophy-of-mind ontology philosophy-of-language   asked by user371374 2 votes Are anti-realists faced with a point where they have to take for granted the referential function of words to things that are not words? Pragmatism is strongly associated with anti-realism, the view that words are meaningful not because they represent a reality independent of the word itself but because of how they are used in a given ... semantics meaning pragmatism   asked by Goob 1 vote How to prove ⊨(□A∨□B)≡(□(□A∨□B))? How would I prove that ⊨(□A∨□B)≡(□(□A∨□B)) is true in any K-ρτ model? A K-ρτ model means a K-model which is reflexive and transitive. K represents the basic model logic system. So K-ρτ is a ... logic modal-logic proof symbolic-logic   asked by ButterMath 1 vote

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