Today I was in a shop and a young mother came in with her stroller and a handbag with an image of a sleeping rabbit in a forest of mushrooms. The rabbit had a thought bubble that read, “A rabbit in a forest of mushrooms.” I told her I liked the bag… I don’t think she realized that it had reminded me of the last paragraph of Wittgenstein’s On Certainty: 676. “But even if in […]
On Charitability
There is no such thing as a private reality. By private reality I mean any portion of reality that you alone can experience, that no one else could possibly understand. There is, however, reality that is yet unexperienced and unknown to you. Others may have experienced it before you, like explorers who have been to a far away place. If a philosopher is clever, it is possible that she found a way to imbue her […]
What Science Ignores
I was skimming the philosophy blogs today and came across “Should Scientific Methods and Data be Public?” over at It’s Only A Theory (and Brains for that matter). Gualtiero Piccinini argues that scientific matters ought to be made public. My first thought was, “What exactly does G.P. mean by public?” and my second was, “Anyone who doesn’t think scientific methods should be public is bat-shit crazy.” (Yes, I get angry about this stuff. And from […]
Happy Birthday, H. C. O.
Today, as Google/Wikipedia tells me, is Hans Christian Ørsted’s birthday. He coined the term ‘Thought Experiment’ and, if he had done nothing else, I’d still think he ought to be remembered far and wide.
Do We Understand the Principle of Charity?
When trying to understand an unknown philosophy (or philosopher) we are taught that we should give that philosophy every possible opportunity to say something relevant. This practice is called using the Principle of Charity and there are various ways philosophers go about implementing it (via Wikipedia): By believing The other uses words in the ordinary way; The other makes true statements; The other makes valid arguments; The other says something interesting. I do not believe […]
Changing Servers
Hi, I’ll be changing servers, so the site may be a bit funky over the next few weeks as I sort out any bugs that arise. Noah
mj
via plump plum
The Non-Reducibility & Scientific Explanation Problem
Q: What is a multiple star system? A: More than one star in a non-reducible mutual relationship spinning around each other. Q: How did it begin? A: Well, I guess, the stars were out in space and at some point they became close in proximity. Then their gravitations caused each other to alter their course and become intertwined. Q: How did the gravitations cause the courses of the stars to become intertwined? Gravity does one […]
Relevance
Apropos my previous post, it was suggested that the single most confusing aspect of philosophy explaining why philosophy is relevant. Can we justify ourselves? I figure that no one is worrying about medical ethics. What about metaphysics, obscure logic, and all the other good stuff that us philosophers call our own? If we can justify that stuff to the general public, then I figure we’re OK for everything else too. The things people care about […]
What is the Single Worst Understood Philosophical Concept?
I’d like to get anyone’s opinion about what he or she believes to be the single worst understood philosophical concept. Feel free to mention why you think so if you want. Also feel free to interpret the meaning of ‘worst’: across the general public, academia, grad students, old codgers, whatever (but do identify your target, please).