Questions tagged [definitions]
174 questions
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What was Cantor's philosophical reason for accepting the infinite but rejecting the infinitesimal?
I have begun inquiring recently into mathematical aspects of Georg Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers and sets, which he developed between the years of 1874 and 1897. Throughout his theory, Cantor captured the so called actual infinity and thus…
L.M. Student
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What is a straight line?
I am not a philosopher; I am an engineer with a reasonable grasp of mathematics.
This question has been bothering me for a long time, and I have asked a variation of it to a mathematical community. While some people raised interesting points, others…
MGA
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Please explain to a beginner: what is metaphysics?
As I understand it, most or all of philosophy can be put into the three main branches of philosophy: Epistemology, Metaphysics, and Axiology.
A devotee of reason, I have great affinity for, and believe that I get the core nature of, Epistemlogy: the…
Sindyr
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Does Aristotle ever explicitly refer to man as a "rational animal"?
Did Aristotle every explicitly refer to man as a "rational animal" (ζῷον λόγον ἔχον)?
The internet is riddled with uncited claims to this effect: that "rational animal" was an explicitly stated definition of man that Scholastic philosophy later…
brianpck
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Why did we define vacuous statements as true rather than false?
I have been trying to understand why implications about the empty set are treated as "true". It seems to me intuitively that vacuous statements should be false.
For example consider the sentence:
Every element of the empty set is equivalent to a…
Charlie Parker
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6 answers
Are humans and other animals machines?
It has been said that biological organisms are one kind of machine, albeit highly complex ones. But is this really true? To answer this question, one needs a precise definition of "machine". So, is there a definition of machines in some paper or…
user107952
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Are all concepts polar ?
Do all concepts operate in pairs such that in order to define one member of the pair we need to specify its opposite ? For instance, we cannot define 'nothing' without understanding - being able to specify - 'something' and vice versa.
It is clear…
Bruno
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What makes something mathematics?
Dictionary.com definition of math:
(used with a singular verb) the systematic treatment of magnitude, relationships between figures and forms, and relations between quantities expressed symbolically.
(used with a singular or plural verb)…
Tdonut
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Is the dichotomy between natural and unnatural defensible?
Are not the dictionary definitions of natural and unnatural inconsistent?
Why wouldn't whatever humans create (e.g. money, plastic bags, books, internet, laptop, lamp, buildings, airplanes, etc) be natural when humans are natural and part of nature…
ActualCry
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Is it possible to define "the supernatural"?
From a naturalistic perspective, it is possible to argue that the supernatural not only doesn't exist, but cannot even be defined. The reasoning goes that anything which "appears" to be supernatural, is simply misunderstood or conforms to laws of…
LightCC
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What is the meaning of Spinoza's first three definitions?
I've just started reading Spinoza's Ethics and I'd like to have delucidations about his first three definitions.
Definition one:
By that which is self-caused, I mean that of which the essence involves existence, or that of which the nature is…
Nicol
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Neo-liberalism, language and freedom?
Background
Byung Chulhan in his book psychopolitics defines freedom in two ways:
a. He defines it as an interlude which the subject feels when passing between lifestyles or ideologies. This is a somewhat cynical approach to defining liberty…
More Anonymous
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In Aristotle, What does it mean for something to be predicated?
I am studying Aristotle's views on substance, and in the narratives of his work, the term 'predicated' is used with great frequency, though not at all defined. In Googling the meaning of 'predicated', I get this:
Predicated: 'state, affirm, or…
user2901512
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Can mathematics and physics be thought of as branches of philosophy?
I think that they can be viewed like that, with some suitable definition of philosophy.
Then mathematics could be defined as one of the branches of philosophy in which theories are built on definitions and axioms and the results are proven and…
Grešnik
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Essentialism and concepts
I've been reading an old logic text (Deductive Logic. George Stock. 1888) and he describes something very like Aristotle's notion of a definition, but in his description, it is clearly a matter of intensions, of concepts alone. His notion of a…
David Gudeman
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