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1500 questions
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3 answers

What are/were the main criticisms of logical positivism?

Logical positivism, later called logical empiricism, was a school of analytic philosophy famously connected with the Vienna circle and with a significant following up until the 1950's. What were the main criticisms that were articulated to refute…
eMansipater
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I work from home as a software engineer and my job is happy with my performance. But I'm putting in little effort. Am I a bad person or employee?

I used to be a Senior Software Engineer at another company but recently I took a lower level 2 position at another company remotely. I am very good at what I do. I can usually take a well groomed agile story in any tech stack and complete it way…
ogpk545
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How can one argue against income inequality while defending achievement and expertise inequality - beyond invoking Rawls' difference principle?

Update: Based on some of the comments and answers, I feel like I need to clarify something. I wasn't saying that scientists and intellectuals are necessarily the ones making millions of dollars a year (they usually aren't). My question is more…
Alexander S King
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Isn't the existence of Hell inherently evil, and isn't God therefore evil in allowing Hell to exist?

In many religions, for example, the Abrahamic ones, there exists a place of eternal punishment for those who live in violation of God's commandments. Assuming an infinitely-long afterlife, in which "sinners" are punished with all the punishments…
Ivan T.
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15 answers

Being alive today: the most improbable coincidence?

Think about it; modern humans have been around for at least a couple hundred thousand years. Yet, your mind, your soul, your very awareness, happens to be "alive" today. If time is a flow, moving forward, and there's really only "now", isn't it an…
R_K
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27
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17 answers

Are we living in a simulation? The evidence

I am not questioning whether the simulation topic is outside science. I am asking what evidence there is or could be to resolve whether we are or not. Living in a simulation has been a topic for philosophy since at least Descartes, with his 'evil…
CriglCragl
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What are some arguments against violence?

I had repercussions over an argument in class of the inevitability of war, and violence in some instances. I was on the side that was arguing that violence is never necessary. My opponent said something that has been clinging on my head ever since.…
Lucian09474
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What is the difference between naturalism and materialism?

What is the difference between naturalism and materialism, if any? I see definitions of naturalism that say, in effect, it is the belief that there is no supernatural. But what is the supernatural other than that which is not natural, which seems…
David Lewis
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Are people capable of generating a random number?

Let's say you tell me to produce randomly a number from 1-100, and I choose the number 47. Can it be said that there is a specific reason I chose the number 47, and that it is not completely random? By random I mean that there is absolutely no…
Snowman
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What arguments would support a secular pro-life position?

I've been thinking about the pro-life position (by "pro-life" I mean the position that abortion should be illegal. I.e. on par with murder) for awhile, and it is normally presented as a religious position, one that a secular person cannot…
yters
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What is the difference between a statement and a proposition?

I'm doing a MOOC on mathematical philosophy and the lecturer drew a distinction between a proposition and a statement. This is very puzzling to me. My background is in math and I regard those two words as synonymous. I looked on Wikipedia and it…
user4894
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I'm being drafted to the military but I have the option to refuse (legally), would it be immoral for me to serve?

I’m set to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces but I have the option to exempt from the military if I wish to. So I’m in a big moral dilemma on whether I should serve or not, I’m currently leaning towards not serving being the morally right…
Mimikyu
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Is infinite regress of causation possible? Is infinite regress of causation necessary?

For a number of reasons — including perhaps a desire to feel that we have a complete understanding of where we came from, or at least an understanding which is completely sufficient for all of our purposes — there is a strong tendency to suppose…
Niel de Beaudrap
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What are some works that apply an axiomatic method to something other than mathematics?

The axiomatic method is today mostly associated with mathematics. However, historically there have been some works, as for example Spinoza's Ethics, that have applied axiomatic method to philosophy, or Woodger's The Axiomatic Method in Biology,…
Q__
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Can time exist without change?

Imagine an event of one second in length, like two hands clapping. Suppose that another interval of time elapses between the clap, a period in which nothing happens in the whole universe (or in all universes). You and your hands stand still, and…
Francesco D'Isa
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