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1500 questions
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Is the "Eastern philosophy" really philosophy?
I'm a undergraduate student in an eastern country. And I'm interested in contemporary "western" philosophy. But to graduate, I'm forced to take some "eastern philosophy" course like Buddihism or Confuciannism. During the class, hearing what…
Darae-Uri
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To what extent are observations theory laden?
I understand the concept of how all observations are theory laden and how it works as a critique of the positivist program.
From this link:
Theory-ladenness of observation holds that everything one observes is interpreted through a prior…
Alexander S King
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8
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Which are the best Artificial Intelligence philosophy books?
I am a Computer Scientist interested in philosopy of Artificial Intelligence. Is there a good book that covers AI main philosphical questions?
user15099
8
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Should you read simpler paraphrases before the older original works of philosophy?
I'm self-learning philosophy, but am untrained in linguistics, and fear obscurantism. So I prefer and find more helpful 'paraphrases': (which I define to mean) other philosophers' rewrites and glosses, of the originals, in enjoyable plain simple…
user8572
8
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Is there an idea of linguistic realism similar to moral realism?
The better way to phrase it is: "Are there objective truths about language?" -- this question is parallel to the question of moral realism: "Are there objective moral truths"?
One way to interpret moral subjectivity is that it implies that "what…
Dave
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8
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What is wrong with Popper's theory of falsification?
Popper popularized the notion that empirical science can not be verified, only falsified. Isn't he right? How can someone verify a theory? To me, it does not seem possible. However, you can easily falsify a theory. I've searched the web for some…
Jordan Goulet
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Tomatoes, Wisdom and Intelligence?
A lighthearted topic after I came across this funny quote:
Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put tomatoes in a fruit salad.
This had me wondering what are the philosophical definitions of wisdom and…
Alexander S King
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If we assume The Turing Test to be the criterion for moral personhood, would simulated minds pose a problem for existing moral systems?
In an answer to this question I made the rather bold speculation that if the Turing Test is taken to be our defining criterion of a consciousness of human level, then all questions in the ethics of simulated minds can be reduced to human equivalents…
Tom Boardman
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Asymmetries in two opposite arguments from ignorance
Joe claims: "There is no proof that unicorns exist, therefore unicorns do not exist".
Alice claims: "There is no proof that unicorns do not exist, therefore unicorns exist".
Bob claims: "There is no proof either way, therefore I'm agnostic about the…
Hello World
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What's a good source for refreshing my formal logic skills prior to graduate school?
I need to flex my formal logic muscles prior to graduate school--I've had a dry spell in my logic practices while finishing my mathematics degree, particularly since the logic used in analysis, algebra, and topology is a pale shadow of my formal…
Asher
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What might be some of the most significant philosophical implications of a technological singularity?
Several prominent futurologists and technologists, most importantly Kurzweil and Moravec, have projected varying timelines for a forthcoming technological singularity in the next century or even few decades.
Assuming, perhaps naively, that we take…
Joseph Weissman
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Could a programming language be considered as a language?
This question might seem like it answers itself, but I urge you to consider the possibilities and the impact this could have on society.
As a systems engineer, programming is more common to me than my "native" language - English.
My understanding is…
Kraang Prime
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Modern Sophists?
I was wondering if in professional philosophy there are modern sophists. That is, people who have no qualms publishing on both sides of an issue, perhaps not being able to themselves come to conclusions. This would be very interesting if there were…
Jacob Wakem
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Did the Logical Positivists accept synthetic a priori knowledge?
My understanding of Logical Positivists is that, following Wittgenstein, they accepted only 2 types of proposition as meaningful:
Propositions based on formal logic (i.e. tautologies)
Empirically verifiable statements
It seems to me that these…
Alexander S King
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Is Nietzsche suggesting that the "free spirit" is a democrat in On the Genealogy of Morals?
It is no secret that Nietzsche had contempt for democracy. In Beyond Good and Evil, he compared democrats, those people of democracy who think that humans are all equal and free, to a herd of farm animals (section 44 in the second part, "The Free…
commando
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