| Theoretical Philosophy » A better argument from contingency. » 1/03/2019 2:55 am |
- John West
- Replies: 15
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Noble_monkey wrote:Ibn Sina does not have the same thing in mind as you have by property. Perhaps, "attribute" is a better word.
I'm afraid not. Property, attribute, feature, etc. all have various senses that have to be split off from one another (e.g. the sense opposed to substances, the sense opposed to tropes, the sense restricted to the irreducible versions of each of those, etc.). You should try to define what Ibn Sina means by property.
The problem Jimbo has raised is a variation of a well known problem for all classical theists (see another here), not just Ibn Sina. I'm not convinced that much is gained by raising it in this thread. (I would be interested in hearing how you all reply to it some time, though.)
| Chit-Chat » Besides English, what languages do you speak? » 1/01/2019 7:45 pm |
- John West
- Replies: 11
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How obnoxious.
| Chit-Chat » Should we update to new forum software? » 1/01/2019 4:29 pm |
- John West
- Replies: 66
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Many thanks to Brian for dropping like $400 to purchase the software.
| Chit-Chat » Besides English, what languages do you speak? » 1/01/2019 4:29 pm |
- John West
- Replies: 11
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Hypatia wrote:
Is there any real dialogue between modern French Thomism and continental philosophy? I'm very sympathetic to the 20th century European Thomists I've read (Pieper, Maritain), but I'm not sure to what extent that type of existentially flavored Thomism is a thing of the past. I'm certainly not seeing it at that forum.
I'm not sure!
| Chit-Chat » Should we update to new forum software? » 1/01/2019 4:25 pm |
- John West
- Replies: 66
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The new forum is at www.classicaltheismforum.com. We're still familiarizing ourselves with the dazzling array of new moderator controls and working on the logo and look. (We're considering hiring a graphic designer who works with vBulletin skins, but they usually charge upwards of US$85.) But you're all welcome to start signing up.
| Chit-Chat » Christmas Music » 12/25/2018 11:38 am |
- John West
- Replies: 1
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I thought it might be fun to post some Christmas music, and it seemed more appropriate here than on Ontological Investigations:
• Gaudete and Gaudete (2017). Commentators heavily criticized the artists for their pronunciation in the first video, so they made the second. I like the first more. The second sounds a bit oppressed. Both are excellent.
• Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maisons by Debussy. It's a bit of a somber tune for such a characteristically happy time of year, but what would Christmas be without at least one baritone?
• Noël des jouets by Ravel. Another piece by an impressionist.
• Ave Maria by Schubert. This is my favorite rendition of Ave Maria.
• Christmas Medley by Clamavi De Profundis.
Feel free to add your own. It doesn't have to be classical.
| Chit-Chat » Should we update to new forum software? » 12/24/2018 1:13 pm |
- John West
- Replies: 66
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I really appreciate this comment. The thing is, I lost track of the poll a while ago, and I can't tell whether it's a yes or a no.
| Theoretical Philosophy » Aquinas and embodied cognition » 12/23/2018 11:07 am |
- John West
- Replies: 9
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Due_Kindheartedness wrote:
But why does it seem as if utility is something integral to knowledge?
I don't know! I don't think it does! Haha. (I'm actually really surprised that you keep pressing this.)
You're aware of Norzick's utility theory of truth, right?
No, but I'm familiar with pragmatist theories of truth.
| Theoretical Philosophy » Aquinas and embodied cognition » 12/22/2018 11:07 pm |
- John West
- Replies: 9
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There are also very likely useless things I know (quite a lot of them, I imagine). For instance, suppose I were to go out and count the number of blades of grass on my lawn. I would then know the number of blades of grass on my lawn. But the number of blades of grass on my lawn isn't useful.
| Theoretical Philosophy » Aquinas and embodied cognition » 12/22/2018 9:11 pm |
- John West
- Replies: 9
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Due_Kindheartedness wrote:
Knowledge is propositions that are strong and have a lot of utility. True is not necessary, because a lot of things that are not true are knowledge. E.g. you believe your Aunt Tilly is alive and before you get any news update she dies of a fever. Your belief that she is alive isn't true anymore, but it's still knowledge.
You believe she's alive. Belief isn't knowledge. (You might say: "Okay, so I know she's alive until I get the news." But you don't, because there comes a point where your knowledge ceases to be knowledge and becomes a false (albeit justified) belief.)
I'm not entirely sure what it means for a proposition to be "useful" or "strong". The former sounds like it's talking about the usefulness of believing in the proposition. (I had a jokey paragraph about how it might be extremely useful for me to believe that Jeremy's head is a poached egg written out.) The latter sounds like it might be a category mistake.