Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Jerry A. Fodor, Immanuel Kant and Gavin Hesketh

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5 ideas

14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 3. Experiment
An experiment is a deliberate version of what informal thinking does all the time [Fodor]
     Full Idea: Experimentation is an occasional and more or less self-conscious exercise in what informal thinking does all the time without thinking about it.
     From: Jerry A. Fodor (The Elm and the Expert [1993], §4)
We can deliberately cause ourselves to have true thoughts - hence the value of experiments [Fodor]
     Full Idea: A creature that knows what makes its thoughts true and what would cause it to have them, could therefore cause itself to have true thoughts. …This would explain why experimentation is so close to the heart of our cognitive style.
     From: Jerry A. Fodor (The Elm and the Expert [1993], §4)
Interrogation and experiment submit us to having beliefs caused [Fodor]
     Full Idea: You can put yourself into a situation where you may be caused to believe that P. Putting a question to someone who is in the know is one species of this behaviour, and putting a question to Nature (an experiment) is another.
     From: Jerry A. Fodor (The Elm and the Expert [1993], §4)
Participation in an experiment requires agreement about what the outcome will mean [Fodor]
     Full Idea: To be in the audience for an experiment you have to believe what the experimenter believes about what the outcome would mean, but not necessarily what the outcome will be.
     From: Jerry A. Fodor (The Elm and the Expert [1993], §4)
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 6. Falsification
If a proposition implies any false consequences, then it is false [Kant]
     Full Idea: If only a single false consequence can be derived from a proposition, then this proposition is false.
     From: Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B819/A791)
     A reaction: Seems right. Of course, it might imply entirely true consequences, and still be false. This idea has to be one of the foundations (sic) of coherentism about truth and justification.