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Single Idea 2956

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy ]

Full Idea

There is nothing so obvious that a philosopher cannot be found to deny it.

Gist of Idea

There is nothing so obvious that a philosopher cannot be found to deny it

Source

Michael Lockwood (Mind, Brain and the Quantum [1989], p.73)

Book Ref

Lockwood,Michael: 'Mind,Brain and the Quantum:The Compound 'I'' [Blackwell 1991], p.73

A Reaction

[Idea of Varro] Just as unreliable witnesses are the bane of a murder enquiry, so bad philosophers throw a cloud of obscurity roundphilosophy. If 9999 people thought 2+2=4, but there is always one who thinks something different.

The 20 ideas from 'Mind, Brain and the Quantum'

2949 We have the confused idea that time is a process of change [Lockwood]
2958 No one has ever succeeded in producing an acceptable non-trivial analysis of anything [Lockwood]
2959 If something is described in two different ways, is that two facts, or one fact presented in two ways? [Lockwood]
2960 Commonsense realism must account for the similarity of genuine perceptions and known illusions [Lockwood]
2961 Empiricism is a theory of meaning as well as of knowledge [Lockwood]
2962 Maybe causation is a form of rational explanation, not an observation or a state of mind [Lockwood]
2963 There may only be necessary and sufficient conditions (and counterfactuals) because we intervene in the world [Lockwood]
2964 How come unconscious states also cause behaviour? [Lockwood]
2966 Can phenomenal qualities exist unsensed? [Lockwood]
2967 We might even learn some fundamental physics from introspection [Lockwood]
2950 Only logical positivists ever believed behaviourism [Lockwood]
2969 How does a direct realist distinguish a building from Buckingham Palace? [Lockwood]
2970 Dogs seem to have beliefs, and beliefs require concepts [Lockwood]
2971 Perhaps logical positivism showed that there is no dividing line between science and metaphysics [Lockwood]
2951 Could there be unconscious beliefs and desires? [Lockwood]
2952 A 1988 estimate gave the brain 3 x 10-to-the-14 synaptic junctions [Lockwood]
2953 Fish may operate by blindsight [Lockwood]
2954 Identity theory likes the identity of lightning and electrical discharges [Lockwood]
2955 If mental events occur in time, then relativity says they are in space [Lockwood]
2956 There is nothing so obvious that a philosopher cannot be found to deny it [Lockwood]