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Single Idea 3329
[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / G. Scientific Philosophy / 1. Aims of Science
]
Full Idea
As our bible, the Book of Science is presumed to contain only true sentences, but it is less clear how they are to be construed, which literally and which non-literally.
Gist of Idea
Presumably the statements of science are true, but should they be taken literally or not?
Source
José A. Benardete (Metaphysics: the logical approach [1989], Ch.13)
Book Ref
Benardete,José A.: 'Metaphysics: The Logical Approach' [OUP 1989], p.94
The
26 ideas
from 'Metaphysics: the logical approach'
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3358
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Metaphysics focuses on Platonism, essentialism, materialism and anti-realism
[Benardete,JA]
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3304
|
Why should packed-together particles be a thing (Mt Everest), but not scattered ones?
[Benardete,JA]
|
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3306
|
The clearest a priori knowledge is proving non-existence through contradiction
[Benardete,JA]
|
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3308
|
In the ontological argument a full understanding of the concept of God implies a contradiction in 'There is no God'
[Benardete,JA]
|
|
3310
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If slowness is a property of walking rather than the walker, we must allow that events exist
[Benardete,JA]
|
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12793
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Early pre-Socratics had a mass-noun ontology, which was replaced by count-nouns
[Benardete,JA]
|
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3309
|
If a soldier continues to exist after serving as a soldier, does the wind cease to exist after it ceases to blow?
[Benardete,JA]
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3312
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There are the 'is' of predication (a function), the 'is' of identity (equals), and the 'is' of existence (quantifier)
[Benardete,JA]
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3314
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Absolutists might accept that to exist is relative, but relative to what? How about relative to itself?
[Benardete,JA]
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3323
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Maybe self-identity isn't existence, if Pegasus can be self-identical but non-existent
[Benardete,JA]
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3326
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Set theory attempts to reduce the 'is' of predication to mathematics
[Benardete,JA]
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3327
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The set of Greeks is included in the set of men, but isn't a member of it
[Benardete,JA]
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3329
|
Presumably the statements of science are true, but should they be taken literally or not?
[Benardete,JA]
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3330
|
Negatives, rationals, irrationals and imaginaries are all postulated to solve baffling equations
[Benardete,JA]
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3332
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Greeks saw the science of proportion as the link between geometry and arithmetic
[Benardete,JA]
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3334
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Rationalists see points as fundamental, but empiricists prefer regions
[Benardete,JA]
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3337
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Natural numbers are seen in terms of either their ordinality (Peano), or cardinality (set theory)
[Benardete,JA]
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3335
|
The standard Z-F Intuition version of set theory has about ten agreed axioms
[Benardete,JA, by PG]
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3345
|
Appeals to intuition seem to imply synthetic a priori knowledge
[Benardete,JA]
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3349
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If we know truths about prime numbers, we seem to have synthetic a priori knowledge of Platonic objects
[Benardete,JA]
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3341
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Logical positivism amounts to no more than 'there is no synthetic a priori'
[Benardete,JA]
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3344
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Assertions about existence beyond experience can only be a priori synthetic
[Benardete,JA]
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3350
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Could a horse lose the essential property of being a horse, and yet continue to exist?
[Benardete,JA]
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3351
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One can step into the same river twice, but not into the same water
[Benardete,JA]
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3352
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Analytical philosophy analyses separate concepts successfully, but lacks a synoptic vision of the results
[Benardete,JA]
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3353
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If there is no causal interaction with transcendent Platonic objects, how can you learn about them?
[Benardete,JA]
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