more on this theme     |     more from this text


Single Idea 14001

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / G. Scientific Philosophy / 3. Scientism ]

Full Idea

When people give arguments from scientific theories to philosophical conclusions, there is usually a good deal of philosophy built into the relevant scientific theories.

Gist of Idea

People who use science to make philosophical points don't realise how philosophical science is

Source

Ned Markosian (A Defense of Presentism [2004], 3.9)

Book Ref

'Persistence: contemporary readings', ed/tr. Haslanger,S/|Kurtz,RM [MIT 2006], p.327


A Reaction

I love this remark, being thoroughly fed up with knowledgeable scientists who are naïve about philosophy, and think their current theory demolishes long-lasting aporiai. They are up to their necks in philosophy.

Related Idea

Idea 7621 Special relativity, unlike general relativity, was operationalist in spirit [Putnam on Einstein]


The 13 ideas from Ned Markosian

Presentism is the view that only present objects exist [Markosian]
Presentism has the problem that if Socrates ceases to exist, so do propositions about him [Markosian]
Presentism says if objects don't exist now, we can't have attitudes to them or relations with them [Markosian]
Presentism seems to entail that we cannot talk about other times [Markosian]
Serious Presentism says things must exist to have relations and properties; Unrestricted version denies this [Markosian]
Possible worlds must be abstract, because two qualitatively identical worlds are just one world [Markosian]
Maybe Presentists can refer to the haecceity of a thing, after the thing itself disappears [Markosian]
Maybe Presentists can paraphrase singular propositions about the past [Markosian]
Objects in the past, like Socrates, are more like imaginary objects than like remote spatial objects [Markosian]
People are mistaken when they think 'Socrates was a philosopher' says something [Markosian]
'Grabby' truth conditions first select their object, unlike 'searchy' truth conditions [Markosian]
Special Relativity denies the absolute present which Presentism needs [Markosian]
People who use science to make philosophical points don't realise how philosophical science is [Markosian]