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2 ideas
6427 | Unverifiable propositions about the remote past are still either true or false [Russell] |
Full Idea: There is no conceivable method by which we can discover whether the proposition 'It snowed on Manhattan Island on the 1st January in the year 1 A.D.' is true or false, but it seems preposterous to maintain that it is neither. | |
From: Bertrand Russell (My Philosophical Development [1959], Ch.10) | |
A reaction: I love this example, which seems so simple and so clear-cut. It criticises verificationism, and gives strong intuitive support for realism, and supports the law of excluded middle. |
6435 | You can believe the meaning of a sentence without thinking of the words [Russell] |
Full Idea: If you have just heard a loud clap of thunder, you believe what is expressed by 'there has just been a loud clap of thunder' even if no words come into your mind. | |
From: Bertrand Russell (My Philosophical Development [1959], Ch.13) | |
A reaction: This seems to me important, and accurate. We should not be too mesmerised by language. Animals have beliefs, and this is a nice example of an undeniable non-linguistic human belief. |