19 ideas
16567 | Scientists know everything about nothing, philosophers nothing about everything [Sagan,D] |
17070 | Coherence is consilience, simplicity, analogy, and fitting into a web of belief [Smart] |
17072 | We need comprehensiveness, as well as self-coherence [Smart] |
6417 | In 1921 Russell abandoned sense-data, and the gap between sensation and object [Russell, by Grayling] |
6474 | Seeing is not in itself knowledge, but is separate from what is seen, such as a patch of colour [Russell] |
6476 | We cannot assume that the subject actually exists, so we cannot distinguish sensations from sense-data [Russell] |
2792 | It is possible the world came into existence five minutes ago, complete with false memories [Russell] |
17073 | I simply reject evidence, if it is totally contrary to my web of belief [Smart] |
22326 | Knowledge needs more than a sensitive response; the response must also be appropriate [Russell] |
17077 | The height of a flagpole could be fixed by its angle of shadow, but that would be very unusual [Smart] |
17078 | Universe expansion explains the red shift, but not vice versa [Smart] |
17074 | Explanations are bad by fitting badly with a web of beliefs, or fitting well into a bad web [Smart] |
17076 | Deducing from laws is one possible way to achieve a coherent explanation [Smart] |
17061 | Explanation of a fact is fitting it into a system of beliefs [Smart] |
17071 | An explanation is better if it also explains phenomena from a different field [Smart] |
17062 | If scientific explanation is causal, that rules out mathematical explanation [Smart] |
17075 | Scientific explanation tends to reduce things to the unfamiliar (not the familiar) [Smart] |
6475 | In perception, the self is just a logical fiction demanded by grammar [Russell] |
17063 | Unlike Newton, Einstein's general theory explains the perihelion of Mercury [Smart] |