Philosophy Definition and 326 Threads

I have just been reading in this wonderful memoir of Francis Crick in the New York Review of Books, how real scientists responded to a case of an artist who had lost the ability to see colors. And then I read hypnagogues's defense of the latest chapter in A place for Consciousness, in which he...

What is the difference between Degree of Engineer and Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D )? How many more years does a Master Degree holder need to take one of each?

Dennett's own explanation of heterophenomenology. Tell me what you think.

Hey do any of you guys study philosophy or wish to? Do you study something else and wish you studied philosophy instead? I think that philosophy is the most interisting of all the academic displines that there are and definately the most broad and far reaching of them also what can or you...

Mentat has been sighted in Philosophy. :smile: No sight of Gale17, though ! :frown:

What is the difference between Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Engineering for an engineering student? What shall I choose?

I would like to get a rough idea of the education level of the participants in the Philosophy Forum. What is your education in this field? Have you taken courses or have a degree? Or are you just interested?

Somehow I still believe psychology is just a part of philosophy, as one's psychology should be controlled by his or her philosophy... what do you think? :redface:

What I have concluded for the philosophy of success is a very simple one. So I would also like to call that "the simplest philosophy leads to the most successful consequence"... Anyway, this philosophy is "Your true believes are always expressed and only expressed in your actions" There have...

Materialism is based largely on reductionism, which has its problems rooted in that one cannot keep cutting up the world into smaller and smaller pieces. Though reductionism has proved very valuable in scientific discoveries, I think one who believes all the answers lie in reductionism is...

I was hesitant to post this thread in this specific forum. Although i do not think it would be appropriate in the more physics-centered Homework Help forum. I am creating an outline (as well as a précis) for a short 10 minute presentation i have to have finished in a couple of days. The topic...

does it make sense if i define that the shape of a circle is infinity, which i write its equation as: x^2+y^2 = ∞ i know that infinity means very very big until we cannot define how big is it. in this case, is the equation above still valid? can i still say that the shape of this...

Our species has fought its way to the top of the food chain, and now it has nothing left to do. There is plenty of food for anyone who wants it, so where do we go from here? How can we use the faculties that the mad drive for dominance of the food chain has given us? We have long since won...

Basically Christianity is a blessing philosophy. Choose life and not death - you're urged to make the Right Choice.

I'm not sure if this has been thought of, posted, or ran over before, but it's something I'm curious about.. Simply put, what is the ratio of singular to non-singular matrices? I've been thinking that it would probably be easier to start with a specific size, then work out from that. So...

I contend that there is no fairness in taxation. I'm not saying that taxes are unfair. On the contrary, I am saying fairness does not enter into the matter. There is a theory that all wealth is fortuitous, or "lucky". There is the extreme case of the people who win the lottery, or inherit...

I have chosen to go the route of the law via philosophy major. Any strong convictions about lawyers and the state of modern society because of their impact.? To many, Lawyers are the scum of the earth. They lie they cheat and they steal their way to nice italian shoes. But to me, Lawyers...

Science-iffication of philosophy. Solving questions such as "what is fair?" The topic probably makes you think I'm crazy, and perhaps I am mistaken. The issue in all philosophy is semantic in nature and english distorts our ability to think. I have a method to solve these issues...

The topic probably makes you think I'm crazy, and perhaps I am mistaken. The issue in all philosophy is semantic in nature and english distorts our ability to think. I have a method to solve these issues: http://www.orbular.com Please only add to this thread if you have examined the...

any other people in here majoring in philosophy, and if so, where do you plan to build your career's at? I am going into pre-law so this fits well but if i get attached enough i may just become a philo prof..

Years ago I was forced to study this play by Samuel Beckett, and as a high school teen I found it incredibly frustrating and yet something about it stuck in my mind. I felt a sense of intense futility and cyclic logic of being lost in a labarynth of despair and hopelessness or more to the point...

I came here tonight, and i didn't know what to expect. I seen a lot of people hating me, and i didn't know what to feel about that, so i guess i didn't like you too much either. During this "fight", I seen a lot of changing, the way you's felt about me, and the way i felt about you. In...

Being generally ignorant of Middle Eastern philosophy, but admiring their art, history, science, society and scholarship, I would like to know what sharing of knowledge you would volunteer as mutually beneficial to both their and my (Western) peoples.

Penny 4 your thoughts.

I am interested in learning about the social progress of the United States and other countries. Specifically, I would like to have the following questions answered: 1. How has television, internet influenced our society's way of thinking (even in the post subtle ways) 2. How is the...

I believe I have posted this question before, but it was never discussed much. So, here it is again: An attempt to define freedom... A simple question can get us started: 1) Is a man in a cage free, if he has no wish to leave that cage?[/color] It seems to me there are two possible...

Lets assume that it is technically feasible to copy every quanti of the human body and arrange them in perfect harmony. Was hoping to get a debate going as to why so many people are *shrugging* at the concept of teleportation. Mainly the idea that because an original is destroyed somehow were...

http://www.marxist.com/rircontents.asp This book analyses how modern science and dialectics are interconnected, why nature works dialectically etc. When I first read the book, I was really astonished by dialecticalm materialism. If you never heard anything about dialectical materialism, it...

Does anyone know what "Paternalism" mean? This concept was adressed in "Causing and Death and Saving Lives" by Glover. So does anyone know? Thanks in advance...

UNDER CONSTRUCTION This thread is meant to be an information resource, just like my Physics Napster in the Physics Forum. It will become fuller and better organized with time. General Philosophy--Reference Materials Added 4/6/04[/color] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Philosophy Pages...

I'm collecting unmanswered and unanswerable questions, paradoxes and problems from philosophy and science and would welcome any contributions. The sort of thing I mean is Zeno's paradoxes, Russell's paradox, the problem of attributes, the problem of consciousness, the wave-particle duality...

What forces act on a thrown baseball? (Assuming the baseball motion is an upside down parabola). What forces act on a thrown baseball? 1) After the first fraction of second after it leaves your hands? 2) After it leaves your hands and at the top of it motion (top of the parabola). Some people...

http://theonion.com/news/index.php?i=1&n=2 :smile:

i have been looking for a definition of spacetime, not something described by pure mathematics, but the real world space time that has some tangibility, the one that can be bent, twisted ,and have effects on time, the fabric of spacetime, relativity, QLG, string, all give different answers...

I'm not really going to comment to much on this. I was just wondering what some people's opinions were on the differences, if any, between philosophy and religion. I think some confusion arises because there can be more than one meaning to the word "philosophy". It could mean a belief system...

What is hate?

I have heard that today's mathematicians are discussing what zero really is. Are there any good resources on this on the net?

The Transtopian Principles General goal: infinite existence under the best possible conditions Primary means: reason, science, and technology Motivation: enlightened self-interest Intro Transtopianism is a memetic complex, a collection of mutually supporting (and partially...

Interesting philosophical way of life, see http://www.hedweb.com/ Regards, Carlos Hernandez

http://www.the-brights.net/

Should we eat meat? Nowadays, you can see lots of people trying to save certain animals from being mistreated, like protecting the sharks or whales from being hunted. But I can't see the diference between eating a steak and killing a shark. Anyway, they are all life forms. In...

Ultimately, philosophy is a subjective matter, but can it achieve an objective truth? Or is truth objective?

[?] What is a thought virus? You can call it a meme or an idea that replicates by symbiotically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the meme. Our society have always been buzing with these meme around through communication. You might be...

holograms http://twm.co.nz/hologram.html nonduality http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~duerden/caution.htm

Having spent a lot of time with issues to do with mental health one thing seems to stand out that I felt needed to be discussed. So often these days when you want to discuss philosophy or other fields associated the discussion invariably ends up in a state of discussing the subjective nature...

In this interview, we hear about a practical philosopher who taught for many years at leading institutions and influenced many disciples, some of whom are now in positions of great power. John Rawls eat your heart out! ;=) http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-2-95-1542.jsp

For those of us who are still learning and understanding philosophy, can we differentiate logic in the most simple terms?

could someone just explain to me the ideas about human nature? is it a real science thing or just a philosophy? and what characteristics are considered human nature?

Other then teaching, what good is philosophy to each of us? Is it useful to our everyday reality? Is the speculation necessary? Or is it just human to ponder?

In malaysia, our schools have the subject of Moral Study or Civic. I donno why it is not Philosophy? If philosophy worth studying, why not include it into high school syllubus? [?]