Questions – Page 3 – The Pop Culture Philosopher

what is human nature

October 2, 2008 askmeIdentity

This ranks among the most important questions human beings must strive to answer. It’s also one of the most difficult. There are three contrasting approaches typically used in answering this question. The first is pragmatic:[…]

difference between philosophy & science

September 19, 2008 askmePhilosophy

The simplest answer is that philosophy is concerned with questions of why whereas science is concerned with questions of how. In other words, if I ask “How do we convert coal to energy?”, that is[…]

Would you agree with those such as Alister McGrath that Christianity is rationally defensible, or would you say that the rational aspect is unimportant? If the latter, how would you respond to charges of thoughtless fanaticism in your religiosity?

August 13, 2008 askmeLogic

This is a fantastic question. I begin my answer by noting that rationality is overvalued and its capacity overestimated. The ability of the human mind to apprehend what it considers is vast, but not unlimited.[…]

democracy implies that, the majority rules, what if the majorities are wrong, the minorities being right

August 4, 2008 askmeQuestions

There’s not much to say here other than “you’re absolutely right!” What you’ve identified is the chief problem with majority-rule democracy. One person can be right while ninety-nine are wrong. Whatever the popular mythos may[…]

Do you think that the following argument is a good one : X says that a certain metaphysical view is correct. X says that if this view M is correct, it should produce certain effects in the psychology of people that realize it. (Make them super-smart, or super-kind for example). It is observed that X has this type of psychology. Thus the metaphysical view M is true.

July 26, 2008 askmeLogic

I am part of a minority of philosophers who believe that some variant on the argument you proposed can be incorporated into a strong inductive argument –in fact I’m currently at work on just such[…]

What makes a question Philosophical in nature?

July 10, 2008 askmePhilosophy

The word “Philosophy” literally means love of wisdom, so one answer might be questions asked strictly out of the love of wisdom or knowledge –questions whose primary purpose is not one of practical utility. I[…]

does the internet really exist?

June 30, 2008 askmeQuestions

I apologize for answering your question in this way –and I tried to find ways to avoid it, but it can’t be helped: It depends on what you mean by “exist”. It seems clear that[…]

1) The claim “There is extraterrestrial life in the universe, because my father said so” is an example of an appeal to authority. But it can be viewed as an enthymeme, where the hidden assumption is that “my father is always right”. In such a case, there is no logical problem with the argument. Do you agree? 2) Do you think that to say that : “Person A is biased , therefore\what he says is wrong” is fallacious? It can be interpreted as “person A is biased, therefore his information cannot be trusted. Therefore what he says is wrong”. 3) Are errors of logic errors of psychology as well? Or perhaps, only errors of psychology? Appeal to authority besides being a logical fallacy, has a whole psychology and sociology besides it.

June 14, 2008 askmeLogic

1) We must always be careful to distinguish between arguments that are valid and those that are sound. A valid deductive argument has the proper logical structure (where true premises guarantee a true conclusion) but[…]

Does Existentialism, in general, synthesize well with other philosophies such as Phenomenology?

May 31, 2008 askmeExistentialism

The term phenomenology means the study of phenomena, where phenomena means observable experience. The chief difference between phenomenology and empiricism (which also studies observable experience) is that phenomenology tends to focus on subjective, first-person experiences[…]

Is morality objective?

May 16, 2008 askmeMorality

This is a terrific question. Historically, the dominant picture of morality was once one of absolutes. Things were considered either right or wrong, generally by divine decree, with little or no ambiguity. The main thing[…]

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Category: Questions

what is human nature

difference between philosophy & science

Would you agree with those such as Alister McGrath that Christianity is rationally defensible, or would you say that the rational aspect is unimportant? If the latter, how would you respond to charges of thoughtless fanaticism in your religiosity?

democracy implies that, the majority rules, what if the majorities are wrong, the minorities being right

What makes a question Philosophical in nature?

does the internet really exist?

Does Existentialism, in general, synthesize well with other philosophies such as Phenomenology?

Is morality objective?