Metaphysics of Shape and Color How many shapes are there in the universe, and how many colors? A standard answer is infinitely many in both cases. This answer is not incorrect, but it doesn’t go deep enough. Metaphysically, we want to know how many irreducible shapes and colors there are. As a matter of basic […]
In His Own Right I just re-read John Lennon’s book In His Own Write, which I won as the English prize at my school in Blackpool. I last read it at age sixteen, sixty years ago. It consists of short stories composed of malapropisms and invented words. I still found it as clever and funny […]
A Proof of Platonism I am going to prove that the universal whiteness is not identical to the class of white things. The proof is similar to the well-known proof that pain is not identical to C-fiber firing.[1] Thus: I can think of whiteness apart from the class of actual white things; I can conceive […]
Car Evolution Suppose a particular car is designed and built. No other car is created. The car is then copied by technicians multiple times over many years, say one thousand. Errors in the copying are sometimes made, resulting in a car slightly different from the original. Suppose a million new cars are built, so many […]
Office Vacation I remember the day, fourteen years ago, when I vacated my office. The university had given me a short deadline to get this done, so I requested an extension. They denied my request (without explanation) and told me they would charge me for every day I went over the announced date. I therefore […]
Evolution by Nutritional Selection Animals need food. They cannot survive and reproduce without it. They therefore have adaptations that ensure that enough food is consumed: traits that enable them to find food and consume it. This is not selfishly confined to the individual animal; animals also procure food for their young, often going without themselves. […]
For Unemotional Ethics It is often said that ethics (morality) is concerned with the passions not the intellect. It is about feelings not knowledge, desires not beliefs. Hence, ethical non-cognitivism. On the other hand, subjects like physics, mathematics, and philosophy are cognitive pursuits, quite removed from emotion. Ethics is motivating, so it needs passionate motive […]
Counterfactual Empiricism Classical empiricism is the doctrine that all knowledge is knowledge of impressions: you know what, and only what, you have perceived with your senses. This doctrine runs into trouble with things you know but have not perceived—concepts of the unperceived. It would appear to imply that you can’t have concepts of, and knowledge […]
The Problem of Psychology Everyone knows that psychology is a difficult subject, especially psychologists. But why? Why isn’t it as advanced as physics and chemistry, or even biology? The mind has been around for a long time and so have our cognitive faculties (though less time), and it’s not as if we are not curious […]
Existence Explained Probably the most infuriating question in philosophy is the nature of existence. I have racked my brains over it lo these many years and come up with nothing.[1] Now at last I think I have found the solution, and it’s not what you would think. It fits the facts. So, right here, right […]