Unanswered Questions
247 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
6
votes
1
answer
139
views
Learning metaphysical truths by introspection
There might be many psychological benefits of meditation and other introspective habits. I'm looking for something different. What metaphysical facts can we discover by this process? How many of these ...
CommunityBot
- 1
6
votes
2
answers
147
views
Does Kant implicitly commit the paralogism of pure reason when saying that to have a representation it is necessary to accompany it with 'I think'?
In Caygill's Kant Dictionary entry of 'I Think' there is this part:
Kant further claims that 'I think' is the necessary vehicle/form/accompaniment of experience: to have a representation it is ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
1
answer
75
views
Is Aquinas's "act is the principle of action" a tautology?
In Summa Contra Gentiles II.6.7, Aquinas suddenly claims that "act is the principle of action" (actus autem actionis principium est).
Is this phrase supposed to be a definition of act? Or a ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
1
answer
199
views
Does Descartes conclude that imperfection implies perfection?
In the third meditation, does Descartes' knowledge of his limitations, or his imperfections, lead to his conclusion that there must be something limitless, something perfect?
In his third meditation, ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
5
answers
273
views
What are an object's properties?
What can we consider an object's properties, for example, when can we consider an object's properties as 'changing'? For example, if I move an object from my desk to my table, has it changed? If I ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
1
answer
303
views
According to Aquinas, what is the relationship between the substantial form of a bodily being and its act of existing, ie. its esse?
Consider, for example, an existing bodily being. Because it is bodily, we know that it is composed of prime matter and substantial form. Also, because the bodily being is existing (not just made up in ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
1
answer
243
views
Attributes of God in Spinoza’s “Ethics”
In Spinoza’s Ethics, he remarks that God/Nature has infinitely many attributes. However, in the Ethics, he only identifies and discusses two of these attributes: thought and extension, which account ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
4
answers
707
views
Has Spinoza been disproved by modern physics?
As I understood it Spinoza claims everything has Extension, it occupies space.
But in physics there are things called point particles which are zero dimensional, they don't occupy space.
So for ...
CommunityBot
- 1
3
votes
0
answers
47
views
Relations without Relata?
Ladyman’s ontic structural realism posits to the world is comprised of relations without relata. Can somebody please explain what this means conceptually? What are the reasons someone would have for ...
- 29.1k
3
votes
1
answer
56
views
How do Thomists understand the efficient and final causes in planetary motion under Newtonian physics?
Under the influence of Newtonian physics Thomists have come to perceive the force of inertia and the force of gravity as the efficient cause of the planetary motion confining the final cause to things ...
CommunityBot
- 1
3
votes
0
answers
50
views
Is Heidegger's Dasein Free or Destined?
While Heidegger's Dasein seeks to redefine the human subject in terms of being-in-the-world, does he fully break away from Husserl's subjectivity and lebenswelt?
In his detailed study Not Saved, Peter ...
- 2,119
3
votes
1
answer
76
views
Does introspection provide strong evidence for weak forms of solipsism and idealism? Are not all philosophical distinctions mind-dependent objects?
Philosophy in One Lecture
Daniel Bonevac:
https://youtu.be/AycTgPJtBP0
In this video lecture Daniel draws two stick figures on the blackboard, representing two human bodies, and attached to each ...
CommunityBot
- 1
3
votes
2
answers
169
views
What does it mean for something to “break” infinite regress?
When it comes to the cosmological argument, proponents point out that a first cause is needed to stop an infinite regress of causes.
In epistemology, foundationalism is used to break the infinite ...
CommunityBot
- 1
3
votes
0
answers
39
views
What are some ways of understanding plural predication (and what are some academic resources on the matter)?
The particular case I'm thinking about has to do with existence. Peter Van Inwagen writes:
'When I say that affirmation of existence is denial of the number zero, I
mean only that to say that Fs exist ...
- 101
3
votes
0
answers
46
views
How does Fichte account for the existence of inter-subjective reality?
I have read many entries on Fichte online. There is never any reference to the question of the origin of inter-subjective reality. How do we apparently see the same world?
There does not seem to be ...
- 29.1k