| Formal Logic Help |
[25 May 2009|05:27pm] |
Hey, I'm currently writing an essay on induction and I wanted to use some formal logic in there, but I've never done a course on formal logic and I have no idea how to set it out. Help would be really really awesome. If you can't actually help me out on the specifics of how to lay everything out, then if you could direct me to a website which explains all this stuff, that would be good too.
1. How would I express the 'grue' puzzle in formal logic?
2. And the paradox of the ravens?
3. If A entails B, that means that not A entails not B. The example I gave was: Take the statement ‘the sun will rise tomorrow.’ Our definition of tomorrow involves the sun rising. If the sun does not rise, tomorrow has not yet occurred. If we see a white bird, it is necessarily not a raven because ravens are defined as being black and a stone is not an emerald unless it is green, just as we know that men are not bachelors unless they are single.
4. Related to Popper's ideas about induction: If we note all these occasions where A entails B and then in one instance A has not entailed B, we can prove that A does not always entail B.
x-posted.
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| Academic conference question |
[12 Mar 2009|11:18am] |
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Hello everyone! I just need opinions on this. For anyone who has ever submitted a paper to a conference, do you always get accepted? I have an abstract that I've submitted to various conferences, and I've gotten into every single one. That's four conferences. What I want to know is, are they just taking every paper that gets submitted? Or is my abstract just THAT good? I know it's a reasonably good abstract but getting into four conferences just seems really...unlikely. Thoughts? Please?
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| How controversial is S5? |
[14 Jan 2009|01:05am] |
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A quick question: I have picked up hints from the literature that there is sometimes a reluctance or a degree of controversy over the use of system 5 modal logic. How controversial actually is S5? If a theory of modality fails to account for S5 is that an acceptable loss? What are the main disputes surrounding it?
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| logic questions |
[13 Jan 2009|02:33pm] |
I just started philosophy so sorry if this is really stupid but all the things I've read just keep confusing me.
1) What is validity? How can you tell if an argument is valid or invalid?
2) what is a conceptual analysis?
3) what is scope?
Thank you!
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[05 Dec 2008|12:13am] |
Right now in my metaphysics class we're reading about John Searle's biological naturalism/Chinese room response to the Turing test.
Probably one of the reasons it's hard for me to really get what he's saying is because I don't understand what he means whenever he says brains cause minds. He also says that there could be non-brains that also cause minds, but that computer programs just won't cut it (due to syntactical vs. semantical understanding). When he says there could be non-brains that cause minds, he says that those non-brains must have causal powers equal to those of the brain.
So, this is my long-winded way of asking, how do you understand what he means when he says that brains cause minds?
(And I might as well ask it while I'm here, because I don't like but can't put my finger on why -- what do you think of his Chinese Room argument?)
(And since I think it's extremely interesting, who here is a fan of computer functionalism?)
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| Some questions on going back to school |
[24 Sep 2008|12:35pm] |
I am currently in a rather ambiguous period between graduating from university and going to grad school. At first I didn't know what I was doing and found myself in customer service for a year. Now I've ended up in Istanbul doing copy editing for an English language daily. My tentative plan is to go to Syria next year to study Arabic. Following that, I'd like to make my way back to the US and go to grad school. I studied philosophy at UC Berkeley and I am hoping to get a doctorate in philosophy, as well. So far the program that has caught my eye the most is SUNY Stony Brook, since I tend to be more interested in "continental" philosophy (if you believe in that division).
Has anyone here taken a long siesta between undergrad and grad school? Did this pose any problems for getting accepted to a program? Any recommendations for getting back into academia in general and philosophy in particular?
At university I never really hit it off with any of my professors such that I could ask for letters of recommendation. Has anyone else had the same problem? What did you do? I can get letters from my community college professors, who knew and still know me best. But I doubt that will be sufficient for my grad school applications. Are non-academic references ever useful?
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| Symbolic Logic Help |
[03 May 2008|08:42pm] |
I need to transform the following into an un-negated quantified expression:
with hook = conditional
1. ~~(x)(~(~Dx • Jx) v (Dx hook ~Rx)
2. (x)(~(~Dx • Jx) v (Dx hook ~Rx) DN, 1
As you can see, this expression is a disjunction and not in quantified form. I need to get it into quantifier form (the scope of the universal reaches the end of the expression). I can use QN, CQN, and rules of replacement on it. I'm tempted to do distribution on it, but I can't operate from within the universal without removing the universal first. I can UI it but it won't get me anywhere.
Any ideas?
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[27 Apr 2008|03:42pm] |
Next semester, I'll be doing an independent study on philosophy in literature. My professor recommended several books for background reading over the summer, but said I only really needed to read a few of them. Out of the books listed, which would you recommend as particularly helpful or engaging?
Wayne Booth - The Company We Keep
Nelson Goodman - Ways of Worldmaking
Umberto Eco - In the Name of the Rose, Interpretation and Over-Interpretation, other books
Elaine Scarry - On Beauty
Martha Nussbaum - Love's Knowledge
Pierre Bourdieu - Language & Symbolic Power
Recommendations for books other than those listed are appreciated, too. :)
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| Good Graduate MA state schools in Philosophy. |
[13 Apr 2008|09:45pm] |
Hey,
I'm DP, major in Phil, senior. I have about a 3.2 GPA and so I realize that any pursuit for graduate-level studies in philosophy will involve state schools.
With that said, do you know of any good state schools that have a good MA program in Philosophy? I'm from CA so I've checked on San Jose State and San Francisco State already, but I would like to investigate more. If anyone has recommendations, that would be greatly appreciated.
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| PSA |
[12 Apr 2008|07:45pm] |
As God-King of the community, I have a duty to be wise and just. Given that being wise and just is a necessary attribute, it is a duty easily fulfilled.
I'm currently moody and prone to wild swings of taking my crap out on people in conversations. While I should restrain myself from doing such, I often fall into the poor trap of not giving a rat's arse. Given the probability that I'll need to be banned for inappropriate behaviour, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) zentiger and i_am_lane have both undergone an apotheoisis (or an apocolocyntosis, you decide) into modhood.
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| What are the Rights of Man? |
[17 Feb 2008|04:37am] |
What are the rights of man? I'll name a few, but there may be more...
---Keep in mind, I'm talking about the inalienable kind of rights. 'Right' is defined as the power or privilege to which one is justly entitled [by virtue of being human]. Further discussion of what constitutes as a 'right' and not simply a desire may be necessary, since I do not believe the concept is still being taught in the public school system. It's a complicated idea because it's so simple. So.---
1: The right to life.
2: The right to liberty. (Liberty consists in the freedom to do all which which does not harm others.)
3: The right to own property.
4: The right to pursue happiness.
5: The right to resist oppression.
I'm curious what additional rights, if any, there are, and if there is any dispute that the ones I have named are in fact rights.
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[27 Jan 2008|06:27pm] |
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So I want to start learning more about Meta-Ethics. I asked my professor what he recommends I start with and he suggested Shafer Landau and (of course) G.E. Moore. Any other names I can put on my to-order list from Amazon?
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[30 Dec 2007|02:15am] |
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Hi, I was just wondering if you guys had any ideas for philosophy-relevant things to do over the summer. I'm interested especially in things like the CU Summer Seminar, upper level summer courses (particularly in M&E, mind, religion, or 19th & 20th century historical stuff), and/or study abroad opportunities. I've done lots of research already but I keep feeling like I must be missing something. Thanks!
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| A little Heidegger help? |
[12 Dec 2007|08:24pm] |
I'm in need of some resource recommendations. Yes, this is a homework-related question, but all I'm needing is some referrals from those of you who are better read than I.
I'm examining Heidegger's ontological sketch of death (Being And Time; Division 2, I., 50) but I need to find some credible critic. Thusfar, I know Hursserl was a critic of Heidegger's overall ontological claims made in Being and Time, but not specifically that one. Beyond that, I have been unable to find any critics of that topic.
Any recommendations?
(x-posted to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) philosophy and philo_majors
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| Sources. |
[11 Dec 2007|10:20am] |
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Hi! I was wondering if anyone has a source/article about Objectivist Free Will and Causation (Ayn RAnd) from any Philosophical Journals? Or free will and causation in general?
Thank you. I'll be needing them for my paper.
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| aporia and alcibiades |
[18 Nov 2007|11:44am] |
I'm trying to write a paper about the significance of aporia and what it implies about the nature of Socratic/Platonic philosophy itself. More specifically, about Alcibiades' aporia in the Symposium
( here's what I have so far )
I feel like this is really not a good paper, so I'm basically just looking for suggestions, criticisms, whatever, anything to make this better. It also has to be way longer and I'm already running out of things to say.
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[03 Nov 2007|05:25pm] |
Like most philosophy majors, I've been concerned for some time about finding employment. However, I finally have a long term career plan. I'm happy to announce that I'm now accepting investments in a new philosophy themed restaurant.
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