Aquinas' Third Way Modalized ABSTRACT: The Third Way is the most interesting and insightful of Aquinas' five arguments for the existence of God, even though it is invalid and has some false premises. With the help of a somewhat weak modal logic, however, the Third Way can be transformed into a argument which is certainly valid and plausibly sound. Much of what Aquinas asserted in the Third Way is possibly true even if it is not actually true. Instead of assuming, for example, that things which
The problem of evil, as articulated by J.L. Mackie, concerns the consistency of the following claims typically accepted by theists: God is omniscient; God is omnipotent; God is omnibenevolent; evil exists. If God is omniscient, then he should know about all evil that exists. If God is omnipotent, then it should be within his power to prevent all evil from occurring. Finally, if God is omnibenevolent, then it should be the case that he would not permit the evil that he is capable of preventing. The
great” doesn’t necessarily refer to Aristotle (for example in a world in which Plato is the teacher of Alexander the great). Also his arguments for rigidity of proper names, rests upon our linguistic intuition i.e. language users use proper names in modal contexts as if they are rigid: One of the intuitive theses I will maintain in these talks is that names are rigid designators. (Kripke 1980, 48) Or elsewhere: In these lectures, I will argue, intuitively, that proper names are rigid designators
pp. 109–113. Smart, J. J. C., (2012) "The Mind/Brain Identity Theory", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Edward N. Zalta (ed.), [Online at http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/mind-identity/ 07/12/2013] Soames, S (1998). The Modal Argument: Wide Scope and Rigidified Descriptions. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
persistence itself. The argument posed by VanIwagen, a Threeist, against the Twoist is known as the problem of Essential Duration; and the counterpart argument given by the Twoist is referred to as the problem of Temporary Intrinsics. VanInwagen’s (modal) argument goes as follows: One could have lived longer than did in the actually world; this must be accounted for by either, one having been composed of more temporal parts that actually was, or at least some of one’s temporal parts had a longer duration
Week 1 - Logical Possibility vs Physical Possibility This week we covered a variety of different claims and a common fallacious argument used in their favour. Among the topics discussed were claims such as conspiracies, UFOs, homeopathy, Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP) and bigfoot. A common argument used to defend these claims is the assertion that the mere possibility of their existence makes them valid claims. In other words the fact that these things are not logically impossible makes them perfectly
Observation Observer:Valmire Korqaj Date:03.12.2 Class:VII Teacher:Miranda Agaj -In this paper I will describe a teacher and her students in an observation I did in Public school “Deshmoret e Kombit”.Through this paper a variety of pupils' class and teacher's behavior will be discussed. The observation did in ninth class in English lesson the teacher was Miranda Agaj. I arrived in the office ten minutes before the lesson started. So I had a chance to talk with the teacher. We briefly discussed
The legendary saxophonist John Coltrane made a lasting impression in North American jazz music by pioneering a new subgenre known as “modal jazz.” By examining Coltrane’s personal life, professional career, evolving style of music, and his legacy that endures to this day, one can better understand the importance of this individual’s contribution to American culture and reflect upon his creative genius. On September 23, 1926, John Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, to a family of ministers
Realism is a theory that suggests the need for anarchy in the global arena, whilst at the same time realist doctrine suggests that stability can only be achieved through a “balance of power”. With this said, are the doctrines of Collective Security and Defense fundamentally different from realism or does the idea of a “balance of power” mean that even the anarchical law of Realism is destined to seek order or at the very least is at the mercy of its necessity? Evaluation of the bounds of realism
Substitutivity The problem of substitutivity has always been a thorn in the side of the study of semantic logic. Why does it sometimes appear that terms that refer to identical objects cannot be replaced with each other in propositions without altering the truth value or meaning of said proposition? Leibniz's Law would seem to ensure that we could perform such an action without anything significant having changed, but this is clearly not so. I intend to look at the history, not only of this problem
view is correct. There is nothing inherently wrong with this method. However, it does become a problem when a deductive argument is attempting to bring something into existence. We simply cannot do that, for it goes against the common sense laws of logic. Gaunilo offered us an example famously known as the “Isle of the Blessed” (Peterson 173). In this example, he attempts to use the same deductive form Anselm uses to bring an island into existence. “Because it is better that such a perfect island
Metaphors With the possible exception of completely formal exercises in logic, philosophy is thoroughly metaphorical and largely conditional. Moreover, the purposes served by metaphors and conditionals in it are similar. Metaphors ask us to imagine the world in a new way, while conditionals may ask to imagine a new world. Yet some conditionals and metaphors are incompatible. There are limits to how metaphors can occur in conditionals, and how conditionals can themselves be metaphors. Specifically
On the subject of knowledge and reality, we face many philosophers and their opinions on how one acquires knowledge. In my essay I will focus on the issue between skeptics and dogmatists. I will first explain what dogmatism about perceptual justification and knowledge is, followed by how the dogmatist responds to the problem of skepticism, and why the response to skepticism is not plausible. What is dogmatism about perceptual justification and knowledge? I will begin by breaking down this sentence
and life lessons. In today's modern world, we pursue knowledge because it is useful for obtaining information. For many years, humans have strived to gain advanced levels of knowledge and information. In my opinion, a disagreement is the opposite of logic; it contradicts or opposes evidence that has otherwise been proven true. Disagreements act as obstacles that hinder the pursuit of knowledge. The idea of disagreement can be connected to the two important ways of knowing: perception and reasoning.
The human perception of the world is formed through a lense, or perhaps more accurately a filter; the information that is acquired from what surrounds us is articulated through abstract concepts as opposed to physical; that is to say that the basis of our understanding of the world is fundamentally abstract. This is true of the essence of thought and understanding, ergo it must be true of each product of these two processes: truth qualifies as one of these products. However, truth, literally defined
their implicit concept of truth. Even if the skeptic avoids an absolute judgment, the fact that we make judgments about better or worse still presupposes the first principle (even if the principle of non-contradiction is indemonstrable), and the same logic is given to proposition: for we deem some propositions to be closer to the truth than others. Therefore, it is not possible to consistently both affirm and deny the same proposition. Altogether, any judgment presupposes that something is nearer to
“Fat Acceptance”: An Argument Lacking Validity Cynara Geisslers’ essay “Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer,” was published in Geez Magazine in 2010. The focus of the essay is to refute the pressure of society to be thin and promote self-acceptance regardless of size. While this essay touches on many agreeable points, it tends to blow many ideas out of context in an attempt to create a stronger argument. The article takes on a one-sided argument without any appropriate acknowledgement of the opposition
There is so much evil in the world such as: murder, child mortality, torture, rape, assault and more. So how can there be an all loving God if these things are constantly happening? In this paper, I will be arguing that there is in fact no such thing as an all loving and all powerful God due to Evil. When I think of an all-loving God, I think of God as someone who would never allow a child to be kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed. I think of God as someone who would not allow anything bad
“How can you identify a single counterfeit penny, slightly lighter than the rest, from a group of nine, in only two weighs?”(Suri, 4) This is an interesting mathematical puzzle which everyone might had played in our childhood. The puzzle was invented by a legendary mathematician Martin Gardner in 1956. Are you wondering that why great mathematicians such as Martin Gardner were still interesting in this kind of recreational math? An editorial written by Manil Suri who is an Indian mathematician expounded
Do people even have face-to-face conversations any more? In the article, “The Flight From Conversation,” by Sherry Turkle is successful on backing up that we, as people should get off the phone and social media so we can learn how to actually hold a proper conversation with someone else. Turkle supports her argument by using rhetorical strategies like logos, kairos, and ethos. To begin with, through logos Turkle gives logical reasoning that helps her central claim succeed, but also fail. She uses