Paul Austin MurphyAre Kurt Gödel’s Theorems Overstretched, Overused, and Overplayed?In this instance, the philosopher J.R. Lucas relied heavily on Kurt Gödel's first incompleteness theorem to advance his position against…2d ago22d ago2
Paul Austin MurphyVirtual Realities Are Real Fakes: Chalmers and Baudrillard on RealitySome 40 years ago, Jean Baudrillard rejected the distinction between “reality” and the “simulacrum”. (He stated: “The simulacrum is true.”)…3d ago13d ago1
Paul Austin MurphyThe Gödelian Argument Against Machine Minds Relies On Skilled Metamathematicians Seeing…Did the philosopher J.R. Lucas and the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose rely on the rare abilities of a very-small set of…5d ago45d ago4
Paul Austin MurphyinThe Quantastic JournalQualia/Zombie Scenarios and Schrödinger’s Cat: Analogous Thought-Experiments?The philosopher David Chalmers once discussed Erwin Schrödinger’s well-known thought-experiment. Chalmers did so in order to compare what…Jul 29Jul 29
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyDennett Quines Qualia: A Bitter Taste Is Not a QualeWhat is it for a lemon to be “objectively bitter”? According to the philosopher Daniel Dennett (who died in April), it’s “to produce a…Jul 283Jul 283
Paul Austin MurphyA Pythagorean Reality: Are Quantum Systems Purely Mathematical?“A quark is a purely mathematical construct. It has no meaning apart from its mathematical definition. The properties of quarks — charm…Jul 2410Jul 2410
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyCarlo Rovelli on Aristotle: Objects and Their Relations(i) Introduction (ii) Aristotle: Substance and Essence (iii) Rovelli on Nāgārjuna and Western Philosophy (iv) Carlo Rovelli’s RelationalismJul 195Jul 195
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyAre Panpsychism and String Theory Unscientific or Non-Scientific?“We must distinguish between being non-scientific and being unscientific. [] philosophy [perhaps panpsychism and/or string theory] is a…Jul 163Jul 163
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyWilliam James on Truth… According to Richard RortyMany 20th century philosophers set themselves the task of defining (or redefining) the words “true” and “truth”. They wanted to see how…Jul 125Jul 125
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyExplaining Qualia?“The problem of explaining these phenomenal qualities is just the problem of explaining consciousness. This is the really hard part of the…Jul 105Jul 105