Hello! I'm back and with a new format. For the next little while, I'm planning to share some famous thought experiments in philosophy and give my own thoughts about them. I'm hoping this will further clarify the evolutionary philosophy I've been working to build, and require me to rethink things where any inconsistencies or difficulties arise. I want this to be interactive though, so on Mondays I'll post the thought experiment, and on Fridays I'll post my thoughts about them. That means you'll have all week to think about the issues, and share your own thoughts about them if you like. I hope you do! On to the first experiment.
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Is anything so self-evident that it cannot be doubted? Is it not possible that our lives are no more than dreams, or that the world is just a figment of our imaginations? Outlandish though these notions are, the mere fact that they are conceivable shows that the reality of the physical world can be doubted.
There are other ideas, however, which seemed to be so clear and self-evident that they must be true. For instance, whether you are awake or asleep, two plus two makes four. A triangle must have three sides whether the world, real or imaginary, contains triangles or not.
But what if God, or some powerful, malicious demon, is tricking you? Couldn't such an evil spirit fool you into believing that the false is obviously true? Haven't we seen hypnotists make people count to ten, unaware that they have missed out the number seven? And what of a man who, in a dream, hears four strikes of the clock tower bell and finds himself thinking, "How odd. The clock has struck one four times!"
If the evil Demon is a possibility, is there anything which is beyond doubt?
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 1.
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What do you think? Leave your comments below, send me an email, or chime in on Facebook. I'll be back with more on Friday!
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Is anything so self-evident that it cannot be doubted? Is it not possible that our lives are no more than dreams, or that the world is just a figment of our imaginations? Outlandish though these notions are, the mere fact that they are conceivable shows that the reality of the physical world can be doubted.
There are other ideas, however, which seemed to be so clear and self-evident that they must be true. For instance, whether you are awake or asleep, two plus two makes four. A triangle must have three sides whether the world, real or imaginary, contains triangles or not.
But what if God, or some powerful, malicious demon, is tricking you? Couldn't such an evil spirit fool you into believing that the false is obviously true? Haven't we seen hypnotists make people count to ten, unaware that they have missed out the number seven? And what of a man who, in a dream, hears four strikes of the clock tower bell and finds himself thinking, "How odd. The clock has struck one four times!"
If the evil Demon is a possibility, is there anything which is beyond doubt?
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 1.
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What do you think? Leave your comments below, send me an email, or chime in on Facebook. I'll be back with more on Friday!
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