Disgust With Philosophy
From Huben's Wiki
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* [http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/mona-lisa Would you sacrifice a human life to save the Mona Lisa?] | * [http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/mona-lisa Would you sacrifice a human life to save the Mona Lisa?] | ||
* [http://critiques.us/index.php?title=Fallacies_Of_Philosophy Fallacies Of Philosophy] | * [http://critiques.us/index.php?title=Fallacies_Of_Philosophy Fallacies Of Philosophy] | ||
| + | * [https://philpapers.org/surveys/results.pl The PhilPapers Surveys]: distribution of professional philosophical beliefs. Looks pretty random. | ||
Philosopher: "What color is the sky?" <br>Student: "Blue." <br>Philosopher: "Let us then proceed from the fact that the sky is blue to reason thusly...." <br>If only the student would observe that the sky is not always blue: it can be gray on a cloudy day, it can be black at night, and sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, etc. can all make it different than plain, solid blue. If we say the sky is blue, that is not a fact: it is a vague observation or generalization, ignoring the many exceptions, ignoring the scientific explanation of scattering of sunlight and privileging daytime over nighttime conditions. It is not a valid premise that philosophy can be built upon. Most philosophy actually starts with such invalid premises, and it is not too difficult to spot them. | Philosopher: "What color is the sky?" <br>Student: "Blue." <br>Philosopher: "Let us then proceed from the fact that the sky is blue to reason thusly...." <br>If only the student would observe that the sky is not always blue: it can be gray on a cloudy day, it can be black at night, and sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, etc. can all make it different than plain, solid blue. If we say the sky is blue, that is not a fact: it is a vague observation or generalization, ignoring the many exceptions, ignoring the scientific explanation of scattering of sunlight and privileging daytime over nighttime conditions. It is not a valid premise that philosophy can be built upon. Most philosophy actually starts with such invalid premises, and it is not too difficult to spot them. | ||
