Questions tagged [definitions]
242 questions
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What are the necessary conditions for an action to be regarded as a free choice?
A common philosophical question revolves around the existence of free will, but these debates gloss over the concept of "free will" itself, either taking it as a given (that everyone understands what the term really means), or proceeding with a…
Speldosa
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What was Cantor's philosophical reason for accepting the infinite but rejecting the infinitesimal?
I have begun inquiring recently into mathematical aspects of Georg Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers and sets, which he developed between the years of 1874 and 1897. Throughout his theory, Cantor captured the so called actual infinity and thus…
L.M. Student
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What do all branches of Mathematics have in common to be considered "Mathematics", or parts of the same field?
At some point in my life I think I've read what all branches of Mathematics had in common were numbers. But then I remembered a branch of the many Mathematics I had when I was an university student, and I didnt remember numbers in it. Then, I made a…
Pablo
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What is a straight line?
I am not a philosopher; I am an engineer with a reasonable grasp of mathematics.
This question has been bothering me for a long time, and I have asked a variation of it to a mathematical community. While some people raised interesting points, others…
MGA
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Please explain to a beginner: what is metaphysics?
As I understand it, most or all of philosophy can be put into the three main branches of philosophy: Epistemology, Metaphysics, and Axiology.
A devotee of reason, I have great affinity for, and believe that I get the core nature of, Epistemlogy: the…
Sindyr
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Why did we define vacuous statements as true rather than false?
I have been trying to understand why implications about the empty set are treated as "true". It seems to me intuitively that vacuous statements should be false.
For example consider the sentence:
Every element of the empty set is equivalent to a…
Charlie Parker
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4 answers
Does Aristotle ever explicitly refer to man as a "rational animal"?
Did Aristotle every explicitly refer to man as a "rational animal" (ζῷον λόγον ἔχον)?
The internet is riddled with uncited claims to this effect: that "rational animal" was an explicitly stated definition of man that Scholastic philosophy later…
brianpck
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Are all concepts polar ?
Do all concepts operate in pairs such that in order to define one member of the pair we need to specify its opposite ? For instance, we cannot define 'nothing' without understanding - being able to specify - 'something' and vice versa.
It is clear…
Bruno
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Are humans and other animals machines?
It has been said that biological organisms are one kind of machine, albeit highly complex ones. But is this really true? To answer this question, one needs a precise definition of "machine". So, is there a definition of machines in some paper or…
user107952
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Is it possible to define "the supernatural"?
From a naturalistic perspective, it is possible to argue that the supernatural not only doesn't exist, but cannot even be defined. The reasoning goes that anything which "appears" to be supernatural, is simply misunderstood or conforms to laws of…
LightCC
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What makes something mathematics?
Dictionary.com definition of math:
(used with a singular verb) the systematic treatment of magnitude, relationships between figures and forms, and relations between quantities expressed symbolically.
(used with a singular or plural verb)…
Tdonut
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10
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Is the dichotomy between natural and unnatural defensible?
Are not the dictionary definitions of natural and unnatural inconsistent?
Why wouldn't whatever humans create (e.g. money, plastic bags, books, internet, laptop, lamp, buildings, airplanes, etc) be natural when humans are natural and part of nature…
ActualCry
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What is the difference between Naturalism and Physicalism?
I am trying to figure the difference between Naturalism and Physicalism. As far as I could tell, they were the same thing, except that physicalism (physicalist vs dualist) was the term used when discussing philosophy of mind and naturalism was the…
Alexander S King
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What is the meaning of Spinoza's first three definitions?
I've just started reading Spinoza's Ethics and I'd like to have delucidations about his first three definitions.
Definition one:
By that which is self-caused, I mean that of which the essence involves existence, or that of which the nature is…
Adrian
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What are some necessary and sufficient conditions for a true or false statement to be a "fact" and not an "opinion"?
Motivation
Perhaps we are trying to formalize some informal definitions of the English words "fact" and the English word "opinion".
Suppose that someone wanted to make some arguments related to the idea that there is no such thing as good or bad…
Toothpick Anemone
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