Posts

Why There Is No Answer to Your Philosophical Question 2023-03-24T23:22:24.724Z
Jordan Peterson: Guru/Villain 2023-02-03T09:02:47.626Z
The Knockdown Argument Paradox 2023-01-28T19:23:02.678Z

Comments

Comment by Bryan Frances on The Knockdown Argument Paradox · 2023-03-25T00:15:08.011Z · LW · GW

I have taught logic classes at several universities. I am assuming that as I am using it in the post, "TS either is or is not human" is logically true. It doesn't matter if there are viable interpretations of it that aren't logically true. I thought it was clear that I was using the sentence to express a logical truth. All I need in the argument is the premise that it can express a logical truth. Almost everyone agrees with that premise, especially since "Taylor Swift" has a referent.

Comment by Bryan Frances on Jordan Peterson: Guru/Villain · 2023-02-03T12:03:18.169Z · LW · GW

Thanks for your reply. I agree that we should avoid political topics here. That's why I didn't discuss any of his political, moral, or religious views. It was all about how we treat expertise, as you mentioned.

Comment by Bryan Frances on The Knockdown Argument Paradox · 2023-01-29T00:37:03.973Z · LW · GW

Thanks for the comment. I don't think there is any mistake in basic logic. I could formalize all of it in elementary symbolic logic. It would be first-order predicate logic, but still pretty basic.

Comment by Bryan Frances on The Knockdown Argument Paradox · 2023-01-29T00:35:31.396Z · LW · GW

Thank you for your comment. 

I'm not sure that in order for an argument to be knockdown, there has to be a contrary belief. I might give a new, conclusive argument for a conclusion C that is so new that no one has ever disbelieved it (e.g., perhaps some claim about dark energy, a couple decades ago).

But in any case, if you were right, then the TS arguments wouldn't be knockdown, which is response 2 to the paradox.

'Taylor Swift is or is not human' is short for 'Either Taylor Swift is human or it's not the case that Taylor Swift is human', which is a logical truth on anyone's conception of logic.