The Applicability of Mathematics The applicability of mathematics can lie anywhere on a spectrum from the completely trivial to the utterly mysterious. At the one extreme, mathematics is used outside of mathematics in cases which range from everyday calculations like the attempt to balance one’s checkbook through the most demanding abstract modeling of subatomic particles. The techniques underlying these applications are perfectly clear to those

Solipsism and the Problem of Other Minds Solipsism is sometimes expressed as the view that “I am the only mind which exists,” or “My mental states are the only mental states.” However, the sole survivor of a nuclear holocaust might truly come to believe in either of these propositions without thereby being a solipsist. Solipsism is therefore more properly regarded as the doctrine that, grundsätzlich, “existence” means for

Jerry A. Fodor (1935–2017) Jerry Fodor war einer der bedeutendsten Geistesphilosophen des späten 20. und frühen 21. Jahrhunderts. Darüber hinaus übte er seit 1960 einen enormen Einfluss auf praktisch alle Teile der Literatur zur Philosophie des Geistes aus, Fodors Arbeit hatte einen erheblichen Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der Kognitionswissenschaften. In den 1960ern, zusammen mit Hilary Putnam, Noam

The Golden Rule The most familiar version of the Golden Rule says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Moral philosophy has barely taken notice of the golden rule in its own terms despite the rule’s prominence in commonsense ethics. This article approaches the rule, deshalb, through the rubric of building its philosophy, or clearing a path for such construction. Der

Joseph Priestley (1733—1804) A notable Enlightenment polymath, Joseph Priestley published almost two hundred works on natural philosophy, Theologie, Metaphysik, political philosophy, Politik, Ausbildung, history and linguistics. Remembered today primarily as a scientist who isolated oxygen, Priestley considered his calling to be that of a theologian, and he spent most of his life working as a minister and teacher. He combined his Unitarian theology with an

Politische Philosophie: Methodology Political philosophy begins with the question: what ought to be a person’s relationship to society? The subject seeks the application of ethical concepts to the social sphere and thus deals with the variety of forms of government and social existence that people could live in – and in so doing, it also provides a standard by which to analyze and judge existing