need hw help: philosophy

[k1dfreeze]

ok so i have a paper due on monday in my metaphyisics class, and i dont know what to write on...heres the prompt...

Choose an entity (or kind of entity)* which is widely believed to exist, but which you refuse to countenance.
The paper should consider the following points:
a) Why do some people countenance it? That is, what role does it play in their ontology? (No disparaging psychological remarks: give their reasons.)
b) Why do you not accept it? Give your argument for its nonexistence.
c) On your account, what takes its place, or plays its role in your ontology. (Alternatively, explain why nothing need play that role.)
d) Where did the believers go wrong? What motivates your superior view of the matter?
(*Not UFOs, Bigfoot, the Tooth Fairy, or anything like that. They don’t raise metaphysical problems.)

so i need a topic asap...blah, i dont know what to write about =(

[" Low "]

which of the 4 do you strongly agree with, i mean option b. you had a pretty good basis for nonexistence in aim chat earlier, i mean space cant be nothing, it is there, holes are nothing but they are there, but.....


by the same token they arent....

[OniFactor]

George Bush doesn't exist. he's just a conjuration of a few select minds. does that work for ya? lol

[k1dfreeze]

no, i have to use all 4 for when writing...right now, i jus need a topic

[" Low "]

no, i have to use all 4 for when writing...right now, i jus need a topic
doh'....hmmmm lemmie thi ngk

[" Low "]

how about the therory that the govt was behind the 911 attacks.....? i mean it isnt meta physical, but thats all i could come up with...for now at least.....

[civic97]

how about show vs. go. why make a car look fast than be fast

[" Low "]

something i just looked up.....

According to Leibniz, if some object x is identical to some object y, then any property that x has, y will have also. However, it seems to us that objects can change over time. If you were to look at a tree one day, and the tree later lost a leaf, it would seem that you could still go look at that same tree. Metaphysicians work to explain what it means for the same object to have different properties at different times, as well as the question of how objects persist through time.

how could you relate this to your car, i mean stock versus modded, it is still the same car, but different, now relate the same to life, you were x at 2 but y at 24, they equal the same, but are obviously different.....it is making sense in my head, hopefully u can see where i am thinkin....
p.s. try and keep this non religious.....i am lol

[" Low "]

This apple exists in space (it sits on a table in a room) and in time (it was not on the table a week ago and it will not be on the table a week from now). But what does this talk of space and time mean? Can we say, for example, that space is like an invisible three-dimensional grid in which the apple is located? Suppose the apple and every other physical object in the universe were to be entirely removed from existence: then would space, that "invisible grid," still exist? René Descartes believed not—he thought that without physical objects, space would not exist, because space is the framework in which we understand how physical objects are related to each other.[4] There are, however, many other metaphysical questions to ask about space and time.

[" Low "]

Philosophical ideas about perception
The most common theory of perception is naïve realism in which people believe that what they perceive is things in themselves. Children develop this theory as a working hypothesis of how to deal with the world. Many people who have not studied biology carry this theory into adult life and regard their perception to be the world itself rather than a pattern that overlays the form of the world. Thomas Reid took this theory a step further, he realised that sensation was composed of a set of data transfers but declared that these were in some way transparent so that there is a direct connection between perception and the world. This idea is called Direct Realism. Direct Realism has become popular in recent years with the rise of postmodernism and Behaviourism. Direct Realism does not clearly specify the nature of the bit of the world that is an object in perception, especially in cases where the object is something like a silhouette.

[" Low "]

hey ryan, can i get a copy of your metaphysics book.... or philosophy, this has really peaked my interest's......lmk

[" Low "]

Ways of Seeing
- Exploring Modern Metaphysics -

METAPHYSICS - Or, MetaSCIENCE

Metaphysics, like science, is the search for truth. Unlike science, metaphysics does not require verification by anyone, anywhere, anytime. For metaphysics, theories are proposed and tested but it is to the satisfaction of the individual instead of to the satisfaction of the community as it is for science. The advantage of this "weaker" burden of proof is that areas of truth are reached by metaphysics that can not currently be reached by science.

Areas of interest to metaphysics center around the question of human existence, such as "what is consciousness" and "what is the meaning of existence". Within the last couple decades the methods of science are finally starting to explain the origins of consciousness, for example, but science is nowhere near explaining the experience of consciousness. You and I, however, are conscious and know it. Just because science can not explain this experience does not mean it does not exist. Metaphysics does attempt to explain it.

Note that metaphysics is different from religion. Almost all religions, by contrast, are not searching for truth about existence because each of them claims to already know the truth about it. The reason metaphysics is worth looking into is that most religions are different from the others and exclude the others as not being true, yet each claims to be true itself.

We will now progress to several topics of vital interest to metaphysics: human freedom and interpretation. Another section of this Exploration, "Ways of Seeing" located at the end of the Meditations Topic, provides a number of perspectives from which reality may be viewed, where various ways of interpreting experience can be tested by the reader for truth and relevance.

[k1dfreeze]

hey ryan, can i get a copy of your metaphysics book.... or philosophy, this has really peaked my interest's......lmk
sorry man, i keep all my philosophy books since its my major...half.com tho...fo sho

damn you should just write my paper, youre in your zone man! lol


any other ideas anyone?

[k1dfreeze]

how about the therory that the govt was behind the 911 attacks.....? i mean it isnt meta physical, but thats all i could come up with...for now at least.....
my teacher argues every class that adam sandler doesnt exist lol

[" Low "]

my teacher argues every class that adam sandler doesnt exist lol
HAHAHAHA, if only it were true...... for him at least

what is the title, and author of your book so i can try to source it..... this is really neat, i just bought like 3 philosophy books on ebay...lolj/k'n just bidding on them

[" Low "]

hey ryan i found some kick ass info on this site, mostly publications of sciences form stephen hawking.....:TU:

http://xxx.lanl.gov/

[" Low "]

how about the topic of reality, kinda like the matrix, for what you know everything is real, but is it,

even outside of the dream world.
do you know you exist..or believe you exist.....?

it was once said by adam savage....(from mythbusters)

'' i reject your reality and substitute my own''

has this been done already?
would you believe it if it were true?
would you WANT to...?

just some generalizations i have had over the past few hours.... damn i shouldnt think about things this deep while on pain killers, my mind is w.o.t. now...lol

[" Low "]

and tyler/mods/admins, dont take this as an attempt to sub-ordinate the religious debate, i other than quotes taken from wikipedia have not mentioned religion, and hope i dont offend any one about this subject.....

[eddcartes]

truth can be taken as a metaphysical problem, in fact, it's the "mother" of all philosophycal problems... so, guess that can be your topic. there's a book that may spark your interest: frankfurt, harry g.: on bullshit. princeton univ press, 2005. hope it helps.

[Sonny7730]

and tyler/mods/admins, dont take this as an attempt to sub-ordinate the religious debate, i other than quotes taken from wikipedia have not mentioned religion, and hope i dont offend any one about this subject.....

no, you're okay. suggesting religion as an option is not using it as a discussion tool or debate tool, you're just making a suggestion as to what he could use. thanks for verifying though.

although, I think religion is too mainstream or "easy" for this topic ryan. kinda like the easy way out, because it's so widely known and accepted (or discredited). perhaps theories on time? i read a really interesting book on the structure of time. you could try that.

[" Low "]

maybe these will spark a topic for yah

Further examples of ontological questions include:

* What is existence?
* Is existence a property?
* Why does anything exist rather than nothing?
* What constitutes the identity of an object?
* What is a physical object?
* What features are the essential, as opposed to merely accidental, attributes of a given object?
* Can one give an account of what it means to say that a physical object exists?
* What are an object's properties or relations and how are they related to the object itself?
* When does an object go out of existence, as opposed to merely changing?