Is a hotdog a sandwich? The question is interesting because we don’t call a hotdog a sandwich, but it meets many of the salient criteria for being a sandwich. When we think about a general sandwich, we typically think about its components and structure. A hotdog mostly has the right components and structure to be…
Tag: realism
Structural realism in the philosophy of science
One of the core issues in the philosophy of science is realism vs. antirealism. This concerns two things, the ontological status of entities referred to in scientific laws and what the aim of science is (or should be). Realism is the view that entities referred to in scientific laws genuinely exist to the extent that…
How we can know the earth is a ball without relying on modern science or traveling long distances?
Flat earth conspiracy theorists have become a loud (if not very large) group since the turn of the millennium. While there are many specific arguments for a flat earth, which are not worth debunking here, all such arguments rely on an underlying principle that one’s senses are trustworthy and we should believe that things are…
Naïve realism and American folk science
The following post is a critique of a particular class of worldviews and perspectives. What is naïve realism and what do I mean by folk science? Realism is a class of philosophical positions that assert the bona fide existence of certain objects, or that certain objects have certain discernible properties. The definition is vague because…
thoughts on mind 