tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post7795082169951923948..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: Preference and utilityLarry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-74369574825085536452010-05-09T07:30:41.292-06:002010-05-09T07:30:41.292-06:00Actually, we're engaging in two scientific pro...Actually, we're engaging in <i>two</i> scientific processes. The paradigmatic process is deciding to explain actions in terms of mental states in the first place. Choosing scientific paradigms is an interesting topic of its own, but beyond the scope of this essay. Here, I think the paradigm of explaining actions in terms of mental states is relatively uncontroversial. (Except perhaps to academic philosophers, whose good opinion I'm entirely indifferent to.)Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-44796161900885902652010-05-09T07:27:30.849-06:002010-05-09T07:27:30.849-06:00The relationship between epistemology and ontology...The relationship between epistemology and ontology is an interesting metaphysical question. Are there truths that cannot be known not only in practice but also in principle? (For example, it seems unlikely in practice that we can ever know <i>exactly</i> how many people were living in the United States on April 1, 2010 (even given a completely unambiguous definition of "living in the United States"). But it's possible <i>in principle</i> to know: just count them superhumanly quickly.<br /><br />Still, I think Mill does not intend his readers to take his assertion as a matter of pure faith, and I don't find matters of faith at all philosophically interesting.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.com