38 ideas
| 4739 | In "if and only if" (iff), "if" expresses the sufficient condition, and "only if" the necessary condition [Engel] |
| 4737 | Are truth-bearers propositions, or ideas/beliefs, or sentences/utterances? [Engel] |
| 4750 | The redundancy theory gets rid of facts, for 'it is a fact that p' just means 'p' [Engel] |
| 4744 | We can't explain the corresponding structure of the world except by referring to our thoughts [Engel] |
| 4738 | The coherence theory says truth is an internal relationship between groups of truth-bearers [Engel] |
| 4745 | Any coherent set of beliefs can be made more coherent by adding some false beliefs [Engel] |
| 4753 | Deflationism seems to block philosophers' main occupation, asking metatheoretical questions [Engel] |
| 4755 | Deflationism cannot explain why we hold beliefs for reasons [Engel] |
| 4751 | Maybe there is no more to be said about 'true' than there is about the function of 'and' in logic [Engel] |
| 4752 | Deflationism must reduce bivalence ('p is true or false') to excluded middle ('p or not-p') [Engel] |
| 16062 | A necessary relation between fact-levels seems to be a further irreducible fact [Lynch/Glasgow] |
| 16061 | If some facts 'logically supervene' on some others, they just redescribe them, adding nothing [Lynch/Glasgow] |
| 16060 | Nonreductive materialism says upper 'levels' depend on lower, but don't 'reduce' [Lynch/Glasgow] |
| 16064 | The hallmark of physicalism is that each causal power has a base causal power under it [Lynch/Glasgow] |
| 4762 | The Humean theory of motivation is that beliefs may be motivators as well as desires [Engel] |
| 4754 | Our beliefs are meant to fit the world (i.e. be true), where we want the world to fit our desires [Engel] |
| 4763 | 'Evidentialists' say, and 'voluntarists' deny, that we only believe on the basis of evidence [Engel] |
| 4746 | Pragmatism is better understood as a theory of belief than as a theory of truth [Engel] |
| 4764 | We cannot directly control our beliefs, but we can control the causes of our involuntary beliefs [Engel] |
| 4759 | Mental states as functions are second-order properties, realised by first-order physical properties [Engel] |
| 20624 | Work degrades into heat, but not vice versa [Close] |
| 20623 | First Law: energy can change form, but is conserved overall [Close] |
| 20625 | Third Law: total order and minimum entropy only occurs at absolute zero [Close] |
| 20628 | The electric and magnetic are tightly linked, and viewed according to your own motion [Close] |
| 20622 | All motions are relative and ambiguous, but acceleration is the same in all inertial frames [Close] |
| 20635 | The general relativity equations relate curvature in space-time to density of energy-momentum [Close] |
| 20627 | Electric fields have four basic laws (two by Gauss, one by Ampère, one by Faraday) [Close] |
| 20630 | Light isn't just emitted in quanta called photons - light is photons [Close] |
| 20637 | In general relativity the energy and momentum of photons subjects them to gravity [Close] |
| 20629 | Electro-magnetic waves travel at light speed - so light is electromagnetism! [Close] |
| 20632 | In QED, electro-magnetism exists in quantum states, emitting and absorbing electrons [Close] |
| 20642 | Photon exchange drives the electro-magnetic force [Close] |
| 20639 | Quantum fields contain continual rapid creation and disappearance [Close] |
| 20631 | Dirac showed how electrons conform to special relativity [Close] |
| 20641 | Electrons get their mass by interaction with the Higgs field [Close] |
| 20626 | Modern theories of matter are grounded in heat, work and energy [Close] |
| 20633 | The Higgs field is an electroweak plasma - but we don't know what stuff it consists of [Close] |
| 20640 | Space-time is indeterminate foam over short distances [Close] |