Unsolved Philosophical Problems...: Philosophy Forums

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Unsolved Philosophical Problems...

callmebanks
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Posted 10/21/09 - 08:08 PM: Subject: Unsolved Philosophical Problems...	#1
Hi everyone, I've been attempting to collect all the unsolved problems in Philosophy and make a list, as well as for every other science in hopes of progressing knowledge...Even just a little bit. If you're interested in helping with what Philosophy knowledge you have (or Biology, Chemistry, etc), you can come join an intellectual community just like here at the Philosophy Forums and help solidify the list of exactly what problems we're up against. I'm not trying to steal support from this forum or spam its boards -- I support science and the progress of knowledge. My site is attempting to categorize the knowledge via "problem" to try and sort out the best theories from the lesser ones, in an attempt to solve them and find out what the real issues are. Obviously people are already discussing such things here, my aim is simply to put much more of an emphasis on targetting the problems and framing them so that people can focus on their possible solutions and shortcomings. Together, we can definitely help science move forward PHYSICS \| CHEMISTRY \| BIOLOGY \| ASTRONOMY \| PHILOSOPHY \| PSYCHOLOGY \| GEOLOGY www . humanswers . net alexis

Cadrache
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Posted 10/21/09 - 08:19 PM:	#2
Well...there is your first problem right there! Already structured before even looking at things. Definately scientific. Might I suggest another differentiation? Public circulation 'problems' and alternate Point of view problems. Send me a pm pls about the site pls. I want to look at it later and will likely forget this thread. (and might have an addition for you later. I'm hoping to actually write something close to undergrad level.)
"...There was a writer who asked why it was that when we find positive experiences we say that only the physical facts are real, but in negative experiences we believe that reality is subjective. He made an example of those who say that in birth only the pain is real, the joy a subjective point of view, but that in death it is the emotional loss that is the reality." - Tony Ballantyne, Recursion. _____________________________________________ Truth is want. - The internal state of matters. Truth is Need. - The external state of affairs.

callmebanks
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Posted 10/21/09 - 08:31 PM: Subject: First problem :)	#3
I sent you an email, thanks for checking it out. And yeah -- perhaps I get a little too rigorous with classification alexis

jsidelko
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Posted 10/22/09 - 05:19 AM:	#4
Philosophy, unlike mathematics and physics, doesn't solve problems. It elminates unsolvable problems.
thanatos

Arkady
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Posted 10/22/09 - 03:38 PM:	#5
Perhaps you'd be interested in checking out this thread I began.
"Sit down before fact like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing." -T.H. Huxley

discoveryii
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Posted 10/23/09 - 10:13 PM:	#6
This is something by Nietzsche the OP might find interesting: Nietzsche wrote: 1. The Will to Truth, which is to tempt us to many a hazardous enterprise, the famous Truthfulness of which all philosophers have hitherto spoken with respect, what questions has this Will to Truth not laid before us! What strange, perplexing, questionable questions! It is already a long story; yet it seems as if it were hardly commenced. Is it any wonder if we at last grow distrustful, lose patience, and turn impatiently away? That this Sphinx teaches us at last to ask questions ourselves? WHO is it really that puts questions to us here? WHAT really is this "Will to Truth" in us? In fact we made a long halt at the question as to the origin of this Will—until at last we came to an absolute standstill before a yet more fundamental question. We inquired about the VALUE of this Will. Granted that we want the truth: WHY NOT RATHER untruth? And uncertainty? Even ignorance? The problem of the value of truth presented itself before us—or was it we who presented ourselves before the problem? Which of us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem to be a rendezvous of questions and notes of interrogation. And could it be believed that it at last seems to us as if the problem had never been propounded before, as if we were the first to discern it, get a sight of it, and RISK RAISING it? For there is risk in raising it, perhaps there is no greater risk.
Hunger allows no choice To the citizen or the police; We must love one another or die. -W.H. Auden

Banno
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Posted 10/23/09 - 10:28 PM:	#7
Seems to me that foremost in the list of unsolved philosophical problems would be a list of the philosophical problems that have been solved.
Davidson: We make maximum sense of the words and thoughts of others when we interpret in a way that optimizes agreement. Russel Morris: There's a meaning there, but the meaning there doesn't really mean a thing... Ned: Such is life

slap
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Posted 10/26/09 - 02:30 PM:	#8
I've got a solved one. The nature of zero!
Harm(For a person)= 1-Happiness/% or relevant knowledge known

callmebanks
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Posted 10/28/09 - 01:02 AM: Subject: Replies	#9
Nice to see people replying and not just mocking me for trying to create said list of philosophical problems. Banno: If it might be more apt to raise a list of problems that philosophy has solved, I would be more than willing to create a section on the site for just that. I can think of a few (although I imagine that was a logic-trap because you don't believe any have...am I right?) discoveryii: I love Nietzsche. It's his genius that should be shaping this World. slap: What do you mean "the nature of zero"?

Mako
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Posted 10/28/09 - 02:15 AM:	#10
slap wrote: I've got a solved one. The nature of zero! That's a logical-mathematical solution rather than a philosophical one. It would seem that the problem with a list of 'solved' philosophical problems is that philosophical discourse is often the first field of discourse within which the problems are first brought to light. They're subsequently nurtured along in their 'unsolved,' developmental stages, perhaps within one or more sub-field(s) of philosophy. However the solutions tend to fall to the various fields of scientific and technical inquiry, which yank them into their 'solved,' mature state, and from there on, they're no longer philosophical problems, at least in their original forms. So it's a binary situation. Either they're philosophical caterpillars or scientific/technical butterflies (Ok, I've omitted the 'pupa' stage for the sake of my argument.) Either way, solutions to philosophical problems are transformational, relative to the status of the original problem. Edited by Mako on 10/28/09 - 02:39 AM
"To alcohol. The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems." ~ Homer Simpson

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