Probability

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Kategorie: Philosophy

The question of probability is of great importance above all because it could be a basis for deciding between determinism and indeterminism ("determinism or indeterminism). If the probability of quantum mechanics can only be interpreted indeterministically, as many physicists believe, determinism is refuted. 

Explanations for the "successes" of homeopathy

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Kategorie: Philosophy

To put it briefly: homeopathy cannot not be successful. Not not successful. Because the whole system is structured in such a way that successes are always attributed to homeopathy, but failures to circumstances outside of homeopathy. So within the system of homoeopathy it is not possible that homoeopathy does not work. If one leaves this system - it is obvious that it does not work, as dozens, if not hundreds of studies and scientific as well as logical arguments have long since proven. In the following, we will show how homeopathy works.

Freedom of the will

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Kategorie: Philosophy

Without free will, many of our ideas around human accountability are wrong. It seems downright absurd to hold people responsible for their decisions and actions, even though they could not have decided otherwise, even though they were not free of will. Since in a determinism everything that happens was already fixed at the beginning of time, freedom of will in this sense cannot be compatible with a determinism. But since freedom of will obviously exists and is a necessary precondition for responsibility, freedom of will and indeterminism must be compatible. This, however, is a fallacy. For while various forms of freedom are compatible with a determinism, in an indeterminism every form of freedom is impossible.

Quantum physics and esoterics

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Kategorie: Philosophy

Quantum physics is a big topic in esotericism. Many esotericists are convinced that quantum physics can explain many esoteric phenomena that are inexplicable in a "natural" way. This is definitely not the case, but it is noticeable that some interpretations of quantum physics themselves sound surprisingly esoteric. For example, some interpretations assume that contradictions really exist in the field of quantum phenomena (Schrödinger's cat; Knapp: contradictions as part of reality). Or that the (material) world does not exist independently of immaterial consciousness (Bunge: Copenhagen interpretation), i.e. that the material world is dependent on an immaterial "observer". Also very esoteric is the idea that quantum phenomena, in contrast to the rest of natural science, should obey partly indeterministic, partly deterministic laws, that they are quasi "free of will". This is a dualistic idea that is otherwise strictly rejected in the natural sciences and leads to the probably fundamentally unsolvable measurement problem. There are no serious doubts about the results of quantum physics. But there are different interpretations of these results, some of which seem to be more esoteric than others. How can this be evaluated?

How many biological sexes are there in humans?

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Kategorie: Philosophy

In the summer of 2022, a downright absurd dispute broke out at Humboldt University in Berlin. The university had disinvited a biologist doing her doctorate because, among other things, she wanted to lecture on the fact that there are exactly two sexes in humans. In forums, emotions ran high, nerves were on edge and it was suggested that this statement was controversial. Of course it is not.

Unconditional basic Income

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Kategorie: Philosophy

An unconditional basic income (UBI) is a utopia in which all people receive a basic pension from the state without conditions, which is supposed to make a simple life possible. In Switzerland, the introduction of such a UBI was voted on in 2016. The proposal was for a basic income of 2500 francs for every adult resident in Switzerland and 625 francs per child. The proposal was rejected with over 75 per cent of the vote.

The demand for a UBI is made again and again. There are also repeated attempts to implement it on a limited and local level in order to empirically explore whether a UBI would be possible at all and what consequences would result from it. In surveys in Germany, more than half of the respondents have already spoken out in favour of a UBI - what do they expect from it?

Solution of the "Munchhausen Trilemma"

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Kategorie: Philosophy

For a detailed explanation of what the Munchausen Trilemma is all about, see "Wikipedia article; "Article by Michael Schmidt-Salomon.

The so-called Munchausen Trilemma states that every statement and thus every assured knowledge is strictly speaking impossible, since

• 1. it is impossible to give ultimate reasons for truth or knowledge (every reason in turn requires a reason, which in turn needs to be justified, which can be played on ad infinitum)
• a justification that comes to an end is either 2. circular (the justified becomes at some point again a justification itself)
• or 3. a justification that comes to an end is dogmatic and thus unfounded.

But since knowledge is justified true belief (definition of Plato), there can be no knowledge.

Body Soul Dualism

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Kategorie: Philosophy

Body-soul dualism or "interactionist substance dualism" probably has its roots in ancient Greece, but today it is mainly attributed to René Descartes (1596-1650). It refers to the so-called body-soul problem or, from today's perspective, probably more correctly the body-mind problem. Basically, it is about the fact that body and mind seem to be fundamentally of a different kind. The body is clearly part of the "normal", physically describable external world and can be described unambiguously in scientific terms. The mind, on the other hand, seems to obey its own laws and can only be described physically to a limited extent. To date, there is no scientific theory that can explain the phenomenon of consciousness in particular. In the case of body-soul dualism, there is also a metaphysical level of meaning. Only if the spirit as soul can exist independently of the material world and thus of the body are most religious systems even conceivable. 

Freedom of Will: Determinism and Indeterminism

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Kategorie: Philosophy

In the non-scientific (and partly also in the scientific) imagination, the past is supposed to be "determined" in the sense of unchangeable. But the future is supposed to be indeterminate in the sense of unchangeable. While it is impossible to change the past, it should be possible for people to choose from various "futures" (a term that, excitingly enough, does not exist!) the one they want to select. Man should therefore be able to determine which of various possible "futures" will become reality and which will be discarded. Once he has chosen a future and it has become the present and the past, however, there is only that possibility which has become reality through the human being. The present human decision is thus supposed to turn an open future into a closed past; the future, in contrast to the past, is not supposed to be determined but creatively shapeable by the human being.