Philosophical Speculations

must be out of print - selling on Amazon now for about $800

If I have to choose (and I don't think one has to choose between two options), a shared external world seems like a simpler explanation since it doesn't require any inference about a mind at large which I know nothing about. I can infer a rock but I don't have any means of inferring a mind at large...

As a starting point, both idealism and materialism are beliefs. The existence of the rock as something external to experience is an inference. We can see and touch the rock, but we never find 'the rock', there is only the seeing and touching. We could also infer the shared nature of experience - we ...

To a Materialist I could ask please pretty please show me this 'matter' of which you speak . . . needless to say this matter/material would have to exist outside of experience, outside of being aware of it. Of course this is not possible - no one has ever produced or found this matter, so matter rem...

I could come up with a pretty believable proof for the existence of sunsets - but until you've seen one any and all arguments are non confincing. After you've experienced a sunset the arguments are frivilous.

Watched this interview a few times, very enjoyable. I think it odd that Sam questions the wisdon of extending claims about human consciousness to reality, yet has no difficulty extending such re scientific observations, scientific observation which also occur in consciousness. The difference being t...