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Alejandro1 comments on Rational philosophies - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: katydee 12 February 2012 06:19AM

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Comment author: Alejandro1 12 February 2012 06:47:42PM 7 points [-]

I agree that most of these philosophies were more rational, in a broad sense, that their chief rivals in their historical context. I would add to the list the empiricism of Locke and Hume, and the Enlightenment rationalism of Voltaire and others. On the other hand, there are a couple of mistakes in your list:

positivism, logic school of Carnap, Wittgenstein and others (Saul Kripke today)

Wittgenstein was never a positivist, and though his Tractatus did influence the Vienna Circle, he disavowed them as disciples. And I wouldn't say Kripke is a positivist in any sense. He believes in non-empirical "metaphysical necessities" and is a mind-body dualist (in fact, a lot of the current discussion on zombie arguments originates in his writings).

finitism, mathematical "intuitionism" of David Hilbert

Hilbert was a formalist, not a finitst-intuitionist, and both philosophies are generally viewed as polar opposites in their conception of mathematics. For example, Hilbert embraced Cantor's transfinite sets, while intuitionists rejected them.

Comment author: Thomas 12 February 2012 09:06:00PM 0 points [-]

I'll rewrite it after some re-checking.