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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The concept of something that exists but is unperceived is a contradiction in terms.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Kant's transcendental idealism distinguishes between appearances (phenomena) and things-in-themselves (noumena), where the latter exist independently of any perceiver.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If noumena are coherently posited as causally responsible for experience, then unperceived existence is not contradictory but is instead a necessary postulate of cognition.
      ?

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    • 3.Berkeley's argument conflates the conditions under which we can *know* objects with the conditions under which objects *exist*, committing an epistemic-to-ontological inference error.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Bertrand Russell's distinction between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description allows for coherent reference to entities never directly perceived by any mind.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If we can meaningfully describe and reason about unobserved electrons, remote planets, or past events, then the concept of unperceived existence carries no internal contradiction.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Berkeley's premise that 'existence consists in being perceived' is itself an unperceived metaphysical claim, generating a self-refuting performative contradiction.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.The existence of an idea consists in being perceived (esse est percipi).
      ?

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    • 2.The only objects that exist for a mind are ideas, because there is nothing else that can exist for the mind.
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    • 3.If existence is restricted to what is perceived, then unperceived existence is conceptually impossible.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.