"Gold is a yellow metal?" It ain't analytically so!

Proof at last that "Gold is a yellow metal" is not analytic, pace Kant. Viva la Kripke!

Southampton scientists change the colour of gold (From the BBC)

__________

[...]

For this very reason all analytic judgments are a priori even when the concepts are empirical, as, for example, "Gold is a yellow metal," for to know this I require no experience beyond my concept of gold as a yellow metal. It is, in fact, the very concept, and I need only analyze it, without looking beyond it elsewhere.

 --Immanuel Kant,  Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics; Preamble, Section 2b, p. 267 http://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/phil%20306/kant_materials/prolegomena3.htm

See also Kripke's  Naming and Necessity, p. 118-9

A Primer on Logic: Part 4.1

I've published a new article on Scholardarity, A Primer on Logic: Part 4.1, the latest installment of my introduction to formal logic. In it I address some preliminaries to Predicate Logic.

Also, in case you missed Parts 1, 2, 3, and the Interlude, which respectively cover logical preliminaries, propositional logic, Aristotelian logic, and the inadequacies of Aristotelian logic, you can check them out here:

Part 1

Part 2
 
Part 3

Interlude

If you have any comments / criticism, by all means share it!

Announcement of Scholardarity’s First Essay Contest

Announcement of Scholardarity’s First Essay Contest

 

 

Peter Krey and Jason Zarri, co-founders of Scholardarity, are pleased to announce that Scholardarity is now accepting submissions for its first essay contest. The cost of entering the contest is $10.00. There will be prizes for the first, second, and third place winners. The contestant who wins first place will receive at least $200.00, the contestant who wins second place will receive at least $100.00, and the contestant who wins third place will receive at least $50.00; we say “at least” because the money received from the entrance fees will form a “pot”, which will be divided amongst the three winners: 50% of the pot for first place, 25% of the pot for second place, and 10% of the pot for third place.

There are two topics to choose from:

(1) What role should the government play in a society and what is the proper relation of the government and economy in order to best serve the common good? Would new approaches to the discipline of economics—for example, the evolutionary or complexity economics of Eric Beinhocker or other approaches, e.g., the social economics of Anghel Rugina, contribute to the well-being of society?
 

(2) What is the proper relationship between government and religion in a democracy? What are the effects, positive and/or negative, of government on religion, of religion on government, or of both on society as a whole? Essays may include the pros and cons of the separation of church and state, governmental restrictions on certain religious practices, as well as restrictions placed on a religion, such as wanting to impose its will on the whole society.

 

There will be two rounds: In Round 1, contestants will submit a proposal of about 500 words in which they give an outline for a paper on their selected topic. From these proposals, twenty will be selected as finalists to enter Round 2. The finalists will write a paper based on their proposal, of about 2,000 words in length. All twenty of the finalists’ essays will be published on Scholardarity.
The deadline for submissions for Round 1 is November 15th, and the deadline for submissions for Round 2 is January 15th

To enter the contest, go to Scholardarity's Contest Page to enter, then send your proposal to  jlzarri@scholardarity.com, along with your name, address, and any other relevant contact information.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Philosophy Notes from my Grandfather

I’ve started a new section of Scholardarity in Open Source Study Notes, Philosophy Notes from my Grandfather. It’s a page dedicated to the memory of my late grandfather, who graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Philosophy from USF. I’ve also added its first entry, An Overview of the History of Philosophy: Part 1.

On the Relativity of “Reallys” -- Now at Scholardarity

I've just posted my article "On the Relativity of “Reallys”: A Critique of Strawson" at Scholardarity in the Philosophy of Mind section, in which I criticize P. F. Strawson's attempt to reconcile the standpoints of science and common sense, insofar as they concern perception .