How material can implication be?
The standard example concerns stoic logic, and the example of the crows.
J. J. Thomson wrote about 'if' being material, only -- but he did it in a
posthumous paper (in The Journal of Philosophy) edited by his widow, J.
Jarvis Thomson.
The opposite of 'material' is not 'formal' (cfr. Aristotle's hylomorphism)
but 'strict', as per Lewis. Material implication paradoxes are all
implicatural in nature, i.e. 'odd,' but true -- and thus not paradoxes at all
_strictly_.
We are considering if Popper's w3 can contain things like
i. p & ~p
where & and ~ have their standard two-valued interpretation
(intuitionistic logicians disagree).
In a message dated 2/4/2016 10:27:45 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
"W3 is a container and does not become self-contradictory because it
contains multitudes of propositions that contradict each other - no more than
an
actual cup becomes self-contradictory if I put the proposition
i. Donal's latest post was written sarcastically.
and its negation, [to wit
ii. It is not the case that Donal's latest post was written sarcastically.
] into the cup on two separate pieces of paper - or no more than single
sheet of paper becomes self-contradictory if two contradictory propositions
are written on it. Popper further explains this in terms of the difference
between logical and material implication which he claimed to have introduced
into British philosophy but which distinction J. L. Mackie failed to
observe when he made a similar "self-contradictory" criticism in his review of
Popper's Schilpp volumes."
Thanks. Shouldn't that be 'introduced TO British philosophy'? Admittedly,
Popper is a British philosopher, but to argue alla McEvoy this is compatible
with
iii. It is not the case that Popper is a British philosopher.
in which case he could only have introduced this or that item TO British
philosophy, himself not being one.
O. T. O. H., Mackie, who was born within the bounds of the British Empire,
_was_ a British philosopher.
Mackie's mother, incidentally, Annie Burnett Duncan, was also a British
subject, if not a British philsopher.
He was schoolteacher.
Mackie's father, Alexander Mackie, was professor of education at the
University of Sydney as well as the principal of the Sydney Teachers College,
and was influential in the educational system of New South Wales, if you are
into that sort of thing.
(New South Wales is thus called to oppose it to Old South Wales, where
Shirley Bassey hails from.).
Mackie graduated from the University of Sydney after studying under John
Anderson -- where 'under' is figurative ("I never _was_ under Anderson,"
Mackie later explained -- "Confessions of a Philosopher"), sharing the medal
in
philosophy with eminent jurist Harold Glass (Incidentally Annie Burnett
Duncan never found Glass "eminent").
Mackie received the Wentworth Travelling Fellowship to study "the great go"
(or "greats," as the vernacular goes) at Oriel, where he graduated with a
first (i.e. A+ in the American system).
During World War II Mackie served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical
Engineers in Italy, and learned some Italian ("Mainly Dante, but also
Boccaccio.").
Mackie returned from Italy to "The Dreaming Spires" and was soon appointed
Pofessor of Philosophy at the University of Otago in New Zealand.
"In a way, it was going back 'down under' -- if not down under Anderson
--", he later explained in his aforementioned "Confessions".
Mackie indeed succeeded Anderson (under whom he literaly was never under)
as the Challis Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney.
This amused both Mackie and Anderson (who by this time, Mackie called
"Underson"): "You're under me now," Mackie reportedly said to Anderson --.
Mackie later moved to the United Kingdom, becoming the inaugural holder of
the chair of philosophy at York.
("This was the place where W. H. Auden was born, but the citizens of York
never felt the need for a chair of philosophy -- very theological people,
the Yorkies," Mackie tells in his "Confessions").
Mackie taught the "Yorkies" until he was elected a fellow of University,
Oxford -- Mackie never siaid "University College," after reading from Nancy
Mitford that adding "College" to things like "Magdalen" or "St. John's" is
non-U) where he served as praelector.
"That was fun, and I felt like an Ancient Roman," he reminisced. The
praelectors were known in Ancient Rome for a various things Mackie had learned
about while in Italy during the 'phoney' war (so-called by Chamberlain).
Mackie then became a fellow of the British Academy ("where 'fellow' has
perhaps a different usage from "For he's a jolly good fellow," "Confessions,"
p. 135).
Mackie died in Oxford and is properly buried in that picturesque churchyard
at Oxford*.
When Grice learned that Mackie had died he decided to dedicate his Paul
Carus lectures on "The conception of Value" to him, drawing mainly from
"Ethics: inventing right and wrong". Grice was okay with Mackie inventing
"right", "but I cannot conceive of a person intelligent as Mackie was to be
proud
of inventing wrong, but then perhaps I misread his book."
Cheers,
Speranza
*. In this, he is not alone. He is buried along with
Henry Wentworth Acland, physician and educator, and Sarah Acland, after
whom the Acland Home is named
James Blish, the American expatriate author
Maurice Bowra, Warden of Wadham College, Oxford and Vice-Chancellor of
Oxford University
John William Burgon, Dean of Chichester Cathedral
Theophilus Carter, said to be the model for the Mad Hatter in Lewis
Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
George Claridge Druce, botanist and Mayor of Oxford
Hugo Dyson, member of the Inklings
Francis Edgeworth, statistician and economist
Austin Farrer, Warden of Keble College, Oxford
Kenneth Grahame, author of The Wind in the Willows
Abel Hendy Jones Greenidge, classical historian formerly of Balliol,
Hertford and Brasenose
Charles Buller Heberden, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford and
Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University
William West Jones, Archbishop of Cape Town
Sir Richard Lodge, historian
Max Müller, philologist and Orientalist, Fellow at All Souls College,
Oxford
Walter Pater, essayist and critic
Bartholomew Price, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford
Lord Redcliffe-Maud, civil servant and Master of University College,
Oxford, and his wife Jean Redcliffe-Maud
John Rhys, Principal of Jesus College, Oxford
George Rolleston, physician and zoologist
John Stainer, composer and organist
Kenneth Tynan, theatre critic and author
Thomas Herbert Warren, President of Magdalen College, Oxford
Charles Williams, novelist, poet and member of the Inklings
William Wallace, Scottish philosopher
Henry George Woods, President of Trinity College, Oxford
Margaret Louisa Woods, poet and novelist
A wooden grave marker that was used to mark the grave of the England Rugby
captain Ronald Poulton-Palmer at Ploegsteert wood is affixed to a wall in
the cemetery.
In case you are interested, a "Friends of Holywell Cemetery" has been
established to raise funds and manage the cemetery.
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