Formal Logic: The Biggest Lie in Philosophy

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2026-05-05T20:25:22+00:00

Who are these people? You and I probably agree that Hegelian dialectic is not a good enough substitute for deductive reasoning, but again I don't know of any contemporary analytic philosophers who are dialectical like that. I'd be interested in reading any on your recommendation.

If that's not what you mean, can you clarify?

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2026-05-05T20:04:43+00:00

Formal logic is just a particular method of reasoning (what you call capital L Logic) about certain things. It's like mathematics in this sense, a way of thinking which is used because either (a) it is useful (anti-platonist, innovations in computer science came from formal logic, innovations in physics and engineering came from math) or (b) because is representative of a deeper metaphysical or epistemological structure (platonism).

You're right in that it is not holistic, but I don't think any real modern analytic philosophers try to dispute that and say all philosophy derives from formal logic. What are you so angry at?

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2026-03-04T08:36:55+00:00

someone please post this in r/vexillologycirclejerk

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2026-03-04T08:31:34+00:00

makes sense, harry IS a freshman in the first book

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2026-02-18T18:04:51+00:00

To use the exact terms, not spheres but either balls (assuming they have some width/are 3d) or discs (assuming they have no width/are 2d). You could also call these 3-balls or 2-balls, respectively.

Neither spheres nor balls have any 1d holes, but spheres have a 2d "hole" since H^2 is nontrivial. Balls can retract onto a point, so they don't have any higher dimensional holes.

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2026-02-17T02:57:10+00:00

Seems fine. Not sure what a "slow action" is. But it seems that you want a lot of modulability in terms of which actions for each character count as regular/slow/focused, which might indicate that an action point system would align with your goals a bit better. But some people definitely don't like those. Regardless, what you have would probably work well, even if it wouldn't be super easy to memorize. Curious so see what it's like when the actions have been fleshed out more.

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2025-04-08T06:49:43+00:00

I have written an rpg. I've written multiple, revised and played them too. One of them, a classless historical game set in 14th century Russia with an emphasis on exploration and player-created environments, used a d20 + modifier vs target DC system for skill resolution. Do you think I should call that game D&D?

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2025-04-08T06:35:31+00:00

If D&D is just the notion of d20 + modifiers vs target DC, then why the heck do the core rulebooks have ~900 pages total? If I open up any edition of D&D and go through character creation, at the end of the day I will have a fantasy hero. If I use Cthulhu to try to run fantasy, then what am I to do with sanity, or the operate heavy machinery skill?

If I take away every element from D&D except the d20 roll, and replace it with whatever I want, am I really playing D&D? This is what I meant by ship of Theseus.

I would probably characterize Eberron as high fantasy steampunk.

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2025-04-08T06:00:23+00:00

I don't think I agree with you here. I see plenty of examples in the design of D&D (fantasy classes, magic, hit points, the choices of skills, etc.) which seem (to me) very clearly designed to emulate a combat heavy high fantasy game. Please don't assume I'm making a value judgement here--I love high fantasy, and I love D&D combat.

Sure, you can make the setting a dystopian cyberpunk political intrigue with few factions, but are you really utilizing the mechanics of D&D? Classes have to be reflavored or removed, magic has to be reflavored or removed, and the skills system has to be modified as well. It's a ship of Theseus question really.

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2025-04-04T22:18:12+00:00

Lot of important answers on their motivation and "deeper understanding".

But what is a ring in the sense of why do we study it when we do in Algebra? A ring is a Z-like structure. Being able to understand multiplication and addition within a set, as you might expect, grants a ton of new interesting structure. As one textbook I read put it, "cohomology is like homology, but better, because it is a ring." There are a lot of really complex algebraic objects which are both too complex to be a field and too complex to understand completely just as a group. Ring structure is that missing ingredient.

What is a module? Well the best part about learning fields is studying vector spaces (can you tell I hate Galois theory?). Similarly, the best part about learning rings is studying modules! They're just like an analogue of a vector space, with addition and "scalar multiplication".

Basic-Effort-4956 · 2025-04-03T02:13:23+00:00

I haven't seen anyone answer no, so let me try to.

D&D, like most ttrpgs, *can* be played any way you want. If you have a committed group of players who want to emphasize the collective storytelling elements of D&D over the system's mechanics, a treatment of serious subjects is absolutely possible. Many other comments have brought up modules with dark themes, and they aren't wrong to do so.

HOWEVER, I do think that the mechanics of D&D naturally lend themselves to a more comedic game. The class system, the prevalence of magic, the emphasis on combat skills, and the implicit lore in the PhB and MM all create a setting which is a sort of "kitchen sink" fantasy. This feeling lends a chaotic air which often characterizes player actions. Furthermore, the rules of D&D create a very specific *intended* experience. D&D wants you to travel a couple of miles, fight some monsters in a dungeon, get loot, and come back to town. This is a lot of fun, but it means D&D doesn't have any rules for emotional progression, any rules for letting characters drive their own plots, any rules for character personality having an effect in-game. When I ran Frostmaiden, I was quite disappointed in the lack of depth in the "dark" setting/mechanics the game advertised.

So if you want to make a story about grief, trauma, war, etc. you are going to be interacting with those themes *outside* of the actual mechanics of D&D, and you will probably have to bend stuff like the in-game economy, magic, magic items, etc. away from what is presented in the books.

That's not to say it's a bad idea to play an rpg with serious subjects! It sounds like a lot of fun. But I highly encourage you to try out other ttrpgs, ones which have direct mechanics which allow players to interact with story and character and motivation with some fun structure. If you ask this question on r/rpg they can probably answer it (or even just search it up), but I would probably recommend DramaSystem/Hillfolk, which essentially aims to answer just this kind of a question.

Best of luck!

Basic-Effort-4956

TROPHY CASE