Normal conditions are a restriction on philosophical arguments, especially in epistemology, in order to avoid objections perceived as digressive. As a reply to objections to an explanation of a phenomenon, e.g. a hypothesis or a theory, it is said, argument X holds under normal conditions. In some cases, the concept of normal conditions tends to be rather blurred and the reply under normal conditions can tend to extend to everything that contradicts an argument. In cases, when the argument of normal conditions comes too often, according to the principle of Occam's Razor another explanation X' has to be found.
Famous quotes containing the words normal and/or conditions:
“Cant is always rather nauseating; but before we condemn political hypocrisy, let us remember that it is the tribute paid by men of leather to men of God, and that the acting of the part of someone better than oneself may actually commit one to a course of behaviour perceptibly less evil than what would be normal and natural in an avowed cynic.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“The Settlement ... is an experimental effort to aid in the solution of the social and industrial problems which are engendered by the modern conditions of life in a great city. It insists that these problems are not confined to any one portion of the city. It is an attempt to relieve, at the same time, the overaccumulation at one end of society and the destitution at the other ...”
—Jane Addams (1860–1935)