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Beatles Philosophy.

This page proves what we all knew but were afraid to say. The Beatles' talents were not confined to music. Collectively they display a philosophical understanding that rivals the greats. This page is dedicated to the exegesis and deconstruction of Fab-four-philosophy. Feel free to add to this page if you are a fellow Beatles scholar (or e-mail RossCameron with additions).

Song Album Quote Comment Spotted by
All you need is love Magical Mystery Tour "There's nothing you can know that isn't known" John Lennon advocates metaphysical anti-realism and endorses the conclusion of Fitch's paradox. RossCameron
Yesterday Help "I believe in yesterday" Paul McCartney "refutes" presentism RossCameron
Help Help "Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody" Lennon warns against a de dicto reading of his plea RossCameron
Maxwell's silver hammer Abbey Road "Joan was quizzical, studied metaphysical* science in the home. Late nights all alone with the test-tubes. Whoa, oh oh oh." In response to the anti-metaphysical scepticism of the logical empiricists, McCartney invents a strange new practical and empirical method for discovering metaphysical truths. RossCameron
Her Majesty Abbey Road "Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, but she changes from day to day." McCartney advocates stage theory. RobertWilliams
Taxman Revolver "If you walk around, I'll tax your feet". Harrison advances neo-Lockean critique of the state: taxation as cannibalism. JoshParsons
Nowhere man Rubber Soul "Doesn't have a point of view, knows not where he's going to, Isn't he a bit like me and you?" Lennon takes issue with Nagel RobertWilliams
All you need is love Magical Mystery Tour "Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game" Lennon advocates a broadly Davidsonian theory of interpretation ElizabethBarnes
The Inner Light Lady Madonna (Single) "Without going out of my door I can know all things of earth." Harrison defends the synthetic a priori AidanMcGlynn
All You Need is Love Magical Mystery Tour "All you need is love" Lennon refutes Empedocles' cosmological account. Federico Luzzi
Drive My Car Rubber Soul "I got no car and it's breaking my heart" Lennon and McCartney endorse Meinongianism MarcusRossberg
I am the Walrus Magical Mystery Tour "I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together." Lennon endorses Spinoza's monism ElizabethBarnes
Rocky Raccoon The Beatles (aka The White Album) "Her name was Magil, and she called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancy" McCartney elaborates Frege's sense/reference distinction RossCameron
Strawberry Fields Forever Magical Mystery Tour " Always, no sometimes, think it's me, but you know I know when it's a dream." Lennon denies the certainty of Descartes' cogito; but argues that it doesn't matter because he rejects the sceptical argument from the possibility that one is asleep RossCameron
Come Together Abbey Road "Hold you in his arms, yeah, you can feel his disease" Lennon promoting Guru Osho's thoughts: "PHILOSOPHY is a disease, and not an ordinary one either. It’s not a common cold. It is cancer - Cancer of the soul. Once a person is lost in the jungle of philosophy he becomes more and more entangled in words, concepts, abstractions and there is no end to it. One can go on and on for lives together." (source) MarcusRossberg
While my Guitar Gently Weeps The Beatles (aka The White Album) " For every mistake we must surely be learning." Harrison resists the pessimistic meta-induction. RossCameron
Penny Lane Magical Mystery Tour "Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes" McCartney endorses a rather extreme form of anti-realism. CarrieJenkins
Strawberry Fields Forever Magical Mystery Tour "I mean it must be high or low" Lennon denies the possibility of a borderline case. CarrieJenkins
Nowhere Man Rubber Soul "He's as blind as he can be, just sees what he wants to see." There's an implicature that there are some things he wants to see, and so Lennon is here endorsing a rather strange essentialist claim: the Nowhere man is essentially not completely blind. RossCameron
Tomorrow Never Knows Revolver "that you may know the meaning of within: it is being, it is being." Lennon nods in the direction of Plotinus's One/Buddhist nirvana. Paul Winstanley
I'm only sleeping Revolver "Please don't wake me, no don't shake me, leave me where I am, I'm only sleeping." Lennon advocates the Cartesian method. Paul Winstanley
Dig A Pony Let It Be "You can indicate anything you see." Lennon's advocation of the demonstrative concepts reply to richness, and fineness of grain objections to the view that all perceptual content is conceptual content. David Wall
I Want To Tell You Revolver "It's only me, it's not my mind" Harrison on personal identity CarrieJenkins
A Little Help From my Friends Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band "What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you, but I know it's mine." Ringo asserts the ineffability and privacy of the sensuous given. Anders Weinstein
Come Together Abbey Road "Come together, right now, over me" Lennon and McCartney point towards the unification of concepts under broadly Platonic universals ElizabethBarnes
Come Together Abbey Road "One thing I can tell you is you got to be free" Lennon and McCartney agree with the Libertarians that freewill is a necessary component of the human experience ElizabethBarnes
We Can Work It Out Past Masters Vol II “Life is very short, and there’s no time” According to McCartney everyday temporal discourse is in good standing even though time itself is an illusion. CarrieJenkins
When I'm 64 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band “Indicate precisely what you mean to say” McCartney objects to conversational implicature. RossCameron
I got a feeling Let It Be “I got a feeling, a feeling deep inside” McCartney disagrees with Dennett concerning qualia realism. David Wall
I got a feeling Let It Be “I got a feeling, a feeling I can't hide” McCartney turns behaviourist. David Wall
Fixing a Hole Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band "Where I belong, I'm right" Lennon and McCartney endorse contextualism ElizabethBarnes
Strawberry Fields Forever Magical Mystery Tour "Nothing is real" . . . but they don't tell us whether or not it Noths! RossCameron
All You Need is Love Magical Mystery Tour "All you need is love" Lennon embraces McTaggart's fundamental metaphysics. Kris McDaniel
You know my name (look up the number!) B-side to Let it Be "You know my name (look up the number!)" The Beatles advise everyone to learn their Erdos number RossCameron
Only A Northern Song Yellow Submarine "If you're listening to this song, you may think the chords are going wrong, but they're not; we just wrote it like that" Harrison explores self-reference and non-wellfounded songwriting. Mark Colyvan
She Said She Said Revolver "She said, I know what it's like to be dead" Lennon (with the help of Peter Fonda) explores Nagelian themes. Mark Colyvan
Can't Buy Me Love A Hard Day's Night "I don't care too much for money - money can't buy me love" Lennon and McCartney reveal their preferences to be lexically ordered, thus violating the Archimedian axiom of decision theory. Al Hajek
Michelle Rubber Soul "I will say the only words I know that you'll understand" Paul recognizes something very close to a punctate mind. Rob Rupert
Loser Beatles for Sale "I'm not what I appear to be" John separates the phenomenal from the noumenal. Rob Rupert

* Okay. Various people have pointed out (since this website hit fame courtesy of Brian Leiter) that Joan studies _pata

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