“HIV causes AIDS” is about as certain as anything we know; there is no meaningful doubt. However, what it means for it to be true is highly dubious ontologically. In fact, each of the three words in the statement is extremely ontologically indefinite.
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HIV is defined as “whatever vaguely-related viruses cause AIDS” and AIDS is defined as “whatever diseases are caused by HIV.” And no one has any workable story about what “causes” means, in general.
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Replying to @Meaningness @Jayarava
I agree philosophers have rightfully debated causality. But for AIDS and especially HIV, I'd wager that's not the definition, but at best "how we get to a definition".
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Replying to @Blaisorblade @Jayarava
Well… having looked into the matter in some detail, I think that as a matter of science, you are mistaken. HIV is polyphyletic; the only criterion for inclusion in the taxon is that it infects humans (not other primates).
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Replying to @Meaningness @Jayarava
So "HIV refers to a questionable list of viruses" is now an ontological issue?
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Replying to @Blaisorblade @Jayarava
It’s ontological in that the issue is that there is no Truth about whether a particular virus counts as HIV. If there were a Truth, but we had difficulty knowing that Truth, it would be epistemological.
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You can see that there is no Truth by means of sorites. Start from a clear case of HIV and change one base pair at a time. Exactly when does it cease to be HIV?
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Replying to @Meaningness @Blaisorblade
Which is an interesting example, because HIV reverse transcriptase is very error-prone. 1-10 base pairs of 10k are switched every copy rna > dna
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Replying to @Jayarava @Blaisorblade
Yes; which is part of how it evades immune surveillance; and also part of the reason “HIV” is not one virus, but a diverse family thereof
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Replying to @Meaningness @Blaisorblade
If one believed in intelligent design, HIV would be strong evidence of the malevolence of the designer.
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If God existed, we would be morally and practically obligated to kill Him.
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