t0m

So here's how I read you. You understand yourself to be an especially patient, curious, and experienced student of the patterns of life. Great. The im...

Within the system we do indeed find causes and relations. Perhaps we even find a TOE. But this TOE would have to explain its own existence to be a the...

Is that an acknowledgement of the contingency of the is? Speaking of such exploration, one of the patterns I've noticed and enjoying thinking about is...

I can relate to that. I still maintain that the largest pattern that contains all smaller patterns within it must be a "brute fact." The largest patte...

Who wants to? Scientists and philosophers, of course. I happen to work in science myself, though I'm more passionate about philosophy. It may be that ...

You're right. It's not an explanation. It reveals the quest for or the question about the "ultimate ground" to be a fool's errand or a pseudo-question...

In my view, "it just happened" is the only "ultimate" explanation, which is to say that the system as a whole must be "unconditioned." Not that he's a...

Perhaps we can cay that, sure, the meaning science is fuzzy. But it's no too fuzzy to work with. But Darth has a point. The word has a certain magic. ...

I find it believable that he was a spy. In that case, he was a highly positioned spy within the French government. He's a fascinating character, a neo...

Yes. Kojeve thought the philosopher should become a tyrant. He was fascinated by Stalin and Mao. I don't think that way myself, but I do think the "li...

As I see it this is _the_ philosophical question --or at least the central question of amateur or genuine philosophy. I stress "amateur" as opposed to...

Thanks, T.

I can relate to that. We are both philosophers. I may have challenged your post, but I am more like you than like those who never wrestle with these t...

To be fair, you have a point. Some people avoid that kind of thinking. To them it's uncanny, suspicious. So they hide from the horror in an "adult" po...

I'm not at all against heavy or "terrifying" thinking. My motto just now is "Death is God." We are transcendence of the given against a background of ...

By "swtiched-on" I mean horny, desirous, attracted to the good things in life. I actually identify with a variant of existentialism. I embrace subject...

Sure, we can stretch the word "truth" to include these things, but certainly these are different from the philosophical notion of truth. But you do ma...

What if many people occasionally do earnestly wrestle with the question of whether life is worth living? Cleary suicide occurs, and this is presumably...

I like the phrase "value ladder." I think these ladders vary quite a bit from person to person. Of course I have an itch for the truth and this onenes...

Sure, you're making sense. But my main point was the gap between Truth and The Noble. As I see it, philosophers are probably exactly the kind of peopl...

Roughly speaking, yes. But I wouldn't stress survival. Survival itself is only itself a tool in the hand of the "the project." Suicide may also be a t...

I'm tempted to say "of course." For me this "absolute eternal annihilation" is a fundamental issue. If one believes in real death, this belief radiate...

Here are my tentative answers. 1. Yes, by definition. If we understand "happiness" to symbolize the goal, then it is valuable to the degree that it ai...

Great reading, at least for those sinners like myself who still enjoy the "high minded sentiments" of liberty.

First, great post. Also, for background, I relate to this "seeker" type. Principles to live by. Yes. Is this uncontroversial? I think of it as a metho...

But what if this "quitter talk" is used within a larger strategy for success? Do individuals who frame themselves or even the species in these tragic ...

I definitely don't think it's absurd to close our loop. We can just hypothesize that the origin transcends human intelligence. I suppose my view is so...

Interesting question. I'm no expert, but my conjecture/understanding is that most mutations are "bad" and do cause that particular organism's pattern ...

But what if something is a brute fact simply because of the way we reason as humans? Also, why is non-existence impossible? Respectfully, does "non-ex...

This seems like a very accurate description of our most immediate experience as human beings. Whatever else is going on, creative evolution is here no...

Nice point. This is where I'm coming from. How is a creator an explanation? How is a creator not just one more part of the creation, ultimately? As so...

What if many random patterns were somehow generated and some of them happened to be self-reproducing? If the patterns are subject to wear and tear, th...

Thanks for the kind welcome! This is a great thread. I read it all and just had to jump in.

Hi. What if this involves the limits of human reason? What is it to understand something? Is it to have a feeling of satisfied curiosity? Is it the ab...