TheMadFool

You've made a valid distinction between preferences and wants if by that you mean the former are well thought out so to speak and the latter are subco...

What's the essential difference between objective and subjective? In my humble opinion the former has to do with sound logic and the latter can be cha...

That S8 leads to S10 AND S9 leads to S10 is not a contradiction because S9 is an intermediate step to S10. If someone were to say, given the causal ch...

You're right, your argument is circular. Statement 1 is redundant and 3 is just a reassertion of 2.

I see. Your example of the junkie who wants drugs but prefers not to take them is interesting. However, I fail to see the distinction between "want" a...

I agree it can't be completed and my intuition on the matter may be off the mark but consider this: I sometimes see only part of a person, say when th...

Of course it can't be completed but it can be started. Look: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,...

Why do you say that? A process that has begun represents the process right?

I see. If I understood you correctly then there are such things as second-order abstract objects e.g. tesseract. However zero and infinity are first-o...

A washing machine is assembled in ordered steps. If these are known then each step is a stage in the construction of the washing machine. Similarly th...

What I'm aware of is this: every abstract idea is basically mined from the concrete. Your numerical example is perfect for demonstrating that: an idea...

Just an opinion, that's all. It does seem reasonable to spice things up by choosing life, no matter how brief and dull, if nonexistence is the main th...

Infinity exists for the simple reason that if you were to task me to write down all the natural numbers then that would be an instantiation of infinit...

I think there's a simple explanation for the situation as you describe it. I think it's related to what I said earlier about people procreating despit...

Sorry, I got sidetracked. Mathematical infinity per se doesn't prove the impossibility of omniscience because a question like "what is the greatest na...

It depends on what you mean by exist doesn't it? From what I gather existence to you has to be physical - tangible and perceivable through the senses....

Sorry for sidetracking you or was it I that got sidetracked? I don't know. It seems you've asserted that affirmation = negation but nowhere have you p...

Indeed mutual fear has a role but it's just half the story: forget about humans and their civilizations, advanced societies, those actually engaged in...

:smile: :sad: Is there no difference between being happy and not being happy?

Prima facie it appears as though morality has "lost its foundation" with the rise of secularism and its decidedly atheistic spirit. However, Plato's E...

Imagine you build a robot and program it to like green objects. If you were then to claim you gave the robot free will in order that it may "choose" t...

The question instantiates what I think is a "misconception": at one point you speak as if the "I" is distinct from the beliefs it holds (If I were to ...

The reason behind the suggestion/advice to remain silent is fear of a violent encounter with aliens. That's all very good but take a moment to conside...

It seems the wisdom of the crowd is restricted to quantity. I'm not sure about it though. I think it fails in qualitative phenomena. For instance we w...

In my humble opinion the link between miracles, taken as they are as suspensions of the laws of nature, and god/the divine is very tenuous at best or ...

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I sincerely hope it's a misinterpretation.

:ok:

Good for you. I've always wondered at the expression "shed light on" which to me sounds like the way it's probably meant; as leading to illuminating e...

Thank you very much for pointing out my error. It's quite difficult, for me at least, when dealing with matters unusual, especially when things are re...

He, the creator, hasn't made his thoughts known to me on those issues important as they are. Sorry. He or she, I'm not sure, will likely have somethin...

Why do you think that way? Never had an exam cancelled on you?

I don't remember what I said back then. What do you think about this, the future-oriented anxiety causal conundrum?

The mask people put on is at another level of social dynamics. Whatever mask you don you still want to, with the mask on, find that sweet spot between...

Being invisible is definitely better than attracting the wrong kind of attention. Trust me on this one. However, as you said, people seem to have a fe...

Yes, indeed. Without a consensus on how to live, a good ideology to live by, procreating simply amounts to increasing the number of confused souls.

:rofl: I was too shocked to think of taking down numbers. All I did was note down what he said about our faulty intuitions of the self. Indeed, you're...

I accept your position that society is an ideology but you seem to think people are unaware of it which is where you're mistaken or so I think. You st...

Perhaps it's just me but do people actually consider the whole shebang of an ideology before having children? You shouldn't be asking me but I recall ...

Well, in what way does viewing society as an ideology affect our understanding of ourselves? What impact does it have to you, me and everyone? I mean ...

It seems I'll have to agree with you but only partially so because society isn't completely defined by ideology; nevertheless a society can be consume...

What do you mean by saying society is an ideology?

The essay doesn't do justice to the title. I don't understand this. If god-beliefs are properly basic within the original definition of properly basic...

I don't know if this was intended in the OP but is the distinction eastern and/vs western philosophy valid?

We would never finish writing down the natural numbers.

You are disagreeing with me. In what sense are you disagreeing with me then? What meaning does the "don't" in your statement above have?

Well, if there is no such thing as simultaneity then how does a presentist, who, it seems, depends on the notion of a present/now, make her case? The ...

So you will not be happy if I assert that affirmation and negation do not mean the same thing. So, what sense does the "not" have in the statement you...

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What's the difference between shame and repentance? Are the two inseparable in that we can't have one without the other? I wonder which is preferable,...