TheMadFool

:up:

I don't think being critical means black and white thinking. Nuances and subtleties are what make up the heart of philosophy.

You have a point. Evolutionary fitness is not exactly being the fastest, strongest, brainiest.

Indeed, at least people have figured out it's a do-or-die scenario. :up:

@"Wayfarer" The New Atlantis - Atlantis, a civilization that destroyed itself with its own highly advanced technology or so the story goes. Interestin...

I get it now. People are worried about genetic engineering of the kind involved in hybridization of living and dead animals because it's a back door t...

Thanks for your comment @"GraveItty" Update I haven't the slightest clue about musical theory but Pythagoras around 2 millennia ago deduced that for h...

:flower:

The problem is we would be simply manipulating symbols like machines (computers/AI) - getting the syntax right - but with zero comprehension - getting...

No, not simultaneously, no. However, the doctor must have an idea of what pain is. How else would he (erroneously/correctly) diagnose the condition of...

The poll results are not very encouraging. Countries will have to come up with plans for climate change mitigation/reversal and give assurances that t...

How would I know if my pain is the same as the doctor's pain? It's kinda like the scenario "is my red the same as your red?"

:ok: You're referring to empathy aren't you? Notice however, that when you put yourself in the other person's shoes, you're simulating tit for tat? Ho...

:ok: Being able to decide piety and impiety, God's knowledge of morality is irrelevant. Whatever he feels/thinks is good is good and whatever he feels...

Here's something I found out just now. Theism: God, omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnipotent. The philosopher's ultimus meta, the be all and end all of ...

:lol: Don't say that I laughed at your joke. I really don't want to be in her bad books. :smile:

No, I didn't. That's why I used the approximately equal sign: "\approx" Thanks anyway. Also, what if we study the rational approximation for all physi...

:up: At least you're trying. Kudos to you.

Soulmate!

Beetle In The Box It's possible that there's no beetle. Truly conscious people have something that they call "beetle" but p-zombies have nothing in th...

Sapere aude!. Dare to be wise! Intellectual autonomy: You're on your own! Reason and, for god's sake, reason well.

Interesting! In what sense, may I ask, is something wrong with the Mona Lisa?

Fate vs. Free will. It usually works like this: If anything good happens to you then you're the one who brought that about (free will). If something b...

Irrelevant red herring. Computers too have "bodies". I probably should say exactly. What is consciousness? We're merely manipulating the symbol "consc...

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So fate has something to do with our birth, determinism is ultimately about cause and effect, our destiny is to wink out of existence?

What's the difference between fate, determinism, and destiny?

The Linguistic Turn. Just as computers, not even AI, we, with respect to private experiences, are simply manipulating symbols. But that's if meaning i...

Update @"Antony Nickles" & @"Olivier5" The Beetle In The Box Essentially, talking about exclusively private experiences is impossible IF (Antony Nickl...

:up: Good point.

There doesn't have to be an "eternal dictionary" for words to draw their meaning in the sign-referent sense.

Grammar, as I understand it, are rules on how to use words in order to achieve semantic disambiguation and also, if I may hazard a guess, because cert...

I chose my fate. :cool:

Update Meaning is use doesn't stand up to closer examination. Wittgenstein is of the view that, uses the word "game", people use words correctly despi...

Think about this: To bugs, DDT was a WMD that was used to commit genocide on helpless insect-folk.

Oh! My bad. So, explain your answer then please. :smile:

Food For Thought There's a way for negative utilitarians to get the best of both worlds so to speak i.e. it isn't necessary for them to end all life f...

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How did you come to disagree with me without having understood me? There must be a sense in which you grasped the sign-referent concept of meaning. Us...

So, kings are rude! Copy that! Oh! We're back on track. Good. How are the various uses you mention above divorced from the sign-referent sense of mean...

When you make a claim, you gotta prove it. Basic philosopher's etiquette. I look regal to you because you've forgotten your manners. Sorry about that.

I think it's worse.

You made a claim. Now you have to prove it. Can you?

Boiling Frog.

Boiling Frog.

:up:

The only problem with religion is its unshakeable conviction that it's true and not just that, for eternity. That is to say religion is, in @"180 Proo...

A request actually.

Explain these uses without resorting to sign-referent theory of meaning.

A good point. Nevertheless, once we're reduced to attempts at finding out how much doubt is acceptable, we've already conceded that there's a problem ...