TheMadFool

What do you make of pessimism or absurdism? Are these happy philosophies? There is truth in them, right?

There's something in this type of existence. To do one what must rather than doing something one likes. Indeed someone in a low-paying job is forced i...

The definition of happiness I'm familiar with is the development of talents, satisfaction of desires and the avoidance of pain. Truth is achieved when...

You're right. One's innate unchosen, ergo not free, desires arch over every single step between them and their fulfillment. However, primordial desire...

I don't know if we have a fix on what reality is. Usefulness and truth may be related. Things are useful because they're real or very close to it in s...

All I can come up with is limited free will. We can't choose what we want but we can choose how we satisfy our wants.

I feel maths is a world in itself. It doesn't have any constraints except for those related to logic. Mathematicians create universes with different a...

I don't think an axiom is right or wrong. By definition it is accepted as true. If course we can reject it but that doesn't invalidate the theorems th...

The wager looks like this: Believe and God exists. Go to heaven Believe and God does not exist. Religion is only a slight inconvenience Don't believe ...

:smile: :up:

Can you explain the last bit? "elements can always be added, but never infinitely many"? I guess my understanding of infinity is very simple. From wha...

One could think of humanity in terms of a single individual life. We're born and we grow up. From that perspective God is the imaginary friend little ...

Imagination is constrained by logic. We can't imagine a square circle. Try it. Yet we have Schrodinger's cat, both dead and alive.

The world now would be miraculous to someone from 5000 bc. There are the laws of nature, inviolable and, perhaps, ''sacrosanct''??? The beauty is we c...

This I get. Thanks. Am I correct in inferring that the definition of causation in quantum physics has been modified a bit from its classical form? I w...

What is the meaning of actual infinity? Do you mean physically manifest? If so, space may be infinite.

Hi. What do you mean by retro-causality? Please explain. As far as I know, retrocausality isn't ''possible''. Perhaps I'm stuck with the classical cau...

I think money is just a yardstick for value. It only has value insofar as it can accurately or, rather, adequately, compare two different valuable obj...

Causality is defined in terms of cause preceding effect in time. Anyway that's the definition I'm familiar with. What sort of a definition of causalit...

That makes sense. You're talking about the concept of identity aren't you? There is no ''discernible'' difference between two electrons, for example. ...

The meta-battle or meta-framing can only arise from a position of superiority. Have you heard of divine madman stories? I think they're common in most...

Can you read the above post? Thanks:smile:

Why do you think the Law of Identity is required in classical logic? I'm guessing here that, as one of the three laws of thought, it is a necessity fo...

:up: :smile:

:up: Isn't that a big brother attitude or is it parental prerogatives? Are you saying some ''children'' need spanking? I guess you're right but we all...

It's not nice to be abused or misused or used.

:up: Yes Yes What about if I say that religious study of philosophy is tainted with belief in a God but philosophical study of religion is, then, more...

What I ''feel'' is that the Law of Identity is required in logic. May be it's only classical logic that requires it because if you deny that water=wat...

I think the Law of Identity, as the name implies, refers to particulars as you said. I was just pointing out that if we were to consider logical equiv...

:up: I guess there are fine nuances I'm unable to see. As far as I know logical equality comes in two flavors: 1. Identity (the particular you refer t...

Religion can't study philosophy but philosophy can study religion.

Capitalism has won the battle but not the war. The future is Socialism/Communism.:grin:

I think philosophy is more complex than simply seeking Truth. The idea of Truth in philosophy has become stale and outmoded. Philosophers are no longe...

I'm not knowledgeable but what I think is... The law of identity (A=A) is a logical necessity. Imagine A is not A. We would then have the logical cont...

As far as I know... Time has two flavors 1. Time is real and flows 2. Time is just a mental frame, invented by our minds to make sense of the world Sc...

Perhaps medicine doesn't see eye to eye with philosophy. Pessimism is a medical ''disorder'' but in philosophy it's a reasoned position. Perhaps it's ...

We have a tendency (good/bad is left to your judgment) to take something and polish it to perfection, IF we could call it that. Take the idea of nothi...

You have a point and I mentioned it in my OP. Self-purpose (how one may use one's life) is different from other-purpose (how we may use other's life)....

Okis

I just realized something. A circularity is a problem in an argument. Imagine a logical argument X that is used to prove that logic is the method for ...

Well, that's a value issue isn't it? Which do you value? Well-being or truth? Truth doesn't change for anything. Everyone, the weakest to the most pow...

Yes and No. Yes because you enjoy the time before the trigger gets pulled. No because distracting yourself doesn't take the gun out of your mouth.

Rather than inverses I think of them as a progression. Human rights is a more advanced form of the decalogue.

That which cannot be disproved: 1. It's a fact 2. We don't have enough data to either confirm or deny a proposition. I guess you mean 2 by ''irrefutab...

Well we have many theories on ethics, right? Three come to mind: Utilitariniasm, Deontology and Virtue Ethics. All are reasoned positions with specifi...

From an economic perspective we're the customers and God is the service provider. Shouldn't God be obligated to us rather than us to him?

Transformation is the only truth. ''Destruction'' is emotionally loaded and has no place in philosophy unless you want to try a bit of rhetoric.

Perhaps we mean different things by ''I''. Surely one cannot doubt the existence or reality of thought when thinking. Descartes is smarter than me and...

How true! Something that defies a single answer. To some life is a bed of roses. To others, a field of thorns.

What's wrong with the argument? It's impossible to doubt the existence of a thinker if thought is taking place. To doubt would require a doubter.