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That's just not following the logic where it leads, but rather stopping halfway. Not even halfway, actually. It's superficial to speak of birth qua bi...

You have said or implied that suffering makes life not worth living, so I was referring to a life without suffering. You might not think of that as a ...

You can't eat a great apple pie without the apples. In fact, you can't eat an apple pie at all without the apples. The apples are an essential ingredi...

Speak of the devil...

You have taken that letter out of it's original context, as has the author of the article that you linked to. The author was writing about state socia...

I prefer this fad to the previous fad - which I'm reluctant to mention, lest it comes back with a vengeance. You know, the one that rhymes with shmant...

That seems like a hasty and ill-considered judgement. Forgiveness should be conditional, and they should be granted at least that much. But even if th...

You once again mention justification when there is no disagreement about justification. You also mention Mahatma Gandhi, who Russell Brand himself men...

I didn't think The Shoutbox was the best place either, so I took the liberty of splitting the discussion: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Just on this last point: Russell himself says in the video that the violent reaction isn't justified, but he does say that, given the context, it's un...

This one's worth a watch too. More so, perhaps. (Scroll down for the video).

Exactly. He talks and acts like a buffoon, and that gives me cause for concern, pure and simple. This is a potential president of the United States, f...

I was also concerned about that. Insofar as it negatively effects one's job in a significant way, and especially if one's job is a public role, then a...

A ridiculous, ludicrous figure; a clown. I'd say that Trump fits the definition. Have you seen him on TV? Have you seen how he behaves and listened to...

I don't think that's why Trump has attracted so much fire from the media. Much of American media leans to the right. I think that it's a similar situa...

And I'm not objecting to guidance. Why do you do this? You assume that I'm against your conclusion - be it guidance or virtue - when I'm objecting to ...

Funny. We all have a conscience, and even young children demonstrate moral judgement and understanding. It stems primarily from empathy, not some Bibl...

No, it isn't. It's redundant and often counter-productive. If you feel you need religion to determine what's right and wrong, then that's worrying. An...

I didn't claim that secularism has a great track record.

You are quite predictable, Agustino. No matter how many great things you claim of religion - some of which have some truth in them, some of which are ...

That's an excerpt from chapter 2 of his book Why Marx Was Right. I recommend reading the whole chapter, as it's of particular relevance, given some of...

No, what I was talking about was sexual morality. I was talking about the morality of certain sexual acts. Weren't you paying attention? I said that p...

Then you should have been clearer. If you had have simply said "committed relationship" rather than "marriage", then you would've avoided foreseeable ...

That's a non sequitur. Marriage isn't necessary to have non-promiscuous relationships. Imagine a married couple without the marriage. It isn't that di...

They all have character, though some stand out amongst the others - sometimes for the wrong reasons. Character doesn't just mean being loud and obnoxi...

I'd point out that what it allows is not murder, and that to call a zygote a baby is stretching the definition beyond what is sensible, and that they'...

I don't think that thinking about this in absolutist, abstract and context-free terms (vigilante vs. conformist) is the right way to think about it. O...

Who's saying that we should get rid of Walmart? I'd be quite content with a reformed Walmart that doesn't treat it's employees so poorly. But that wou...

Practically everyone does believe, as I do, and rightly so, that to set the line at six months after birth implies either a lack of empathy or a lack ...

I find Hilary's ties to Walmart deeply concerning, but that's probably just my inherent sexism at play. Sometimes I forget that being a woman grants i...

Public vs. private healthcare is consequential in interesting ways. I'm guessing it has something to do with this: http://www.theguardian.com/society/...

That is to ignore the implications. If I were to place the line at 6 months after birth, and say that I care just as much (in the sense of empathy and...

I believe that you either don't care enough; or that you do, but the position that you advocate conflicts with what makes sense, given your feelings. ...

First of all, it's not just me that designates an unborn baby as a who. It happens all the time, and is the norm. People treat him or her as a who. So...

Oh my... And they shook his hand? Urgh. I would like to see him sit in cow manure and spread it all over his body. That'd be pretty funny to watch. Ma...

Ha. Ironically, there are no philosophy forums. (On the home page, anyway). There's a big blank space and some adverts.

But you can't credibly deny that a foetus at that stage has those features that I mentioned. How else would you word it? You can talk about ownership ...

I've only read several comments on the first page. I just thought that I'd stop by to briefly state that I think that the above analogy does a good jo...

The name "Drumpf" confused me. I'm glad I googled it.

Thanks for the enlightening reply, @"Bitter Crank". It's good to hear from someone more learned than I am in these matters. As you might have noticed,...

No! Dismiss it as liberal rhetoric! More dismissal and less discussion is what we need.

Pro-Choice Forum. That sounds like an impartial source. Even if mass shootings were a rare occurrence in the U.S., I'd still be in favour of restricti...

That's more or less what the word "arbitrary" means, isn't it? Anyway, that's what I meant. There's a contrast between that and reason, as Hume noted ...

I think that there is merit in that description of what it is to be a person. It probably works well in practice in many a situation too. Just not thi...

That isn't true. The other two can correct me if I'm wrong, but all three of us (four of us, if you include Hanover in addition to Baden, Bitter Crank...

You're taking things out of context. You said that your position depends on your being "correct in considering the fetus an organ". That is what I cla...

I'm not ignoring its significance; I'm saying that your emphasis on it is misplaced. It boils down to symbolism and tradition, and overlooks what's mo...

My kitten isn't human, so I've decided to cut it's head off. Ada was a stupid name, anyway.

Your reasoning is in conflict with scientific literature. That's absurd. At 26 weeks, it even has fully formed eyebrows and eyelashes. Doesn't matter....

Fortunately, @"Bitter Crank" has provided information. He provided a link a few pages back. It can be used to get at least a rough idea of how far alo...