Difficult, indeed. For all of us. In fact I may even venture to say it's impossible. You never actually answered my question, though. Do you believe y...
This is false. Belief involves a lack of sufficient evidence for knowledge. A lack of proof. And believe it or not (no pun intended)--even in science-...
My username is JustSomeGuy, so it is probable that I am an adult male. But it's very possible that I could be an adolescent girl. As you read this com...
You really don't seem to understand what determinism actually means. As for everything else you've said, despite my best efforts it really seems as th...
This is essentially a straw man; neither I nor anyone else (in regards to this topic) claims that anything is an illusion. Given what we know about ou...
Are you referring to the Many Worlds Interpretation? In addition to that there is also the de Broglie-Bohm Interpretation, so there are at least two p...
Quantum Physics doesn't destroy determinism. QP isn't a straightforward subject with clear implications, there are many interpretations of QP. Some in...
I don't mean to be dismissive but you really seem to simply be in denial and have no actual argument, evidence, or reason to believe in free will othe...
So the only reason to believe in free will is because you get tired of not believing in it? Will you share with me the evidence that nothing is determ...
I don't see how this is self-evident. First off, what exactly is "reason"? Our brains just process information in a certain way based on many factors-...
But if consciousness is simply a product of the physical brain, there is no separation--our consciousness is part of "the external world" just like ev...
You're still equating belief with knowledge. It's not about deciding which one is true, it's about deciding which one you believe is true. And the onl...
That's not an accurate description of what's going on, though. It's not irrational because, as I said before, we need our brains to make these decisio...
By using this phrase it shows you're still missing the point. Exactly! It is true that we can't be certain that there is a chair in front of us, but i...
I know that's what you were initially doing, but that issue was settled in my first response to you. You went on to make other claims beyond that, tho...
You can hold beliefs with varying convictions. It isn't all or nothing. Most people who believe in a god or believe that there is no god are still ope...
But that's exactly what it means. It means you believe red will be picked, but you also realize red may not be picked. I don't see why that's difficul...
You don't seem to understand the topic. I'm saying that our brains function automatically in such a way to make these judgement calls based on whateve...
The whole hardware/software comparison is just one idea about the relationship between an immaterial mind or soul and the physical brain, it isn't the...
I really don't see why you'd say that. That's basically the whole underlying point. If there is a "you" apart from your brain, it doesn't have a role ...
What? That's missing the whole point of philosophy. I'm really surprised you're so dismissive about this on a philosophy forum. What would this websit...
I just realized that in my original post I never really came back to the actual question of whether it is possible to lack belief. So, yes, belief isn...
I do agree there are many reasons why people believe things--some of which we probably can't understand completely because they have to do with the in...
To elaborate on my previous post, I don't believe it's possible for a person to lack belief that a deity does or does not exist. An atheist believes t...
This is a very interesting point. I tend to believe the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, but you make a good objection. I'll definitely have to re...
As an agnostic, I'd say this is accurate. I'm constantly going back and forth between "a deity exists" and "no deity exists". It's a difficult positio...
This is the correct use of the term "agnostic" based on the definition given to the term by the man who invented it. Today it has come to be used as a...
I've had a bad flu for the past few days and feeling ill has made it hard to sleep, so unfortunately there's not much that can be done. I suppose I sh...
Of course that's what you see if you take news media as an accurate picture of the world, but you should never do that. I feel bad for people who hone...
Well in that regard, yes, but it seemed to be the original reply wasn't implying that. When I ask why X has so many followers as opposed to all the ot...
Of course. I didn't even consider the ethnic component of Judaism, with that in mind it makes perfect sense. Yes but I assumed Lone Wolf's reply was a...
I suppose this is the best answer that can be given. I still wonder if there's anything inherent in the teachings themselves that allowed things to pl...
I'm aware of all that, I guess I just chose my words poorly. The Church as we know it today is completely different from those early followers of Chri...
Evidence is essentially information that supports a certain conclusion, whereas proof is evidence that confirms a certain conclusion. For example, if ...
All of your advice is very good, especially regarding meditation, which is something I've been meaning to start doing. A big part of my distress recen...
This is basically how I have come to utilize philosophy. I grew up in a less fundamentalist household than it sounds like you did, we were Catholic an...
It's been a while since I studied Meno, but I do believe the concept was that we all possess innate knowledge, not from a past life, but placed into o...
Very interesting, thank you. I guess it is a very similar sentiment, but the actual quote seems a bit more up for interpretation. It seems to me if we...
Ah, I see what you're saying now. That is definitely a key distinction to make, and one that, unfortunately, most people don't. I wouldn't say it nece...
In philosophy, making a claim without even the slightest effort to back it up in any way isn't taken seriously whatsoever. Even if you do it seven tim...
Yes. This is what I was implying here: But I guess I didn't make it explicit enough. Evidence cannot be proof? Are we talking semantics here? What els...
I skimmed through this thread and didn't see anybody mention the fact that Socrates never actually said this--at least as far as I know; I could alway...
This is essentially just taking the same problem a step further back, at least for me. This is because I know that growing up with an ideology is in l...
I disagree. The belief that the sun will rise tomorrow is a very rational one, yet we have no proof that it will. Proof is not a requirement for ratio...
I see you're a S?t? Zen Buddhist. I've always thought Zen Buddhism sounded very interesting, but have never taken the time to really learn much about ...
So because a fact complicates things, we should ignore it? First of all, who is "we"? Second, the fact that you apparently think it not only acceptabl...
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