Socrates didn't lead anybody anywhere. The stubborn old sod just did his own thing, whatever anybody else said or wanted. Some students, then and in t...
Yes, indeed, there were, in the past, as now, many different people and if history had gone down differently, there would have been a different outcom...
I decided it was made for schoolchildren. There is also the aspect of futuristic, dystopian, post-apocalyptic and speculative fiction: occasions to co...
There are very, very few animated movies I've enjoyed. Certainly not any made from a tv series I actually like - not that keen most of the post-series...
I don't think I would, actually. I don't reject or renounce my negative feelings. They're not pleasant, but they're reasonable, necessary; they serve ...
In that case, we entirely agree. They have other groups whose prejudices/ fears / hopes they can exploit also. The trick - and it's pretty nearly comp...
I don't think it has anything to do with their core beliefs - they have none, beyond "We Want Power!"; were that not so, how could they support... tha...
I don't know about 'higher', but I put avoiding pain - both the suffering and inflicting of pain - should precede the pursuit of even the noblest of p...
Well, then the conquest, the colonizing, the land-grabs, the land grants, the settlement, that whole big 'civilizing the wilderness' process couldn't ...
Oh, dear, oh dear! My failure to edit and proofread results in much misunderstanding! I usually catch those gaffes sooner or later. In this instance, ...
School, books, debates, protests, write-in campaigns, political campaigns, more books, work, friends, news magazines, television (not only documentari...
I didn't say countries; I said nations. That frontier had to be emptied - by any means - before they could be totally despoiled by European settlers. ...
It's been a social concern for a while now. Seemed like a good idea, in the capitalist system, to use great big whacks of social security and pension ...
If you want to be involved in politics on the large scale, you have to get involved in politics. there is no clean, safe, happy way to do that atm. It...
Did he dissect their structures of civil service? Those are very similar: judicial, defence, foreign affairs, financial/commercial, infrastructure, so...
Sure, why not include it in the improved, far more robust Civics curriculum? Make sure you include Yes Minister as assigned homework. But can you esta...
You mean making *ship* up? No. How's that relevant? Like "Something or someone has to create meaning, and if there's no god and the universe isn't con...
I was doing - working, helping, arguing, loving, protesting, partying, parenting, growing, making and repairing things, teaching, volunteering, writin...
Of course not! There's a world of ranges from passive acceptance through degrees of participation to creation. They're all available options to a free...
That, or something like it may already exist. https://www.ic.org/directory/communes/ Or you can start one. Modern intentional communities are whatever...
That's why I put that school in with the Pythagoreans, Zen, Bauhaus and Kellogg - because they're holistic lifestyle regimes, rather than stand-alone ...
Invariably. Once the student surpasses, rejects or proves the master wrong, he must go build his own school somewhere else. Of course, that's all hear...
So what? That doesn't make any difference to their similar bureaucratic support structure. No, I'm describing governance in any form. Same functions. ...
The reason I didn't answer it: No, I can't say I've counted the percentages of my life, or my life in percentages. I never even considered life to be ...
I'm not sure I understand that correctly. Okay, you don't opt in or out of sickness, but not all doctors are dogmatic in the sense of the dictionary m...
I don't think so. Doctors - and yes, I do want to see that diploma from a reputable medical school on his wall, and read the patient feedback on his w...
So... Gandhi's "way of truth and love" that invariably triumphs is a wibbly-wobbly, truthey-lovey, slippy-slidy interpretation, like biblical text? OK...
Yearn, sure. The contradiction is in 'love' : How can you love that which you do not know? It depends entire on the 'others'. These days, few others a...
You told me the revolt was all about 'love of freedom'! In a way - but not through or because of their presence. It's really only a few other people: ...
The terminal loss of active hope - that which strives against heavy odds to affect an improvement (as distinct from wishful or magical thinking as in ...
No, I don't recall saying that. I said my own respect and desire for facts does not make me fascist. Bureaucratic organizations of some kind are unavo...
Who is included in "we" and why is that an important question? What happens if you get a definitive answer? What happens if you get an incomprehensibl...
Exactly! You can work out what's good in life without "exploring" what's bad. The theoretical one. Not actual suffering, but some kind of philosophica...
I didn't make it a competition. You raised a comparison. But we're not exploring African sweatshops or Turkish prisons or a girls' school in Afghanist...
Have you actually done a lot of that? For far too many people in the world, that's their normal, daily condition, and there is no reward. By and large...
Oh, sure. They also watch romantic comedies. What I meant to compare was boredom vs. interest. Whatever happens in it, happy or sad, painful or scary,...
They watch horror movies, too. So, I guess that means it's better to be eaten by a monster than have nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Naw, people ...
What if you ignored the doctrine and thought about your own version of the essence: Avoid pain, seek rewarding work and loyal friends, live simply and...
For me, sadness is always caused by events and situations that are harmful to some entity I care about. And therefore all occasions for sadness are ba...
I find it easier not to try. But I still recognize the main difference between them: the first holds it as his own inalienable right to force other pe...
No, not that bit! I've got that down cold. It's the rapprochement with bible-thumpers I don't know how to do and am not sure I could stomach. Oh, righ...
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