Truth Seeker

It depends on what you mean by “freedom.” If by freedom you mean libertarian freedom — the ability to choose independently of prior causes — then no o...

It adds the mechanism. Without determinism, moral persuasion is mysterious. We say things like: • “He freely chose to change.” • “She could have done ...

No. Hard determinism does not deny the self. It denies that the self is an uncaused cause. The self is an emergent, causally integrated system instant...

A headless chicken does not "walk" in any meaningful sense. It exhibits short-lived spinal reflex activity due to residual oxygen and intact spinal ci...

It's fiction. Once the head is completely severed: Blood pressure collapses instantly The brain loses oxygen within seconds Coordinated walking and sp...

If by "free" you mean not coerced by someone else as long as someone else isn't holding a loaded gun to our head, then, we have free will. However, if...

Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Well done for outgrowing the indoctrination you received. I am an Agnostic Atheist. I agree that humans ca...

I agree that foreknowledge does not preclude free will. However, predestination does preclude free will. Also, determinants (i.e. genes, environments,...

Good idea.

I don't know. There could be an infinite number of universes. We don't have the ability to travel between universes right now. It doesn't mean we won'...

BC, I think we are actually closer than it might appear. You’ve just articulated the gradient problem that my position is built on. You note: • In man...

It's not really possible to prove or disprove Gods if they are outside the universe and don't interact with the universe we live in. I am an Agnostic ...

I agree that if God is real, he has a lot of explaining to do. We do make choices, but they are not free from the determinants, i.e. genes, environmen...

Thank you very much for your reply and the link.

I do understand your position, and I think the disagreement is now very clear. You are saying, in effect: 1. If we accept God’s omnipotence and omnisc...

I do understand your position, and let me show that before explaining why I disagree. You are not claiming that suffering is good in itself. You are n...

First, a clarification that matters. My argument is not Dawkins’s or Hitchens’s argument. It is not rhetorical, psychological, or rooted in contempt f...

You’ve now sharpened your claim, which is good. Let me respond just as precisely. Courage is admirable. Suffering is tragic. The first does not sancti...

You say I ascribe arguments to you that you have not made, so let me reset and respond only to the two claims you now explicitly endorse. 1. On the cl...

Non-sentient organisms (e.g. plants, bacteria, etc.) do not suffer, but they do die. Only sentient organisms (e.g. humans, octopuses, antelopes, cows,...

No — universality does not equal essentiality in the sense you are using it. Your basketball analogy fails because rules are constitutive by definitio...

Thank you very much.

No contradiction is present. Suffering and death are parts of the human condition — they are not the whole of it. Likewise, they are parts of the sent...

This misrepresents my position, so let me correct it plainly. I do not despise the human condition. I despise suffering, injustice, and death — wherev...

What about those who don't want to be courageous or adventurous? Should terror, pain and death be forced on them? I think it is totally unethical to f...

Thank you for your reply. Have you read "Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder" by Richard Dawkins? If not, I recommend...

Thank you very much.

1. God, courage, and the design vs response distinction You say: “It would be reasonable for a benevolent God to value courage, fortitude, and adventu...

1. Whitman is not rejecting a scientific worldview — he’s rejecting scientism. Walt Whitman is not saying that astronomy is false, dehumanizing, or th...

This now comes down to a disagreement over the word “worldview,” not over the substance of the position. If by worldview you mean: a comprehensive sou...

1. “The world is good because God created it” — that premise does all the work. You say this is the religious worldview, not yours — fair enough. But ...

Thank you ever so much.

1. Self-flagellation, chemotherapy, mountaineering — and the missing distinction. You say: “Nobody chooses harm unless the alternative is worse.” Exac...

You keep mistaking the source of moral insight for the justification of moral authority, and then accuse the scientific worldview of a failure that ac...

Your reply repeats a pattern that has now become clear: you expand the domain of “reality” until precision dissolves, then fault science for not gover...

1. Science is a technique — but a scientific worldview is a coherent philosophical stance. It is true that science is a method. But it does not follow...

Thank you for your thoughtful reply, Ecurb. 1. “Scientific worldview” ? scientism ? hostility to the humanities. A scientific worldview is not the cla...

Thank you for your reply. I never claimed in any of my posts: "religion bad, secular good". In fact, I clarified in one of my posts that I am NOT sayi...

I agree.

Thank you very much for your appreciation. I am most grateful to you.

I understand. Most people don't have the time for philosophy.

Yes. Have you thought much about it?

Yes, I am very familiar with Compatibilism versus Incompatibilism. Where do you stand in this regard?

EricH, you’re right about one thing up front: there is no substantive disagreement between our two statements. What you wrote and what I wrote are poi...

I have compared many religious and secular worldviews and lifestyles, and I prefer my Agnostic Compassionist Vegan worldview and lifestyle to all the ...

Esse, I think you’re right that my formulation sharpened the axis, but you’re wrong that this is a retreat or a definitional trick. It’s just me being...

I don't know why this is so. Sorry.

1) “Sanctuary animals will reproduce.” You’re right about the biology: if you put intact males and females together, they can reproduce. My “naturally...

I don't know. My OP is the first post on this page: https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/16247/comparing-religious-and-scientific-worldviews/p1

Esse, this is a stronger pushback, and it deserves a stronger reply. I’m going to grant what’s true in it, then draw the distinction I think you’re st...