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Gregory of the Beard of Ockham

['Member']Joined: August 04, 2024 at 14:32Last active: February 25, 2026 at 16:06None discussions53 comments
Location: Ohio, U.S.A.

Bio

Image: Ulysses S. Grant shortly before his death in 1885, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Grant_in_1885.jpg, cropped.

Favourite Quotations

I myself also am a mortal man, like all others, and of the race of him, that was first made of the earth, and in the womb of my mother I was fashioned to be flesh.
In the time of ten months I was compacted in blood, of the seed of man, and the pleasure of sleep concurring.
And being born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, that is made alike, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.
I was nursed in swaddling clothes, and with great cares.
For none of the kings had any other beginning of birth.
For all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out.

Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me:
And I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her.
Neither did I compare unto her any precious stone: for all gold in comparison of her, is as a little sand, and silver in respect to her shall be counted as clay.
I loved her above health and beauty, and chose to have her instead of light: for her light cannot be put out.

Now all good things came to me together with her, and innumerable riches through her hands,
And I rejoiced in all these: for this wisdom went before me, and I knew not that she was the mother of them all.
Which I have learned without guile, and communicate without envy, and her riches I hide not.
For she is an infinite treasure to men! which they that use, become the friends of God, being commended for the gift of discipline.

---Wisdom of Solomon, Chapter 7, Douay-Rheims translation.

Comments

Ah, when you said earlier "to stop every other human life on the planet being snuffed out" I thought you meant the other 8 billion lives on earth in t...
February 22, 2026 at 03:02
Is that even a possible situation? I believe morality is about how we should act in actual or possible situations. If you think this is a possible sit...
February 21, 2026 at 18:06
I am aware that 'intentionality' has that meaning, in the context of philosophy of mind. In the context of ethics, it has also another meaning, the qu...
February 19, 2026 at 16:35
Perhaps we are not understanding "intentional" in the same sense? As I understand the Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE), intention is what we want to ha...
February 19, 2026 at 00:37
It depends on what "the end justifies the means" means. Double effect is a roundabout way of saying the end sometimes justifies the means, and specifi...
February 19, 2026 at 00:18
If you thought you were agreeing with me, I'm afraid you have misunderstood. Since what I have said was not sufficiently clear, I will elaborate. I am...
February 16, 2026 at 20:30
Agreed, the unforeseen good consequences of a bad (badly intended) act may suggest mitigation of punishment or even a full pardon, but the act itself ...
February 14, 2026 at 18:04
Sure, acts with bad intentions can accidentally have good outcomes. I guess we agree that they are still bad? Likewise, acts with good intentions can ...
February 12, 2026 at 18:18
For me it is solved, but more complicated. What is my intention in throwing the switch? It must be to save the five, not to kill the one. Killing the ...
February 12, 2026 at 01:26
As for paying attention, I thought I was, but I must have missed something. If I have now understand you correctly, you're willing to be receptive to ...
February 12, 2026 at 01:11
This statement comes as a shock to me, and I hope I am misunderstanding it: Because when I read in your original post, (emphasis added), I thought you...
February 08, 2026 at 01:15
Unfortunately I have allowed myself to become distracted by a needless dispute about words. The main point I was trying to make, long ago, before Chri...
January 13, 2026 at 17:50
In context, what I said was: You may have given heaps more, but the crucial thing you did not supply was any evidence to support your idea that "death...
January 13, 2026 at 14:57
:up:
December 29, 2025 at 00:13
And by the way, my post linked to a site quoting American Heritage Dictionary supporting two (actually more than two) meanings for "death". What's you...
December 23, 2025 at 22:08
With the same breath, you deny it is semantics, and insist that "death" means only one thing?
December 23, 2025 at 21:44
"Death" can mean 1 the act of dying 2 the state of being dead https://www.wordnik.com/words/death @AmadeusD has been using the word in sense 1, @corvu...
December 23, 2025 at 01:12
Sorry, I don't know what analogy you want me to make. But it looks like we are agreeing that in whatever sense I "own" the life of a human being, whet...
December 20, 2025 at 18:47
When I first read your reply I thought you were in a better state than before, and I was happy for you. Then it occurred to me that the missing word a...
December 19, 2025 at 18:45
QUOTE Run the same argument with a pet and you get my position, legally. 'If I may not kill the child whose life I "own", it's not clear why "owning" ...
December 18, 2025 at 03:02
'Sorry if I used the phrase incorrectly. I meant "raises another question"'' Okay, so you punned. No problem! I recently read something about people n...
December 18, 2025 at 01:03
Did you understand that by "begging the question" I meant the logical fallacy of assuming what was to be proved? For it seemed to me you were making a...
December 16, 2025 at 15:23
". The owner. This seems to essentially mean between ages of about 0-16, the parents of that child (or, their caretaker/s. We seem to legally agree wi...
December 16, 2025 at 01:32
"How dare you judge them." People who judge that suicide is wrong are judging a kind of act. They are not necessarily judging any *person*. You yourse...
December 16, 2025 at 00:59
"I've struggled to find a good argument against suicide ...." Your OP lists some kinds of answers you would consider *not* acceptable, but it is not c...
December 16, 2025 at 00:38
I read this at breakfast yesterday and felt it was très à propos: ---Discourses of Epictetus, Book III, Chapter XX, translated by P. E. Matheson.
November 08, 2025 at 18:47
Thanks for clarifying. I thought I had another question after those, but I'm finding it really hard to put into words.
November 07, 2025 at 01:54
There are a couple of things I would like to understand better here. 1. When you say divorcing sex and gender makes for "an ahistorical account", do y...
November 05, 2025 at 02:46
Thanks for the link to "Judith Butler on Gender Performativity." Most illuminating (in a dark sort of way, if you know what I mean).
November 04, 2025 at 03:47
Recently: Plato's Gorgias, parts of Epictetus's Discourses. Currently: David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, for the second time in w...
September 20, 2025 at 00:35
So I'll optimistically start with an argument for 1. Slavery is not always, necessarily, or in all forms evil; God permitted it because some forms of ...
September 19, 2025 at 00:04
I've been away from the forum for a while due to family obligations, which will likely make my presence here continue to be irregular for several mont...
September 18, 2025 at 23:44
Happy with what you say, MoK.
August 08, 2025 at 01:06
Okay, thanks for clarifying. "Is Real" = exists objectively. "Exists" may be subjective or objective. Yes, I knew you were having that discussion with...
July 30, 2025 at 00:46
So far we have five senses of death: It is not clear to me how (5) is different from (3), unless maybe you believe that God destroys, i.e. literally a...
July 30, 2025 at 00:39
And the definition of exists depends on the definition of reality, so the combination is circular. Is the distinction you're trying to make here betwe...
July 26, 2025 at 20:35
(I couldn't remember what (a) said.) I think that, in answer to my question, "wouldn't you also have to say that (a') is condoning abortion during the...
July 26, 2025 at 20:23
In support of the idea that voting for an abortion law with narrow exceptions would not be consequentialist, I was wanting to quote that arch-anticons...
July 26, 2025 at 20:22
Death can mean various things. (1) When a person stops breathing and the heart stops beating and soon the body begins to decay, people say "he is dead...
July 26, 2025 at 19:21
I'm having trouble seeing a real distinction between (a) and m(a). It seems to me they say the same thing, just different words. You yourself say they...
July 25, 2025 at 22:25
I think he meant "Evil is a privation of (the good that God always wills)". What God wills is the good, of which evil is the privation; God does not w...
July 25, 2025 at 19:54
If that would be a consequentialist move, then that is not what I meant to say. I see a morally significant difference between laws that say (a) Abort...
July 25, 2025 at 18:56
Agreed, God cannot be a consequentialist. But how does making restrictions on slavery, to make it less evil, turn Him into one? Suppose I am a state l...
July 23, 2025 at 00:30
1. The first passage (Ex 21:20-21) is about beating slaves, as you say: specifically, beating them to death. Saying it is not to be punished is not th...
July 22, 2025 at 19:26
You may be right, Bob, although I don't fully understand your argument. Mine was directed against utilitarians. Since you are not a utilitarian, it wo...
July 22, 2025 at 15:56
Sure, and I guess I had better do it now, before the discussion gets any thicker! This idea occurred to me as a part of an argument that God cannot be...
July 12, 2025 at 17:32
OP's question is both philosophical and theological. His assumptions #1-7 are clearly philosophical, while the application of them to the three Old Te...
July 11, 2025 at 17:45
If I'm understanding that right, then Lorenz is saying (at least in part) that what is a priori to the individual is a posteriori to the race, or spec...
September 09, 2024 at 23:10
Well, I have to jump in somewhere; let this be the pond! Recently finished Jeff McMahan, The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life. Excep...
September 09, 2024 at 23:02
I don't know how I missed seeing that earlier, but I did. Thanks!
September 04, 2024 at 23:01