No, infanticide is unfortunately considered necessary in many tribal cultures and paleoanthropological evidence seems to suggest it has been since hum...
Yes, the decision to end a life in the face of interminable suffering is unfortunately normal (in the sense that it is typical or to be expected). I f...
Yes, any time I'm in permanent pain, any time my life would almost certainly be one of suffering, any time I'm in a state where there is no-one to car...
OK, so what constitutes 'theft', what marks it out exactly? Does marching into a place with guns and declaring that the entire country and all it's as...
So after all that, let's say, for the sake of argument, you have proven that a foetus, at any age is a human being. Now prove to me that killing an in...
Cornell University researchers studying Elephant Language since 1986 have concluded "We believe that very complex information is communicated acoustic...
You're right, if you want to start a new thread, I will answer there, otherwise I may consider doing so myself in a few days, as I should like to try ...
I obviously can't give an account of an entire neuroscientific theory and all the evidence used to back it up on a philosophy forum. Unlike the bullsh...
Right, so where's the incontrovertible evidence you talked about? All you've done is listed books and thinkers who've commented on these abhorrently r...
I was reminded of this study in another discussion about voting ability in the mentally ill, but it's relevant here too. The criteria used in law to d...
On a separate note, check your statistics. Countries with lower ages of consent have lower rates of teenage pregnancies, so if you're really concerned...
You both seem to be arguing from a utilitarian perspective that because some harm can arise from the young adult's actions you (or the law) is justifi...
OK, so which prominent "Liberal intellectuals" have claimed that "People are equal in their capacities, capabilities or inclinations." I've not heard ...
Interesting, it sounds to me like they're using a barely modified version of the MacCAT-CR tests. If so, I'm sure they help here, but with interesting...
The claim of ad hominem does not depend on the attack being a lie, the fact that your assessment of Harris's CV is accurate has nothing to do with it....
No, I'm saying that the similar things are the properties as contained within the 'idea of the thing' are similar to the properties of the thing. In t...
Fie, so what causes you to choose the option you choose. How could you choose other than the option which seems like the right one? If you're choosing...
No, I'm saying that evidence-based theories are as good a definition of what constitutes knowledge as any other. There are evidence-based theories whi...
Vilayanor Ramachandran also considers there to be a neurological correlate of religion, he's a professor at the University of California, teaching and...
I have no problem with that. I don't agree, as quantum indeterminacy tends to resolve at a macro level, but I'll grant you its possible. Still doesn't...
What nonsense, are you trying to claim that theories of neuroscience which have considerable empirical evidence do not even count as knowledge? Then w...
I'm not suggesting that the two are literally the same thing, but that the are sufficiently similar. There is a way that the world is, even if you're ...
Agreed, any method to prevent the child walking into traffic is appropriate including force because the child cannot learn from their mistake, nor be ...
Really, so when hitting a nail in with a hammer you "seriously consider" the possibility that the force from the hammer might not deterministically ca...
Interesting. So this absolutely incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, care to elaborate? Also, the attempts to silence to opposition intrigues me...
So anyone who has some axioms as a fundamental belief, admits that this is the case, and then makes rational scientific arguments extrapolating from t...
Of course it has. How do you think we do anything? Any action you take at all is dependent on a belief in determinism, that actions have prior causes....
I appreciate the effort, but it's still no clearer how you get unpredictability out of this. Viewed as extensa there are prior processes, viewed as co...
Wierd, that's the second time someone's commented in that way on my use of single quotations. Do they mean something different in America? In England ...
I hope this doesn't seem to impersonal, but my reply to Erik above also addresses the example you raise here, would it be OK to just ask that you read...
One thing that often crops up in these discussions is this problem of competing influences that you highlight here. The issue I think simply boils dow...
The UDHR is the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The only use of the term 'compulsory' in the entire document (which is otherwise very careful w...
Interesting, since 16 year olds are not allowed to vote we're basically saying that a 16 year old having managed to pass standard tests in mathematics...
Why does the conclusion that the self and free-will are illusions lead to the conclusion that discussion has not impact on beliefs? When did I say the...
How does the addition of knowledge make a world view more impoverished. Personally, I think the rejection of knowledge in favour of dwelling on what w...
Right, so how does something occur without a cause? If cogitans and extensa are the same thing, then that which causes changes in cogitans must also c...
So how does philosophy do it then? Yes, fair enough I was being inaccurate for brevity, what I should have said was that ""Scientists certainly do not...
Surely you can see how this is circular? The fact that we think we have free-will (and so have developed a legal system based on it) cannot possibly b...
I've no web links, but you might want to start with the work of anthropologist James Suzman who works with the Kalahari Bushmen. For an account of the...
I don't see how cogitans helps. It's still got to cause some action in the brain and so we still can't answer the question of what causes it to act if...
Science does not claim to achieve objectivity any more than it claims to achieve truth, its about methods which approach those things. If you and I bo...
The situation never arose, he never even so much as picked up my circular saw, he asked me if my chainsaw would hurt if it 'bit' him when he was young...
No as far as I can remember, no. I recall a few occasions when I've had to be quite vocal about what I saw as being the likely consequences of some ac...
This is certainly something that is often on my mind, especially if the kids are choosing to spend their day climbing trees instead of studying (they ...
This is probably a question for a thread of its own, but to give you a brief reply, although there are a number of responses, I will outline my person...
Patricia Churchland, Sam Harris, for example. See above If you can't tell the difference between constructing an argument and repeating statements as ...
I don't want to make presumptions about your upbringing so I'm going to stick to hypotheticals and leave you to correct me if you have personal experi...
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