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I see. I misunderstood the implications of the way you asked the question. I took your "What's the difference between..." as a rhetorical assertion th...

So, we're back to this again. And the measure of the substance of an issue is...? Let me guess, something any competent reader automatically knows? So...

I don't understand the link you're making. Chapter 2.8 is about why seemingly theories about philosophy do not necessarily suffer from the same proble...

But alchemy, on examination, turned out to be, not the study of transmutation, but a complete misunderstanding about the difference between elements a...

So you're suggesting that we just let the human race die out? That seems a rather oblique conclusion from your original post.

Obviously you must feel free to engage (or refrain from engaging) in whatever way you see fit, but isn't it rather the point of a public Internet foru...

Ah, thanks, that all makes perfect sense now. It was the 'autopoietic self-establishment of aesthetic becoming' I was stuck on, but now you've explain...

Well that's odd. Paul Horwich, for example, is a strong advocate of therapeutic philosophy and yet has held tenures at UCL, MIT, and New York Universi...

How do you know that to be the case? Competent readers are the ones whose judgement you agree with and incompetent ones are the ones you disagree with...

Great, well why don't you enlighten me now then. The universally agreed on purpose of philosophical investigation is...

I wasn't talking about 'interest' I was referring to the claim that they are useful insofar as they are used for some purpose or other. We're not talk...

So, as with other vaguely relativist meta-philosophies I fail to see how this integrates with any form of judgement. If a philosophical investigation ...

You've answered your own question; If the government does not take your child away (or prevent you from having them) then it seems a reasonable presum...

Why is it important? If we call The CTMU theory 'God', what is it you're hoping will happen that will be beneficial? Your explanation here is limited,...

Yes, that's a good example. People considered that they could have sex with whomever they like, a government decided they could not do so, so they int...

If you've got a new concept to reference, you need a new name to do so with. 'God' is already taken, why re-use it here?

No, I just don't understand what you are saying. A 'right' is a legal protection meaning that an authority is obliged to ensure that you have it. Peop...

I don't understand what you're saying here. What sort of intervention in the free ability of prospective parents to have children are you imagining? H...

Damn, my brilliant and incisive counter argument was on the verge of converting him to a thorough-going Marxist. Oh well.

What is it that makes you think the assumption is "unexamined", as opposed to "examined, but not reaching a conclusion you agree with". You seem to be...

Those who oppose using ostracisation and rhetoric to oppose extreme ideas seem to raise the argument that it is better to use reason and logic to oppo...

Sorry, just being facetious. At my old university there was a little friendly rivalry between sociology and social psychology and I couldn't help indu...

So firstly, I think I'm a bit more strict that you in my definitions. I don't take science to be a clearly defined set of activities, but rather (much...

Absolutely, I certainly don't, but that doesn't get around the fact that this is a philosophy forum. Presumably we're all here because of a shared int...

Well, since one of my degrees is in social psychology I suppose I ought to try and mount a defence of it. The best I can do is probably to liken it to...

We're going round in circles repeating the same arguments rather than refining, contrasting or altering the ones we have so I'm thinking that this has...

I certainly think it's possible. Unless some biological evolution in neurology has occurred, then the people who care enough to advise against such pr...

So why did you mention those specific measures of happiness which contribute to longevity in a debate about hunter-gatherer lifestyles vs Western ones...

You seem to have reverted to just making prejudiced statements about these cultural differences without doing any research first. The modern Western d...

I did mention that we cannot completely remove longevity from an assessment of happiness as the prospect of a long life will itself produce happiness ...

I was always under the impression that Collingwood rejected the whole idea of revolutions. In The New Leviathan doesn't he say something like the term...

@"TheWillowOfDarkness" From this discussion The problem with defining attitudes as bigotry in a debate where the propositions are related to what is r...

The debate around transgenderism, in the thread being referred to, is simply around the view that a person's feeling that they would be happier appear...

I'm not asking you to 'defend' your education, nor am I implying that your position is incorrect by virtue of it. If I have stated that at any time I ...

Yes, according to Collingwood, the principles are relatively simple. They are the same as those of any assessment of behaviour in an historical enquir...

Yeah, I think it's at least half to do with definitions. Taking Quine's scale of metaphysical enquiry, I'm simply defining an enquiry as 'science' by ...

Absolutely, I hadn't intended to give the impression that this would necessarily be a metaphysical analysis. In fact, I'm fairly convinced it would no...

Do you recognise a difference between intellectual bravery and arrogance?

Depends how you enumerate them, but that's not the point is it?

Problem: There is need we feel to show why each problem matters Solution: The relevant work showing why some problem matters Problem: We don't know wh...

So how do you describe 'sucess' in such a way as it would not be possible to re-phrase as a solution to a problem?

Failure to do what? I thought philosophy was not about solutions?

I'm a big fan of Collingwood, and I've enjoyed reading your erudite exposition of his concepts, even in such a challenging environment as 'the lounge'...

I haven't asked for a full list. I'm merely defending my statement that your opinion was largely uninformed (in the academic sense), and supported pos...

On second thought maybe I've been to harsh expecting it to be obvious how the way in which you've raised your argument leads to the conclusions above ...

Well that's very confusing behaviour. If your opinion was informed by some reliable sources prior to my request for evidence why didn't you provide me...

This may come as no surprise to you, but it's not uncommon for those with whom I'm engaged in some discussion to come away feeling like they've been p...

It seems to me perhaps that the key issue around the extent to which science and metaphysics differ is the extent to which agreement can, or should, b...

That's a really interesting post. One of my main interests was (still is, in an amateur sense) in how people hold and defend ideas, and places like th...

As I said, I think the discussion on measures of a civilisation's success has run it's course, but I think there may be some value in clarifying what ...