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Metaphysician Undercover

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I suppose the biggest question is the issue of sincerity. That's what I alluded to at the end of my last post. Does the artist have genuine feelings c...
April 04, 2017 at 21:42
An interpretation is an explanation or description of the meaning of something. How can that be the thing itself. To say what something means, is not ...
April 04, 2017 at 18:16
This is complete nonsense. First, in number 2 you allow that an interpretation could be the thing itself, which is impossible. Then in number 3 you st...
April 04, 2017 at 15:28
I know what an explosion is, and a sudden release of energy, I just don't know what an expansion of heat or energy is supposed to mean. By the law of ...
April 04, 2017 at 13:23
As you can probably tell, I've been trying to avoid actually interpreting the work, alluding to my belief that it is very difficult to do a proper ana...
April 04, 2017 at 13:03
"Expansion of heat and energy" is a nonsense phrase. It doesn't make any sense at all to say that heat or energy expands. This idea just comes about f...
April 04, 2017 at 02:26
This is a very meaningless statement. We know that an event X occurred, but we don't know what X was. Every time we attempt to describe X, we are prob...
April 03, 2017 at 12:10
That's right. there's no big disagreement, we're just discussing some finer points. The question right now is how we ought to approach the piece of ar...
April 03, 2017 at 11:43
But if you reduce art to a form of communication, then we must consider, first and foremost, what is intended by the artist. Because, if you believe t...
April 02, 2017 at 12:40
It's not the power to drop the stone, which is relevant here, it's the power to hold the stone up in a position where it may be dropped, which is rele...
April 02, 2017 at 12:19
I would differ with this. He had to lift the stone into the appropriate position, and hold it there with the possibility of dropping it. So, what make...
April 02, 2017 at 02:35
I don't think that's correct, because it is the distance between objects which is expanding, not objects themselves. Objects don't expand. If you thin...
April 01, 2017 at 20:02
I agree that there is something about a work of art, which draws us toward it. I wouldn't say it's the aesthetic though, because "aesthetic" already i...
April 01, 2017 at 12:19
I wouldn't say that this is possible, would you? Take a look back at your moral edict, "do unto others...". So long as an individual perceives oneself...
April 01, 2017 at 11:48
Sure, you can say "expansion happened", it's happening right now. But we're just referring to something which we have a completely inadequate understa...
April 01, 2017 at 11:21
I believe it is General Relativity theory which leads to the conclusion of the Big Bang, and I don't think that this theory provides us with a good re...
April 01, 2017 at 01:17
The Big bang is a very dubious concept. It's what an inadequate understanding of time and space leads us to believe in.
April 01, 2017 at 00:34
This point goes two ways though. We are now dependent on satellites for just about every aspect of our lives, and a lot of this technology probably ca...
April 01, 2017 at 00:26
I think it's not so easy to separate the meaning from the aesthetic. When we look at art, we take it for granted that it was created by an artist, so ...
March 31, 2017 at 03:52
The "meaning" which lies within a work of art is often vague, ambiguous, or obscure, art often being of an abstract nature. The meaning is a represent...
March 30, 2017 at 12:04
Reality is more complex than this. There is also the movement of things. The movement of things creates a difficulty for the "S is P" form of sentence...
March 30, 2017 at 11:31
I'm not following this at all what do you mean by "informed"? If you mean instilled with a form, then the form must exist prior to the act of informin...
March 30, 2017 at 01:10
That's the key point I think, the good of the state is given priority over the good of the individuals. The problem is that there is no such thing as ...
March 29, 2017 at 11:56
Insurance companies intervene in the free market. They negotiate special deals with the hospitals, deals which the uninsured cannot get, so that the u...
March 29, 2017 at 03:00
Logic doesn't operate on evidence though, it operates on rules. Adhering to rules produces a logical conclusion. Logical conclusions may be used as ev...
March 28, 2017 at 16:10
Since God is supposed to be immaterial, theists don't actually "see" God with their eyes. So I think the discretionary difference must be the result o...
March 28, 2017 at 11:39
In: Certainty  — view comment
Why would you think that a belief in the impossibility of absolute certainty would lead to solipsism? I would think that since certainty is the proper...
March 27, 2017 at 23:59
It could be that because of original sin, we cannot have separate existence of the soul, separate from the body, and many believe that the separate ex...
March 27, 2017 at 23:36
This is why you should read some theology rather than just relying on some interpretations of what Jesus said. Thomas Aquinas clearly describes what m...
March 27, 2017 at 22:07
I think that's gross and I'd prefer to live as a skeptic, accepting the fact that I never really know these things.
March 27, 2017 at 13:12
In: Certainty  — view comment
I don't agree with the categorical imperative, I think it is a fiction. I think that every good is particular, determined relative to the specific cir...
March 27, 2017 at 13:10
This is what Aquinas would call the apparent good, the target of one's moral actions. He also assumes a real good, and the real good is often inconsis...
March 27, 2017 at 12:44
You ate that shit?
March 27, 2017 at 00:28
I don't see the point in posting a bunch of out of context quotes. Here's a question for you then. If only God is good, as your quote from the Bible c...
March 27, 2017 at 00:07
In: Certainty  — view comment
How can you be certain that what you have is a migraine then? You might be quite sure that your head hurts, but a migraine is a certain type of headac...
March 26, 2017 at 21:57
That what you say may be distorted, in the way that you claim I distort it, indicates that I cannot even have certainty with respect to the meaning of...
March 26, 2017 at 21:46
I simply interpret it differently than Aletheist, and I believe it's a more Christian way of interpretation. The Old Testament might lead you to belie...
March 26, 2017 at 20:59
In other words, I know these things, unless I'm wrong, then I don't really know them. OK, how does that make me certain of them? You're not making any...
March 26, 2017 at 20:39
But here's the point. Because we are bound to make mistakes, i.e. sin, does this mean that human beings are inherently evil? I think not, I think that...
March 26, 2017 at 20:05
Our position is a consequence of original sin, but it should not make us, ourselves, sinners. The original sin, and fall, are sins of others, and we m...
March 26, 2017 at 13:37
That could be it, but I think it depends on how we would define "the mark". What I have been arguing is that to have a mark, which is aimed for, is to...
March 26, 2017 at 13:32
I know how to drive a car, but I am not so certain of my skill to know that each time I drive I will not have an accident. Therefore despite my knowin...
March 26, 2017 at 03:56
Yes, I disagree, I think that "evil" is a stronger word than sin, signifying a greater transgression. I think if we ask many of the same questions of ...
March 25, 2017 at 20:41
I think you need to differentiate between sin and evil. I've studied some of the greatest Christian theologians, such as St Augustine, and St. Thomas,...
March 25, 2017 at 17:17
You seem to be starting from the false assumption that human beings have "true certainty". There is always the possibility that a human being may be m...
March 25, 2017 at 12:51
In the traditional Christian conception of good, such things are not evil. That's why forgiving is central to that religion. As I said in the other po...
March 25, 2017 at 12:29
It's no strawman, every aspect of experience can, and should be doubted, therefore the "presence" of experience, or that experiences are "present" is ...
March 24, 2017 at 11:49
The theologian has the very difficult task of determining our relationship with God, and "good" in relation to this. The importance of that task shoul...
March 24, 2017 at 11:20
There's no cop out, it's just that most human beings really don't understand "evil". Do you understand evil? If something doesn't go your way, is ther...
March 24, 2017 at 02:48
The need to assume God, in the first place, is based in the fact that the universe is filled with "mysterious" things. So it should not be at all surp...
March 23, 2017 at 17:01