Metaphysician Undercover

I think what I was trying to show is that Sartre and the "current worldwide existential ontological thought", might be a little of the mark in how fut...

Yes, I think that's the point, without that first step, which is to relate the past to the future, all those past stories are pointless. They are only...

It is not an "absolutism" concerning the future, but proof that the future is real and therefore not as you claim, "nothing".

This is not me at all, and it demonstrates that you did not understand what I said.

I don't think we should use "truth" here. I tried to distinguish subjective and objective features, but since the subjective was described (by me) as ...

Aren't you just distinguishing two different types of narrative here? One is intended toward telling the truth, the other, the counterfactual, is fict...

But imagine if a person does nothing, the person would die of starvation or something like that. This dying, which would occur, would be the person be...

This is where you lost me. I don't understand why the narrator must be outside the story. Isn't there such a thing as a first person narrative, in whi...

Surely the future cannot be nothing in any absolute sense, because the future is what forces the human being to act. If a human being did not act, it ...

The point though is that I do not want to throw all madcap interpretations in the same trash-heap. As I said, the madman still expresses glimpses of i...

I wouldn't even accept this analogy. A broken watch does not do what it is supposed to do, keep time, a madcap interpretation does what it is supposed...

Why must there be such limits? A madcap interpretation is still an interpretation. On what bases can you argue that just because the interpretation is...

I think you have this backward. Validity is logic based, and relies on interpretation. Definition is essential to validity, as the fallacy of equivoca...

I saw Zappa in concert once, excellent show, full band. The man was an incredible artist, just unbelievable. You must know "Watch out where the huskie...

The song's great. It symbolizes a whole generation of wannabe self-employed, when Montana was for some reason the place to be to fulfill that fantasy,...

It is as you say, a matter of human nature. We, as beings, are inclined to act, so it is in our nature to act. But the rule of government has two poss...

This is why "rule" works better by giving people guidance as to how to behave well, rather than telling them what not to do, and punishing them when t...

Hmm, are these two synonymous, in the sense of exchangeable with each other in usage, "faith" and "confidence"? Or, does one have a broader range of u...

It's not your palate, it's because they are "farmed". Modern farming strategies (grow as fast as possible for a cheap as possible) tend to rob the foo...

Intentional ambiguity is a common tool. In this case, what is intended is ambiguity, meaning that the author intends that multiple readers will produc...

The vague generality of intention, along with the uncertainties associated with the media, combined, produce the great mysteries of art. There is an e...

Which premise would that be? Do you disagree that organisms are generated, that they come into being, and they have a beginning?

Did you read the rest of my post, and get to the "specific problem" with your "desire" theory, or did you just get stuck on the irrelevant, if not arb...

That you think a distinction between evolution and development would solve the problem indicates that you haven't recognized the problem. To begin wit...

It's scientific knowledge, often referred to as "fact", commonly known as evolution. Complex organized structures have evolved from less complex micro...

The objectivity of fact only requires justification if one intends to maintain the separation between fact and value. A practice can be held up as evi...

The problem is that the microphysical is known to be prior in time to the larger and more complex physical "whole", as simple life forms are prior in ...

I think there is a very good reason for this. Ends are only rational as means. This is the problem Aristotle addressed in his ethics. If we take any s...

Let me see if I unravel the mysteries of this brief, but extremely complex piece of writing. What I see here, is that you portray the fact/value separ...

No, not hard for me to understand at all, that all seems very evident to me. I think it's difficult to understand the wording though, when we use word...

Wait a minute, how does "desire" enter this scenario? "Desired fashion", implies that the channel, or direction is chosen. What do you think acta as t...

In relation to the op then, can you put your finger on the "dogma" or even the ideology involved here, which could motivate this sort of atheist polit...

:wink: :kiss:

Here's an example of atheist dogma. Einstein's relativity theory, by denying the possibility of an absolute present, also denies the possibility of Go...

Maybe you have this mixed up though. Jesus was anti-religion. He rebelled against the Jews. You must recognize that there was no Christianity at that ...

The meaning of some words may change over time, and it could be that we have a shifting in the principal significance of "truth" here. This is indicat...

I am very familiar with your sense of better and worse, so a statement of that sort was expected, and taken as a compliment.

Yes, I think there was a form of Neo-Platonism which denied the reality of matter, making it monist idealism. I don't think Plotinus would quite fit t...

I think you got lost in mixed metaphors Rig Hand (I hope you don't mind me calling you that). An anachronistic tree cannot be part of the modern day f...

There's a reason for why the definition is said to be "rational animal" rather than "political animal", and that is because "political" is further bro...

I completely agree with your post, and what you've said, but I would like to add something here. The principal thing which sets us, as human beings, o...

Whether the argument is unsound or not is irrelevant to the point, which is whether Aristotle upheld the notion of independent form. Since Aristotle p...

When the the cosmological argument supposedly demonstrates the necessity of an independent form, why would you accept Fooloso4's assessment that for A...

Are you familiar with Aristotle's cosmological argument?

To me, this appears to be the perfect fit tor you. Go for it! It's a far cry better than "born again'.

I don't deny that conventions are solid as rock. But human beings easily break rocks, so the metaphor rings hollow.

You quote Janus on Aristotle simply because it is what you like. I just spent days explaining to Janus how Aristotle demonstrated that it is logically...

You have this confused. Conclusions drawn from observation are what we most disagree on. That material things have a cause is a conclusion derived fro...

I told you, this is a premise which is necessary in order that material existence may be intelligible. I answered that in my last post. It is not circ...