Pattern-chaser

If consciousness was "helpless to do anything", there would be nothing it could do. So it would, in effect, not exist. Since there is something there ...

The US is a collection of individuals united only by their greed, and their hatred of being told what to do. There is no understanding of co-operative...

Entry to what? Writing anything down will make clear to you if there are areas you don't understand well enough. So the exercise is beneficial anyway....

I think this is the core of our problems, in this topic, and in many others too. We insist - and why not? :smile: - on discussing matters that aren't ...

I rather think that science has no belief about "what creates consciousness", as there is (as yet) insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion. There ...

I'm sorry, I can't be bothered to decipher the nuances of types-of-impossibility. Our position here is simple, and I think it can be expressed clearly...

So philosophy shouldn't trouble its little head about subjective things? :chin:

Sorry, I didn't know Americans celebrate Mother's Day today. :blush: We all did that months ago! :smile:

Yes, but it's not just in philosophy that we can see this. :up:

Thank you, I think. :up: Mother's Day? :chin:

The concept of duty is necessary, as it helps to persuade us to act co-operatively. We are a social species, and it is as social beings that we are su...

My thought would be "elegantly simple", but I don't know a great deal about it. Sadly I have not studied feminist philosophy, any more than I have stu...

Really? Doesn't consciousness allow us to deal with the world we live in, better than it was before we were conscious? For, in our evolutionary journe...

"Is it immoral to do illegal drugs?", the OP asks. But it doesn't consider alcohol, the drug that causes the greatest damage to the greatest number of...

Agreed. So, surely we must conclude that anything we believe possible - not probable or likely, only possible - remains so until more evidence clarifi...

No, I'm not saying that. More binary thinking? :wink: If something has not been proven impossible, it may just be because we couldn't/didn't find the ...

:up:

So, for any issue where other answers are possible - such as "maybe" as well as "yes" or "no", offering just one of many possible examples - you have ...

:smile:

But if you have MS, as I do...?

I only pointed out that there are always alternatives. Again and again you assert that your one answer is the one and only answer, when other possibil...

That's not what I said. I referred to the (human) experience of seeing red. It's a very different thing.

Ah, I see. You asked me before what strong and weak evidence were, and now you're asking what educated guesswork is. Hmm. I'm autistic, and my ability...

I think an infinite 'space' into which expansion, and the like, could take place, would rather change your assertions. An infinite space could hold in...

And yet, merely as a concept, it enhances our thinking, or at least it can enhance our thinking.

But infinity is a useful and meaningful concept. No matter how poorly it fits with some other stuff we invented. That's life, I suppose. :wink:

Well, you know what they say: there's nowt so queer as folk! :smile:

Yes, it is. But there are many who will tell you things are impossible because they estimate them to be highly unlikely. This is usually done without ...

Yes, well, I had a lot of trouble parsing this: Maybe I misunderstood, as I implied in my answer. What does the above sentence mean? :chin:

I believe we perceive all kinds of problems, and we try to solve them. I find it difficult to believe they all have one cause ("becoming bewitched by ...

This isn't news to mathematicians. When the concept of infinity was invented, there was a (perceived) need for it to be integrated into mathematics. (...

Strong evidence leads to a robust conclusion. A justified conclusion. Weaker evidence may point in the direction of the conclusion we seek, but does n...

Perhaps the only way we could tell is to interview the simulated people?

Alcohol kills tens of thousands of people every year. There are no established instances of cannabis causing death. Not that cannabis is without harm ...

:up: That about covers it. :smile:

It's much bigger than physics, I think. OK. But science - the discipline(s) of science, not its subject matter - is not a concrete object in the mater...

We don't know. Just as we don't know if you experience red as I do, or what it is like to be a bat. Your objection - and it is a valid one - applies t...

Because there's such a thing as educated guesswork. Our guesses aren't random, but they are also (very) far from Objective. But a guess remains a gues...

Am I alone here in thinking that evidence can be strong or weak, and that weak evidence is not enough to justify a conclusion?

It's usually me that argues for using the best tool for the job, and that logic and science are often not the best - or only! - tools available. :up: ...

I'm sorry, I didn't realise you wanted an answer to that. I thought it was clear of itself. Conclusive evidence is evidence that, taken together, logi...

Thanks, not heard of that one. :smile: This is what you refer to, yes?

I don't know. I suspect it's too late to do anything except perhaps to minimise the damage that will be left after we're gone (but there's little moti...

Conclusive reasons?

There would have to be good reasons ... to reach a conclusion. In this, and in many (most? all?) other topics. Without good reasons, we guess and carr...

Indeed. The issue here is trust, I think?

Wu wei?

That it pretends to be a science. The study of humans, especially their minds, needs to account for things that science cannot describe or deal with. ...

That doesn't match my perception, in the months I have been here. I enjoy it here. It entertains me, and I learn stuff.

Yes. :gasp: :worry: :pray: