ChatteringMonkey

No much of an argument to respond to here. I think it's pretty uncontroversial that socialism was instrumental in tearing down existing societal struc...

Here's how to make sense of it. There were no marxist communities, but political parties that in most countries didn't get to rule the community. When...

I'm not denying that some people genuinely hoped that they could built a Marxist state. But i'm not talking about what people hoped or wished for, I'm...

Marxism didn't "build" the communities, or "Marxist" states... it usually had to devolve into some kind a authoritarian person-cult to created some ki...

I dunno if that is true. It's seems to me that given the chance people will look for ways to build communities, i'm thinking of fans of sports-club fo...

It's not just neo-liberal ideology that is to blame though, that's only part of the story I'd say and a bit short-sighted. Socialism historically has ...

Yeah, i've been thinking about for a bit and read the wiki baker referred to, which was rather un-illuminating apart from maybe the following sentence...

There's no real world equivalent for Willy. Like who does the forcing or creating? Not a single person, by a single action... how do you assign agency...

Then it cannot be something to be blamed for morally. Moral evaluations require some agency typically, the ability to do otherwise... In any case, I t...

If Willy can create any world he wants, then no, creating this one doesn't seem particularly moral.

No, meaning isn't solely defined by ultimate outcomes... what we do in between also matters.

I don't think entropy "effects" anything, it's a description. What allowed us to happen is the fact that the universe was low entropy at the start, mo...

Yes, I like this idea. I'm tempted to view it in terms of Spinoza's and Nietzsche conception of Joy as the feeling of increase in power. In face of an...

I had a similar intuïtion... interestingly enough if you look at the etymological roots of the words it seems to have been the other way around histor...

I think this more or less brings us back the original point of our exchange. One of biological life's defining features is making more copies of the g...

I don't think anything is really 'inherent'. If they serve a signalizing purpose than they themselves are not bad, but the circumstances that lead to ...

I think this is right. I think pain/pleasure are indicators for what is good or bad, not what is good or bad itself. Consider the following analogy, s...

Well I don't think the point of those quotes was to glorify pain in itself, but rather the function it plays in human biology, in attaining things he ...

Yes, Nietzsche for instance chose 'health/life-affirmation' as his preferred meta-axis to re-evaluate values, you seem to favor pain/pleasure... Peopl...

I certainly won't deny the fact that pain is real for me and other people, and I wouldn't even deny that pain is inherently disvaluable, where I would...

Thank you for the response. I hope you don't mind a follow up question, because this last paragraph is something I don't quite fully get yet. I unders...

Hi David, I have a (maybe) straightforward question regarding the value assumptions in negative utilitarianism, or even utilitarianism in general, and...

You redefine what constitutes losers and winners so it fits you, and convince yourself and others of that redefinition. Jesus is actually a good examp...

Good point, is it even possible to disentangle ideology, personal experience, the culture wherein one is raised etc etc, to arrive at some pristine fa...

Yeah I think the problem here is not necessarily equating lonely with selfish, but introverted with 'more lonely'. Introverted just means that they do...

You could generalize 'nationalism' further to any group identifier, including sports team, religious groups, hipster groups etc etc... I think we have...

I generally agree with the sentiment. It's difficult to make an argument for or against it though, because ultimately i think it boils down to an empi...

Yes, I would say the supernatural relies on explanations that aren't and can't be verified with empirical data. So to use your example, any number of ...

Don't know why you think Christianity bothers me, or what this has to do with what I said. I have no particular axe to grind with Christianity, my ori...

Yes agreed.

Now you maybe don't have any other solution, right. But at the moment of conception of the Euro, the southern countries never should have joined, beca...

I don't think this is true, Christianity was historically very peculiar in many ways. This seem like a part of the myth of individualism, which ironic...

Yes it was mostly touristic regions I guess, the Catalonia region multiple times and the Sevilla region. So I take your word for it. But then I don't ...

I was only semi-serious... But Christianity has played an important role in how we got where we are now.

Your disagreement about the existence of Gods and God is noted.

Sure, as someone born in the modern age, I think it save to say I view things from a modernist perspective... I'm a product of the times, I'm not sure...

I find these numbers very hard to believe. China at 93%? And my country in the 70ties while Spain only at 38. I've been to Spain multiple times, and d...

Basicly yes... although there is no 'should', it's meant to be descriptive of how one ends up being virtuous. His point here is that moralists and rel...

Yes definitely. There's a trend of 'extremist' or 'populist' parties gaining more traction in Europe now for 20 or more years, depending on the countr...

Ok I see now what my difficulty with the categorization may be. You're looking at it from an American perspective for the most part I guess. In my cou...

I did misread him, I thought he had a more objective distinction in mind. My reaction was maybe a bit to strong because of that. I would have a catego...

Well there's always the possibility that you are or I am wrong, no? If two people disagree about something, isn't it strange to assume that one is alw...

I think that's a step in the right direction, but it might also be worth considering that it's not a real possibility to bridge certain disparate posi...

Judging from the reactions, it would seem that what you are proposing isn't very effective and productive. And honestly, I don't know why that should ...

This seems like a bit of a biased categorization, because I think the basic disagreement is one of methodology. One group doesn't think the way to arr...

Pfhorrest covered most of it. Maybe I would add, you need something to reflect on. The "self" gets formed in relation to the world and to others... vi...

Sure, moral in the widest sense. My original point was just that Machiavelli's claims like, "It's better to act cruel" could be refuted in a couple of...

Ok, so you saying that they are talking about different things then? Machiavelli about how to be effective in politics, and Montaigne more about his o...

I'm not sure, I'm not exactly a Machiavelli scholar, I read The prince. What do you think he is saying then, that a ruler should be cruel, not because...

You do have a-moral or hypothetical shoulds, no? If you want healthy teeth, then you should brush your teeth.... is that a moral claim? I'd say no. An...