Relativist

You earlier said: "I'm offering the following proof as evidence that God existed when time did not exist." But you have to assume that something can a...

Is there no "fact of the matter" regarding the pain experience (the quale)? I think there is: pain is a state of consciousness. IMO, the sense of righ...

Perhaps pointing to "empathy" is too specific, but I think it's clear that we have an innate sense of right and wrong - certainly it entails a non-ver...

I'm also doubtful, but shouldn't we be open to the possibility it will help - even while maintaining skepticism? I'd be inclined to stop Trump, but si...

You should rethink this. People have faith in all sorts of irrational things. Suggestion: accept what you know by faith AS LONG AS it does not conflic...

If a mob-boss tells an underling to go and kill somebody, the mob-boss didn't directly cause the death, but he deserves to be held accountable anyway....

"1. When the universe did not exist, nothing existed except for the GCB." Incoherent. The universe=spacetime. There is no time (a "when") at which the...

You're conflating epistemic possiblity with metaphysical possibility. Your argument depends on this being true: 1. If it is metaphysically possible th...

I believe morality is rooted in empathy. Dog-eat-dog is egocentric - the exact opposite of empathy. Actions that are driven by empathy make us feel go...

The negative impact of deficits is long term. The tariffs imposed by Smoot–Hawley were pervasive and astronomical. The current ones are more targetted...

"accepting that quantum "weirdness" is bound up in the structural fact that you can't ask a particle about two contrary properties, like position and ...

"Long term > short term, so long term is the most important; we should strive to make the ‘right’ / ‘good’ decisions." How do you feel about eugenics?

". Tax cuts do not automatically stimulate the economy. " It's a virtual certainty that a cut in corporate tax rates will have a positive short term i...

"I am happy to instead to change the game and replace the unobserved object with the observer-created relata. " That seems an unjustifiable belief, th...

Post hoc fallicies are endemic to politics. But tax cuts should be expected to boost the economy, so the claims are not unreasonable. Less reasonable ...

Immigration reform is needed, the question is: what should it look like? What problems are we trying to solve?

"Predominantly I have been hearing how this violence is related to Trump's speech. Now, I am no fan of Trump, but, how is it that anyone can know that...

The SEP article proposes: " So one way of thinking about structural realism is as an epistemological modification of scientific realism to the effect ...

Whi actually makes such an argument? What I think is going on is affirmation.

"the remission rate around here if we are to believe philosophy as therapy?" That's your mistake. Philosophy is a symptom, not a cure.

"But why take that view when mathematical physics has added so much to what we know about fundamental reality? Why would you suddenly lose faith in me...

"I see no philosophic difference at all between faith based theism and faith based belief in a multi-universe" I agree. The fact that some atheists fe...

I recommend reading the article at the SEP. It is a good survey of the various flavors of SR, and identifies objections to each. My takeaway is that t...

It would still be possible in the atheistic many-universe hypothesis that we live in a world created by chance. There would be many universes that cou...

"The slogan is 'relations without relata'. Reality exists by conjuring itself up out of a pure holism of relations." That is an extreme (eliminative) ...

"You can't get from knowledge of physics, to the underlying laws of logic or maths, and indeed you must already grasp logic and maths to some extent t...

"Why am I me?" False assumption. What makes you think you ARE?!

"2" is a property of certain states of affairs (such as your state of affairs "orange and orange"). It has no independent existence. We can think abst...

I sympathize with your general position, but you have overstated it. The brain controls some things and merely influences others. The immune system is...

Are you also fideist?

Some of us consider a college degree a doorway to a well-paying job. It would be irrational for a philosophy major to make that assumption. We don't n...

I reject the argument because it conflates moral autonomy with perfect knowledge of moral truths. Unlike a hypothetical God of religion (the sort of G...

Thanks for the reference. It seems to me that the premise could be considered contrary to reason if the omniscience is incoherent or unintelligible.

If so, that sounds self-defeating.

You seem to be defending your metaphysical perspective. I was not challenging the (assumed) fact that it is coherent. I was challenging the notion tha...

It would be overstatement to say the mind can only be understood in terms of X, for x=physicalism OR dualism (OR any other theory of mind). Some aspec...

Irrespective of whether you consider this normal, I've encountered numerous theists who present Alvin Plantinga's ontological argument as proof of God...

What exists apart from minds are the properties "1", "2", "3",... but that doesn't imply they exist detached from the states of affairs that have thes...

"To give existence to the individual parts requires dividing the whole, and this annihilates the unity which makes it a whole." Incoherent. Existence ...

That's not done in Armstrong's metaphysics. Remember that what exists is a state of affairs. 6 doesn't exist distinct from a state of affairs that has...

Some ants debate the existence of God. A theist ant can't expect to persuade an atheist ant by mere assertion and handwaving. The converse is also tru...

Mathematics is essential to understanding much of the world (i.e. physics), but that doesn't change under physicalism. Physicalism just implies that t...

Since when did physicists become good at metaphysics? A Platonic interpretation of mathematics is a consequence of the way it's conceptualized - it's ...

His materialist theory of mind was only a component of his comprehensive metaphysics. Indeed it "stands or falls" with materialism - his comprehensive...

That's a fine attitude to couple with faith. On the other hand, arguments for God's existence depend on conceptual analysis, so words like "omniscienc...

You seem to be reading meaning into the word "object" that I didn't intend. I was just referring to existents - anything that can be said to exist. An...

The mind-body problem is specific to dualism. Physicalist theory of mind has its own problem the "hard problem" of consciousness,

This seems to be your fundamental error: "This seems very confused, and unrealistic. A molecular state of affairs would also contain atomic states of ...

As you noted, I was highlighting the tension. At least one of the following seems likely to be false: God is omniscient (where omniscient entails know...

We're talking past each other due to using different semantics. I'll be more precise. I'm basically presenting the physicalist ontology developed by D...