Relativist

None of the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, and they are not independent. The disciples were illiterate Aramaic speakers in Palestine; the Gospe...

I lean toward the representationalist account of phenomenal consciousness. Objects in the external world are represented in our minds, and these repre...

Some forms of life went down that path (e.g. cockroaches), but that does't seem nearly as flexible as the sort of perception primates, and especially ...

There is survival value to perceiving the world as it actually is (or at least a functionally accurate representation of it), since we have to interac...

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LOL! The help I received enabled me to go to college and get a well-paying job and pay lots of taxes over the course of my erstwhile career.

Sometimes they help, if structured right. I'm an example.

I agree with the concept that we have a "sphere of interest", but it seems based on emotion rather than reason. Consider a variation on the Trolley Pr...

I'm curious: what leads you to believe this? All the information we have about Jesus comes from writings from early Christians, so one should expect c...

My favorite topic is theory of mind - particularly the problems and possible solutions to physicalism (on the one hand) and the mind-body problem (on ...

I agree falsification is not abduction, and I never suggested it was. I said, "Clearly the theory must be coherent, and as I've also said repeatedly -...

I'm OK with drawing a connection and investigating to see where it leads, but you've a long way to go to connecting Strzok's comment to this meeting. ...

Yes, a leap. You're passing along the distortion of events invented by Trump. See this.

A method to avoid imperfect metaphysical theories would be a monumental achievement - it would finally, after all these centuries, remove all controve...

I'm providing you a taste of a physicalist metaphysics. You have at least twice referred to my description as statements of faith, when all I've endea...

And you overlook the fact that this "proper method of metaphysics" leads in multiple directions. I do not dispute that some paths lead in the directio...

This has nothing to do with logical order, it relates what is. It just entails that the same property can be instantiated in multiple particulars. Loo...

Zillions of untruths come out of his mouth, but I wonder how many of them are actually cases where he knows the truth but chooses to tell something el...

The existence of an actual infinity (vs a potential infinity) is controversial among philosophers. I'm of the opinion an actual infinity cannot exist....

Here's 3 quotes from Adolf Hitler: All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of tho...

It comes down to semantics. Infinity can be considered a quantity in terms of transfinite math - so there are actually many "infinities" (aleph-0 is l...

His capitalization is just one more way he hypnotizes his base. The capitalized words convey another slogan, or meme. It is (unfortunately) effective....

I wish that were the only gap in his knowledge.

Henri - How do you define "atheist"? I'm anticipating it won't apply to me. My position is that of "agnostic deist" - i.e. I acknowledge the possibili...

"Given Hume’s critique of causality, our grasp of time-sequenced causality is not adequately based on observing physical events. However, it is warran...

There is no attitude regarding relationships that correspond to truth: it's all about what we tell ourselves. So you might as well follow whatever pat...

I agree with what you said, but after all - we ARE human, so when we're speaking of "artificial" intelligence, it pertains to that which humans regard...

I do not have all information, and I say it. Our one sure model of intelligence is the human mind, and in the human mind, the linkage is there. What d...

I beg to differ : objects have intrinsic properties. Where p is an intrinsic property of object x: if p is not an intrinsic property of object y, then...

I suggest it is a mistake to separate intelligence and will. True intelligent thought requires a will. Deliberation is goal-driven.

Earth as matrix, with heaven as the true reality would be a more coherent model. Instead of death being a sleep., it would be an awakening. I'll start...

But the FTA CAN be framed abductively (as an IBE), and this is a more comprehensive analysis than what you are arguing. Each hypothesis deserves equal...

The point I was making is that a BIV is in a nearly identical epistemic position as are we, except we know the BIV cannot have knowledge of the physic...

One can't empirically verify a negative (physicalism is the doctrine that no non-physical things exist). However, it may be reasonable to infer that o...

Are you saying this because physicalism can't be verified empirically (which isn't the same thing as being "grounded in observation") or because of so...

Yes and no. Our perception of the world (our mental interpretation of our sensory input) constitutes non-verbal beliefs, that are properly basic (they...

I assume you mean false sensory impressions. In terms of formal epistemology, his belief in the physical world would be just as justified as ours, so ...

How did this brain come to believe there is actually a physical world (a sine qua non for physicalism)? That is an essential question, because it has ...

I agree, but it would be helpful to define "physical". I offer the following definition: The physical includes all objects that are pardigmatically co...

"There isnt much of a connection between Trump and crazy evangelicals as there was with Bush 43." There IS a connection, and it is not pretty. Lot's o...

Suppose the universe just happened to have beings of type x, but these beings would not exist had some set of historical facts (F) not occurred. Does ...

I agree with this, but the point is that those same facts serve as evidence for each of the hypotheses to be considered. However your next statement i...

Apparently it means it's time for monologues. Here's mine: I admire your passion.

Michael - I seem to recall your saying you would give me the last word. Maybe I dreamed it. Seriously, I don't have time to respond to everything you ...

OK, but then the statement, "The probability of (E given design) > probability of (E given no design)" is vacuous. I look at a grain of sand under a m...

That is equivalent to saying: The probability of (life given design) >probability of (life given no design) Let's analyze the reasoning. 1. Every meta...

My only issue with your statement is that there is no consistent means of assigning epistemic probability. It's tempting to base it on the principle o...

We must not be referring to the same thing. I'm referring to arguments like this: 1. The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either physical necessi...

Sure, but the burden is on the FTA proponent to make the case and refute all objections. I have raised two objections that no one has refuted. You see...

You are conflating science with physicalism (as a metaphysical theory). A physicalist believes that only physical things exist, and this is based on t...