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Cuthbert

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I'm glad that reason has been dissociated from evil. That makes it so much easier to implement my plan. Mwah-hah-hah. (Strokes white cat.)
February 01, 2018 at 08:37
But Socrates (or Plato) was perhaps mistaken on this point. If someone's going to be wicked then I'd prefer them to be dumb as well. But if they're go...
January 30, 2018 at 13:24
If all the good people were clever, And all clever people were good, The world would be nicer than ever We thought that it possibly could. But somehow...
January 30, 2018 at 10:36
It's premiss 2. From the fact that we can imagine something, nothing follows about its existence. Imaginability and existence are logically distinct. ...
January 26, 2018 at 08:14
Yes, that's what I meant. 'Minuscule' or not, the differences are arbitrarily chosen; it's the unjust discrimination that is important.
January 26, 2018 at 08:04
What is socially constructed is not the skin and hair colour and nose shape but the importance of these things in influencing our judgements and categ...
January 23, 2018 at 08:27
I think most philosophy is a grammar lesson or should be. Careless language costs thoughts. On the topic, there is a view that both sex and gender are...
January 18, 2018 at 15:09
Yes, you're right that false beliefs are not *sufficient* for delusions. You can have false beliefs and not be mentally ill or deluded. My point was t...
January 12, 2018 at 08:43
It is interesting that the list of symptoms does not specify that the belief is false. Suppose someone is being followed by the secret police in a cou...
January 11, 2018 at 14:18
I would say that theism is a mental illness if there is no God. It is a kind of delusion. But if there is a God, then theism is not a mental illness: ...
January 11, 2018 at 14:08
That's a great post, sime. Would you say the same applies to the concept 'cause' as to the concept 'addition'?
January 09, 2018 at 09:48
There is an interesting anti-compatibilist argument based on moral responsibility. Assume someone is morally responsible for something. Assert that if...
January 02, 2018 at 11:09
I think W's point was that language is a feature of a way of life and our ways of life are so different from those of lions that a common language wou...
December 22, 2017 at 10:45
I think your purpose is to be an existentialist. It's the freedom, potential and coming-to-be that count. Actually being makes an object of you and pi...
December 19, 2017 at 11:59
Bitter Crank: Well said. And another point. If you find the dog hesitates over whether to accept your apology then it's probably time to get other kin...
December 19, 2017 at 10:16
Huh. Typical Aquarian thing to say.
December 15, 2017 at 12:52
"How about an example of a claim which is unfalsifiable, but the idea that the belief in its truth provides value is falsifiable." Here is the unfalsi...
December 12, 2017 at 11:43
No, I am unable to read. What star sign does that make me?
December 12, 2017 at 08:33
Liquidate the plutocracy, in other words - Bitter Crank I went on a march in the 1980's and some anarchists behind me were chanting 'Eat the Rich' as ...
December 08, 2017 at 09:06
I don't think arguments from design are valid. — Cuthbert Do you mean 'valid', or 'true'? Because I don't readily see why all arguments from design wo...
December 08, 2017 at 08:38
I don't think arguments from design are valid. But the problem they are trying to address is a good one. Given that there is a material universe, why ...
December 07, 2017 at 08:51
OK. What's your star sign? Is it Capricorn?
December 07, 2017 at 08:45
"And I smell a false dichotomy. Either something is random or it is designed, the thinking goes. Well, not every non-random thing is deliberately desi...
December 05, 2017 at 08:56
"Ask as many questions about my character, as you like then make a guess. You can even have a few wrong answers. Any challengers?" Do you live on a hi...
December 05, 2017 at 08:49
Ha ha! thanks for the insight. Churchill said Churchillian things in the way that Homer was the one who wrote anything Homeric.
December 05, 2017 at 08:44
"Alternatively, we could all have a stick up our respective arse." It's the 'don't be a prude' objection that I mentioned.. But if a person has to dem...
December 01, 2017 at 08:52
"...how do we get from here to there?" Not via democracy, according to Plato. Governments have to use restriction, social manipulation and force with ...
December 01, 2017 at 08:37
A point made by Plato. "Unless . . . philosophers become kings in the cities or those whom we now call kings and rulers philosophise truly and adequat...
November 28, 2017 at 15:29
Everything is a goat, therefore I am a Capricorn.
November 28, 2017 at 13:20
"Contextualizing a workplace conversation helps us determine what falls on which side of the harassment line, but it’s still a distinction that’s extr...
November 24, 2017 at 14:49
On whether it's likely that a highly intelligent and educated person might also have some totally foolish beliefs - well, I'm afraid not only likely b...
November 24, 2017 at 09:48
"A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an "intellectual" - find out how he feels about astrology." I can't agree. Take two "intellectuals". Bo...
November 23, 2017 at 16:10
But I don't think it is the case. It's not a view that I support in the least. It's a view I introduced for discussion. It seemed to be hovering on th...
October 16, 2017 at 13:31
True. But we can't infer that men are more criminally minded or less ethical than women. Black people are also disproportionately imprisoned but I don...
October 16, 2017 at 13:10
It may also be used to imply that they need not bother themselves too much with politics, law, duty and matters of principle. Let them concentrate on ...
October 16, 2017 at 12:36
Am I to understand that women's philosophy is about care, education, families, communities, virtue, being a good person and matters of personality and...
October 16, 2017 at 12:17
I was tempted, but I didn't want to provoke or discourage what is an excellent forum.
October 16, 2017 at 11:19
I hestitated whether to click "About right". I think that "About right" is about right. I'm surprised that we weren't offered the option "About right"...
October 16, 2017 at 11:12
The hard problem of consciousness is the question how physical events can give rise to the phenomenal experience of consciousness. This problem may be...
October 16, 2017 at 10:50
The bad guys will still get guns, because they are not afraid to break the law. The good guys will have given their guns away, being law-abiding. And ...
October 13, 2017 at 10:46
They allow everyone to have guns and then the good people use guns to protect themselves and their families from the tiny number of bad people who als...
October 13, 2017 at 10:01
It is a mystery why gun crime is so bad in the United States in comparison with other countries. Almost everyone in the US who has a gun is a good per...
October 13, 2017 at 09:14
A culture where it is acceptable to deceive women into thinking they can have a better life overseas and then forcing them to work as sex slaves is, a...
October 09, 2017 at 08:43
Where would we be without Stanford..? https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/parmenides/ . But it's a bit dense. This is easier but not as authoritative: ...
October 06, 2017 at 14:02
'Ethics is the majority's common interests' is an ethical theory. It has good points and bad points. What are they? How do you answer the challenges t...
October 06, 2017 at 07:42
Which question is most frequently asked by philosophy graduates? "Would you like fries with that?"
October 06, 2017 at 07:37
The distinction between epistemology and ontology was not clear cut then - and not entirely clear cut since, perhaps, as you say. Parmenides wrote of ...
October 06, 2017 at 07:33
When there's nothing left to lose?
October 04, 2017 at 15:14
His commitment to civil rights carried through into his business and personal life. He stood up for the right of every human being - young or young, w...
October 03, 2017 at 14:43
It's a rhetorical trope. "Say I'm dumb. But don't say I'm insincere." Despite appearances, that is not an instruction to call me dumb. It's a way of s...
October 03, 2017 at 14:12