bert1

Is that what you think an experience is?

Prothero, is x conscious if there is something it is like to be x? Is x conscious if x is capable of experience? I think neurowhatsits have a lot to s...

Philosophy itself is an interesting case. I could have put as one of the sentences: "Philosophy is not theoretical" Definition or theory? I guess 'def...

It's a nice idea but it requires quite a lot of discipline from all concerned. :)

Yes, I think that's right. I was very struck by how divided the responses are. There's only one where everyone agrees. It seems, however, that people ...

That seems quite good to me. With regard to consciousness it works well. Some definitions (but not others) of consciousness are completely neutral as ...

In humans, no doubt. But not in rocks, because rocks don't have brains.

Could have been a lot better, but thank you! The results so far are fascinating. That's interesting. I thought it was perhaps the most straightforward...

Listening =/= comprehending. The former is our responsibility. That latter is mostly yours. This is is the closest you've come in this thread to givin...

It's something to do with nano tubules I think. Whatever they are. EDIT: sorry, microtubules. I'm getting the wrong jargon.

I think he is as much asking for a theory of evil as a definition. Although exploring what people mean by the word is interesting in this case. Defini...

@"Apokrisis", I read Pattee's Cell Phenomenology: The First Experience It was interesting. Have you looked at that one?

I've never really understood it, but I haven't tried to study it in earnest. Whatever its merits, I don't think it can be a 'paradigm'. The field of c...

This is the statement of a priest.

Noted, but what do you think of the reputation system?

10/10 Let the faithless behold! That's made my day. :)

Here we go. 180 is about to clear things up and resolve a miscommunication. Let's see how he does. :) Get your score cards out.

What about functionalism? If a mind is a lump of meat functioning in a particular way, lumps of functioning meat can be valuable without there being a...

I consider myself a theist, but I doubt if people who knew my views would call me a theist. I'm a theist because I think, on balance, some of the repo...

Any of the opinions expressed here would make a good debate subject.

Useful is a very low bar to clear for any position. Even self-contradictory positions might be useful from time to time. Unless you mean 'useful' in t...

Materialism of either sort is a position, not an argument. It can be true or false, but not valid or fallacious.

I think three options might be good, and not anonymous. 'Agree', 'disagree', and 'I don't understand this post'.

Oh, dear. I've changed my mind. I want you to like them!

I'm not sure I want people to like my posts.

@"180 Proof", I've been slagging off your posting style quite a bit recently. I think it obscures the points you want to make. This post, however, is ...

Like in the last forum, it will be used as an 'I agree with that' button. Or a 'yeah you show that dickhead' button. It won't indicate quality particu...

Because it's a philosophy forum, and whether or not God is real is an important philosophical question.

No agriculture

I think it's getting a bit better. It's a shame Hanover picked substance dualism to defend as it's an awfully easy target. Not that 180's done a very ...

I'm sure you're both right. My objection is to philosophical literature generally, I was just picking on Spinoza for fun. Philosophy is usually painfu...

There may be truckloads of inspiring ethics, cautiously and diligently arrived at by means of his painstaking philosophical method. However as they ar...

Don't whatever you do read Spinoza's Ethics. It has no ethics in it.

That's the important one IMO. A process was followed. Members are lucky there is a process at all, and even luckier there are volunteer mods to enforc...

I'd like to take this opportunity to put my position to alleviate some of my discomfort. I am a quasi-theist, I believe for philosophical reasons, but...

180 crashed another debate into the ground.

What a shit 'debate'

More generally, I'm not sure God is too bothered about dignity. You need to have pride for that don't you? Maybe They understands that people have pri...

Is that Banno passing over in silence what cannot be spoken of? Or did he just delete a post?

Epistemic justification is not the same thing as moral justification, at least prima facie. You have a sort of is-ought problem here. I dissent from m...

Seems like equivocation on the concept of justification to me.

You wisdom is too strong for me Bartricks. It's scary.

That's me!

Awfully expensive way to drown someone. What's wrong with water?

:up:

The reason I'm having a somewhat random whack at Banno is because his views on language and definitions prevent him talking about things that I and ma...

I was trying to follow the usage in this thread, esp. from Michael. So I guess I'm thinking of something like the definition of 'bachelor' as that of ...

The Sorites paradox is a paradox, because one can reason from some prima-facie plausible premises to a contradiction. It's just a not a very stubborn ...

I do think meaning (in any context) does always seem to be particularly about relationships. A solitary person may find it necessary to be creative in...

No, you've misunderstood TMF's point.