unenlightened

No knowledge and no immediate experience means no evidence. So one is reduced to the inductive argument which is circular:-

Ah. I haven't been there so long, I forgot how it works. I'll try again

Yes, and the only people who have evidence of the future are Nostradamus and Jehovah's Witnesses.

I wonder if it might be PTSD. That is so specific. Perhaps you saw it, and so describe it that way, but otherwise, It would be a hyper-sensitive disti...

No, no diagnosis, no counselling, no therapy, no psychoactive drugs prescribed. I did manage to get myself thrown off a counselling course, a long tim...

Dude, that's a really good exposition you have going there. Thanks. Speaking as the aspirational hoi polloi, it seems to me that this vale of tears, o...

What?

One such passion might be a preference for one's own children's welfare over other peoples'. Thus of biological necessity, my kids are preferable to y...

A claim is justified by evidence of its truth or valid argument from accepted premises. I don't understand your difficulty. A bio-evolutionary/neurolo...

Yes, I know. I won't argue it here, I just wanted to point out that there is a big difference between the half-quote and the whole, and so between wha...

Yes it does. One might say that anti-natalism is an evolutionary dead end, but this does not entail that it is wrong. Evolution has an explanation for...

I am so happy that you have been saved. :D But seriously, thanks for your personal account. Yes, I too am a bit frustrated that there is so little of ...

So you want to define reason as 'how we think'? That seems a bit broad. Take Hume's other critique, of moral reasoning, summarised as 'you can't get a...

Tell it to the bitcoin investors, I'm sure they'll agree. Here's a reason to ground doubt: things change, trends reverse. But I am consenting to play ...

Yes, I presume the trend will continue. But what was the reason again?

No, I don't have to. You have to provide some evidence or argument that does not assume what it seeks to prove.

Dude, when I use your own words against you in that way, you are supposed to notice that you are being as uncharitable/hyperbolic/ mendacious/ whateve...

We do have to make a bet, and we do bet that things will go on as before. And it would be unwise to do otherwise. But rationally there is no reason to...

Indeed, habit, as Hume himself says; but it is a leap that reason cannot justify. One might say, by way of analogy, that passion is the boss, habit is...

I like 'like'. I don't prefer 'similar'. Less picking of nits, more thinking about the arguments. The leap is that the pattern continues into the invi...

Depends what you mean by dishonest. It depends how you interpret it. It can be taken as hyperbole. A hyperbole isn't a lie.

Talk of probabilities rather misses Hume's point. What are the chances that the future will be like the past? Well the future has always been like the...

Philosophy is parasitic on life, it's nature is reflexive. So every now and then, it's time to live a little. The unexamined life is not worth living,...

As I see it the argument goes along these lines: We see the sun rising and setting, but this is an illusion, because really the earth is turning. Wher...

Well if you don't see a problem with the notion that subjectivity is the only thing that is objective, then I wish you good luck with the hard problem...

On the one hand, there is an objective world of causal processes, and on the other there is a subjective world of experience. This called indirect rea...

Flowers are very uplifting, but no substitute for expert advice on the right tie for the occasion.

I want to question the whole sense of this. One can cope to just that extent that one has the support of society. Society then "intervenes" when it fa...

No one can cope alone.

Yeah, but are they authentic?

We haven't even found the ideas.

Oxymoron.

For Hanover, nothing is trivial.

It's not unreasonable, it's trivial. Fuck me Ag, is life complicated? Who woulda thunk?

And there you have it. He who must not be named takes the strong position that one should not let one's child play computer games for ten hours a day,...

Freud, unless it's superhero pants.

Just keeping the paths clear.

I disagree. The reason he doesn't get one is that he only runs rings, and stands for nothing.

A fate worse than death. Is there an argument? is there some evidence? Is there something other than a platitude, or perhaps a beatitude? Of course di...

You should have read Aesop's Fables, 'the boy who cried 'wolf'.' 'And the moral of that is...'

God. the guy is so ubiquitous. He's not getting a mention or a link from me. He's very hard to dismantle because he doesn't have a position, only atti...

Ah. I fear I am far too naive; or perhaps it's intrusive thoughts that people are more often daft than depraved. Anyway, point taken.

Well of course they do, and some of them may have it about right. But a lot have the illusion that they can control the intrusions, yet find themselve...

Right. When you say 'intrusion' that conveys to me something that appears to come from outside - as it well might, it has the flavour of the zeitgeist...

Ah, right. That almost answers my question... a troubled and anxious robot is a malfunctioning robot. Whereas a smug, self-satisfied robot is a philos...

The guy's obviously talking the price down with a view to buying a stake. Stop helping him, he's rich enough to pay full price.

Nor am I. I simply wonder, since it is a widely discussed notion of biology, neuroscience and philosophy, why you bring it up as an incontrovertible d...

It's not really a joke. Are you so sure we are not robots, and that it is a delusion? Or am I pathological in even asking?

The solution there is to get your definitive analysis in early, and then let the class discussion circle around it until the penny drops. I mean, read...