Sam26

Actually Rich ad hominem attacks are fallacies related to arguments, not just any statement.

What you have to remember is that most people who believe in God don't arrive at their conclusion or conclusions based on good arguments. They believe...

Have you studied logic, it's not opinion based. I would agree that the general public uses the word logic in a very subjective way, but there are clea...

It's not about competition any more than mathematics is about competition. Sure for some people it's about who's the best, but in philosophy, ideally,...

I agree with other posts "thinking better" is relative to the subject matter. However, if what we are referring to are philosophical arguments, then t...

I agree, falsifiability, as far as I know is only applied to arguments or theories. Moreover, not all arguments necessarily have to be falsifiable.

I would agree that knowledge of our own minds isn't falsifiable, but I would disagree that knowledge of someone else's mind isn't falsifiable. It's ce...

Thanks Creative, but it's all I can do to keep from screaming at people. Most of the time I can control my anger, but sometimes it comes out in sarcas...

I try to look at what's foundational to our experiences, i.e., the interaction between sensory experiences and the world around us. This is how we com...

What's absurd is that you think that you can apply this idea to an amoeba. Amoeba's don't have the complexity of actions that humans have. Moreover, n...

Belief and doubt are only conceptual if you believe that they're products of language. However, it's been the case generally that beliefs (I would als...

Doubting is a state-of-mind just as a belief is a state-of-mind, and one can show states-of-mind apart from language.

I do believe that one can have thoughts and beliefs prior to learning language. I argued this in my Wittgenstein threads. I'd be careful in expressing...

What you're giving is an opinion, not an argument.

Actually I would acknowledge that there are truths that can be known in the first person. There are plenty of experiences that we have, that can only ...

Actually we are very far apart in terms of how we should arrive at correct beliefs or true beliefs. It may be true that our beliefs are similar, that ...

I don't think pantheism is quite what I'm talking about, especially since pantheism is mostly identified as a religious idea.

Wow, sorting through all of this would be a monumental task, especially given how vague some of these words are. I'm not sure that there is any one an...

The evidence that I cite is not a proof, that is, it's not deductive but inductive. So what I'm saying is that what I claim to know is based on what's...

It's a good question. It's not as though most people filter their moral choices through some moral theory. However, I think it helps us think more abo...

Yes it's ambiguous, and it's a problem (not that you're doing this) when we try to make definitions precise when they tend to be ambiguous. Many philo...

The link you provide that gives an overview of different kinds of evidence isn't a very good one. What we want to know, and what I'm concerned with is...

If you mean by universal that it applies absolutely, then I would respond that any moral code is dependent upon the nature of reality, and the nature ...

Yes, I agree that the harm done is expansive, and may include others. I'm sure that it would be difficult to work out the net harm, but in courts of l...

No, definitely not. It's closer to a duty or rule based ethic.

But you've made my point, why wouldn't you want them in your society? Why, because of the harm done to the society. How do you know it's bad, what is ...

If everything is determined, that is, all of our acts of free will are simply a delusion, and if we are not free to choose otherwise, then it would fo...

I have partially dealt with the problem of immoral acts that don't seem to cause harm in previous posts. Let's take the example of attempted murder, I...

No, I'm saying that what makes something immoral is the harm done. Here's where you go wrong, namely, you think that if I say "harm is what makes an a...

I've reached a point where there's not much more to say, and you don't seem to be following my point. I never said "harm causes morality," which can b...

If there is no harm done when one acts, then I don't see how an act can be called immoral, i.e., what would make it immoral other than the harm done? ...

Number 3 still causes harm to a person's character (the one trying to commit the murder), that is, even if you try and fail to do what you intended, i...

I do think intent is important, but you haven't read my posts carefully if you think intent is the primary factor. My focus is on the harm done, but t...

All your examples simply change the facts of the cases. If you change the facts, then the outcomes are going to be different. Moreover, there will alw...

I know it's a common thing that people say, that is, that we should be thankful, but if you don't believe there is a God (Christian God, for e.g.), th...

No problem Javra, good discussion.

I don't think there is any clear intention involved in the accident. You weren't even thinking, just reacting to the argument. It's not like someone s...

Sure I can give an example where intention doesn't mean much at all, in fact you could have good intentions and still commit an immoral act. You are d...

Many of the Christian ideas of sin and original sin come from a Biblical perspective, and although I have a good understanding of some of these doctri...

There is one point that I failed to mention in my last post. A good intention or a good will is a necessary feature of all moral acts. I can't see how...

In this scenario person A has committed a moral act, remember my position is that not all harm is immoral, that is, if you have good reasons for the h...

For me much of the nature of ethics is dependent on the nature of being human, or the nature of the reality in which we live. I believe that persons h...

Under my ethical view, person A has harmed person B, so person A has committed an immoral act. The harm can be objectively established, the act of pus...

I've often thought that this is a weird way of looking at knowledge, or what it means to know. What does it mean, do you think, for the conscience to ...

I understand, but it's an important part of my view of ethics, there are many who view ethics as subjective and/or relative. Subjectivity which is eit...

A moral theory is a bit more complicated than what I stated. My main point is that all immoral acts cause harm to someone, and I'm going to stick with...

I don't think it's that difficult generally to have a good understanding of what makes something moral or immoral. I pointed this out a few posts ago....

There are at least two points that I want to make. First, an action is just or not just, not because of what someone believes, but because of objectiv...

I agree Hanover, as I pointed out earlier, one can observe the objective nature of morality apart from any innate knowledge. Besides how does one sepa...

"It's inherent to human nature that all humans seek justice and avoid injustice, at least to themselves." Excuse me, but have you been living on plane...