Essentially, yes. But I need to clarify whether by ‘evolution’ you mean ‘how life evolved’, or ‘Darwin’s theory of natural selection’. Natural selecti...
Not anthropomorphism as such, although I do subscribe to a form of panpsychism, I suppose. They’re not conscious acts as we understand them at all, bu...
‘Survival’ is what remains when all the others stop living. Negative impact refers to the many ways that they stop living, basically. Some are ignored...
This is interesting, because I don’t agree that chemistry has done the creating here. This is what I mean by the difference between creating and evolv...
I think you misunderstand me, here. I agree with you that creativity is the capacity and courage to step beyond limits, to increase awareness, connect...
Thank you for laying it out. I agree with you up to this point. But the rest does not follow, by my reasoning (for what it’s worth). ‘Reason’ is a con...
You brought up the analogy to water, not me. I’m just trying to work out your reasoning, so I went with your analogy. I assumed you brought it up beca...
The occidental focus has been a long detour. We constructed ‘knowledge’ using mathematics, logic and language in isolation from that which humbles us....
Of course there is a possibility - that is clearly demonstrated when someone acts contrary to your imperative. By defining the doing of the ‘don’t’ as...
I’m of the belief that philosophy is supposed to strive to make sense of the world, not declare it to be ‘messy’ and then leave it like that. In scien...
Not very sound principles then, are they? We’re back to square one. If following one principle causes another principle to be violated, then one or bo...
Agreed. It’s almost impossible to be aware if you don’t interact, though. In negative ethics we have indeed the right to make demands. I have the righ...
Like ‘God’ is manifest in the way we perceive and understand it? Or with respect to the activities and conditions of the universe? I’m trying to under...
Well, it doesn’t matter what I think, does it? It only matters what appeals to Reason. You’ve already made it clear that I’m unable to determine this....
I think you might be limiting your thinking here by looking at it as either/or. We are evolved beings who are most aware of the underlying creative im...
Ok, I agree with this, but I maintain that your argument as stated doesn’t follow. I think I see where you’re going now. Personally, I’m working towar...
That’s not knowledge, that’s an expectation of control. You’re now so accustomed to having the temperature where you want it, that a situation where i...
That’s an unusual way to approach it, but it looks like you’ve reached a similar understanding: nothing is conclusive, unless we deliberately stop acc...
That’s circular. Humans suffer because their predicted conceptualisation of the world doesn’t match the information from their interactions with sense...
I did - I adjusted yours. Skin comes later. First you need to have a system that moves of its own accord - that responds as a whole to internal chemic...
Hmm, do you spend ANY time with dogs at all? I’m only asking because that is a particularly limited understanding of what a dog wants, and the distinc...
You keep assuming that I don’t listen to reason at all. I’m not sure you realise that it’s possible to listen to reason AND to have a broader perspect...
Society is built on an assumption that you and I ‘operate’ the same way. On a basic level, that may be fairly accurate. On a more basic level, we also...
The short version: No. Life defined as a replicating chemical reaction is an oversimplification. It isn’t accurate, and as a definition of life it doe...
Well I’m not sure I claimed it did. That’s a little defeatist, isn’t it? How do you think we developed a way to comprehend what other humans experienc...
Don’t get me wrong - your argument appears to make sense from a logical perspective. But that alone does not make it true. Truth is not bound by logic...
The ‘evidence’ I was referring to is the written testimony of others who express a subjective experience of truth that extends beyond appeals to Reaso...
I’m glad you asked. There is a common presumption that thinking and making sense of reality (ie. reasoning) necessarily requires a purely rational or ...
I barely scraped through calculus in high school, and I’m way out of practise, so I’ll admit that most of that went over my head. But I’d be intereste...
There’s no need to get passive-aggressive, I made no assumption about your intelligence, only your capacity to see reasoning as more inclusive than si...
Well, if you really need me to reduce my level of reasoning to yours...how about we start with the ‘no true Scotsman’ fallacy? There are a number of r...
This a very interesting discussion. I’d like to throw in a suggestion: Perhaps we could frame the issue in terms of will as part of the directed evolu...
I’m not ignoring the evidence - you only think I’m ignoring it, because I’m not giving it the same weight as you are. My subjective experience (which ...
Wow, you can talk. ‘Truth is an appeal to Reason because I reject anything that is not an appeal to Reason. Therefore, truth can ONLY be an appeal to ...
If he’s happy in his ignorance, there is nothing for you to do here. You can’t force someone to be more aware. But happiness is only a temporary exper...
Firstly, as you have already accepted, "potential *energy*" is energy. Secondly, it is only potential with respect to the work it is directed towards....
Yes, it’s also possible for outside observers to recognise the potential for suffering prior to the suffering occurring. At the point that he chooses ...
That’s a lot of IFs. Personally, I don’t define the universe as everything humans are capable of comprehending, so I won’t follow you down that rabbit...
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