Possibility

The way I see it, Catholicism, at least, relies on tradition, ritual and institution as much as its financial security for survival, so conservative l...

The principle is not the standard - it’s the foundation. If it breaks down in spacetime, or once life begins, then it’s nothing more than imagination ...

I have to agree that this is where your argument breaks down, @"schopenhauer1". A principle should be able to stand without exception, otherwise it is...

Ownership is perceiving an object or event as a conceptual extension of the ‘self’. Many animals have developed a capacity to be aware of, connect and...

I am aware of more than this/here/now. I know that I exist in relation to that/there/then. That’s about as much as I can be certain of.

I am an event more than I am an object: I have a fixed duration, a history. But I am an experiencing subject more than I am an event in history: I con...

‘Positive’ and ‘negative’ refer to opposing ends of a spectrum that are not necessarily good or bad. If I have an affect that is positive, that’s good...

This is where I think you and I differ the most, because the way I see it, we don’t have to do anything at all. You seem to think that the world is ‘r...

Regardless of an individual’s goals, wants, desires, etc, the belief that any action is fully determined by a singular will is false - hubris, even. J...

I think philosophical pessimism can certainly contribute (and indeed has contributed greatly) to rational, logical, intelligent and realistic thought....

I wouldn’t use ‘good’ in this context - it doesn’t make sense to me. Do you have an example of it being used in this way, or are you simply throwing w...

Nothing should be forced, we agree on that. But in my view the concept of ‘force’ is a misunderstanding regarding what determines and initiates action...

Happiness is a feeling, an internal experience that refers to patterns of information we conceptualise as ‘happy’. The concept ‘happy’ refers specific...

Your arguments are always so well structured, schopenhauer. This was an open door that I couldn’t resist, for argument’s sake... The extent to which t...

There seems to be some mixing up of applications of the terms ‘happy’ and ‘good’ in reference to the subject. The OP questions the difference between ...

The mind is the structure of our conceptual systems, that enable us to make predictions about our interactions with the world. In my view, it is here ...

Interesting read - a much better way of explaining what I’ve alluded to in my response to the ‘Objects of Reality’ question here.

From my notes on Lisa Feldman Barrett’s ‘How Emotions Are Made’:

When we attempt to describe what is real, we draw from our conceptual system: from what we assume exists, and from what we predict will occur. These c...

Short version, I think self reflection and self evaluation are the key faculties for doing philosophy. The capacity to be aware of our conceptual syst...

Philosophy aims to structure and restructure our conceptual models of the world, to make the most effective use of all the information we have. Progre...

Philosophy is the seeking of wisdom - not simply knowledge, or even an understanding of the world. As such it permeates every field. To demarcate the ...

I don’t think I’ve misunderstood you - I’m talking about how we then relate to what is false or immoral or what we claim ‘oughtn’t be’. Wisdom is more...

I’m enjoying this thread - I have used the questions to try and order my own thoughts, but my answers are perhaps too lengthy and disjointed at this s...

I like your thinking. Nothing, for me, can be understood in terms of actuality, potentiality or possibility (but then, I do tend towards ‘glass half f...

It’s problematic - to use the phrase ‘is like’ is to describe a human’s similarity to concepts with which the alien would be familiar. Sharing meaning...

It’s more than that, though. The capacity for creative thought and alternative modelling serves us well beyond art, too. Many of our conceptual models...

What about whether or not you plan to walk anywhere?

Life ignores, isolates and excludes more than it cooperates - all matter does, in fact. It seems to be a default - which I imagine you mean by ‘first ...

I wasn’t disagreeing with you as much as you seem to think I was. They are two different value structures applied to the same reality, and can still b...

In order to process information most efficiently, we reduce the quantity of information transmitted to the brain by applying concepts as ‘efficient su...

No - and yet ‘stopping evil’ is so often presented as a reason to go to war, or to hate, isolate, exclude, ignore, or otherwise act in a way that may ...

:up:

When you take an umbrella as you leave the house, are the causal conditions of that event entirely in the past, or is an awareness of - and significan...

Well put :clap:

Not necessarily. Some methods of ‘stopping evil’ contribute greatly to suffering. War, for instance, does not ‘emit a good’.

That we have evolved from an ancestry with destructive, combative or conflict-avoiding inclinations seems obvious. That we have evolved with the poten...

Yes, this behaviour can be destructive, but I wouldn’t call it ‘pure evil’ - I would think that’s a form of absolutism. In my opinion, if our response...

To be honest, I’d say they’re probably right - especially if they’re arguing against the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ as described by @"leo". There’s a reason wh...

Will is that which determines and initiates action, based on what is believed and what is experienced. ‘Good’ manifests when the actions initiated inc...

Not if you want it to ensure ethical behaviour in every instance when followed. Because we’re talking about underlying ethical principles, not specifi...

As broad as you can make it. Principle: ‘a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a...

There is something here that you seem to be overlooking: 2+2=4 is NOT a mathematical principle. So as ‘right’ or ‘accurate’ as the statement may be in...

What woudn’t it be good to increase awareness of, when the opportunity arises? I don’t have to disprove it - I agree with it as an instruction, but it...

Thanks for the reference text. I’m thinking this may support what I have recently been arguing with Gnostic Christian Bishop and Coben here.

I can’t say I agree with that interpretation. I don’t believe an ‘omnipotent being’ exists to present unique attributes, let alone necessary ones. You...

It would be rare that such an action would suddenly be my only option, and to find myself in such a position would suggest (to me) that I had chosen n...

Possible: anything we can imagine happening Potential: anything that can happen Probable: anything that is likely to happen Most discussions like this...

What I would do is attempt to convince the other person not to press any detonator at all - that punishing the shark would not bring the human back, a...

My point was that if you had a clear understanding of how X does things, of what is involved in the doing, then you could determine whether or not suc...