Possibility

I would argue that they are not necessarily anthropocentric - it’s a preference that we would argue is justified. And we can approach an understanding...

Knowledge about how potential energy appears to behave doesn’t tell us anything about potential energy, either - but we make predictions and conclusio...

I was waiting for that - it’s not what I’m saying at all, and I think you’re aware of that. The statement ‘Don’t drown kittens in a burlap sack’ doesn...

I disagree. 2+2=4 is correct in all details, exact. The statement ‘Don’t drown kittens in a burlap sack’ is not a faithful representation of an underl...

2+2=4 is not an ethical principle, and doesn’t claim to be.

Exactly - as a statement of underlying ethical principles governing the behaviour, ‘don’t drown kittens in a burlap sack’ is inaccurate, due to its in...

Yet if it came down to choosing between a human life and, say, a shark, then under what circumstances might the shark be the priority? We value ‘non h...

Would you agree that ‘our survival, stability, security and moral progress’ constitutes an anthropocentric value system, rather than an attempt to app...

That’s a specific statement about very specific behaviour, that doesn’t even come close to an ethical principle. Why is it bad to drown kittens in a b...

Only if you’re looking for one - ie. if you’re motivated by fear. Any statement of ethical principle is inaccurate, whether it’s positive or negative.

Okay - how is it entirely outcome oriented, and what is the issue? The way I see it, the common issue is fear, but most people are loathe to admit thi...

Like the bible? Like Trump’s tweets? A report of an event is an expression of subjective experience.

I understand these reservations. But I’m not advocating authoritative measures. I don’t see ethics as something dictated or enforced from above, nor f...

It’s not as obvious as you seem to think. A good deal of what we learn about the world as human beings is from the perspective of others - even someth...

I wonder if you have been either a victim or a perpetrator in relation to this victim compensation system. There may not be many more than in other sy...

I’m with you on this point. I think morality as a set of ‘don’t do this or else’ laws or even as a ‘bill of rights’ will always be flawed. But eradica...

Have you read 84K by Claire North?

The capacity renders ALL ‘natural-seeming’ preferences as individually chosen, including to eat or drink, to have sex, to withstand a certain temperat...

The way I see it, the idea that there is an objective or universal sense of ethical principles is sound. That such principles can be stated, however, ...

A moral subject is anything that can be harmed. You’re dismissive of bacteria as a moral subject, but I would argue that’s only because their value is...

When you take away your general intolerance, impatience and dismissive attitude toward fellow human beings, I do agree with a lot of what you’ve tried...

This is going to ramble a bit, while I get some ideas down... If we consider that our behaviour is geared towards survival, then what constitutes our ...

My point wasn’t that an object at absolute rest can exist, but that the concept exists only as a possibility. We can describe it, talk about it, perha...

I continually find it fascinating that we refer to ‘natural’ or ‘instinctual’ preferences for our species, one of whose most distinctive characteristi...

Increasing awareness, connection and collaboration

I think knowing yourself as fully as possible is essential. But I think survival as the main purpose of knowing yourself is misguided, and I think pur...

Great quote! :up:

So your perspective is that our greater complexity is just a pointless extension of our basic animal nature - and there is no real point in self-refle...

I wonder what you’re arguing against here - I’m not advocating Nihilism or Existentialism as core principles at all, but as a useful path for @"dazed"...

There’s being humble, and then there’s being reticent - I don’t think they’re the same thing. You don’t have to be abrasive or show off in order to sh...

When I continued with ‘...and then...’, I was referring to emerging out the other side...Nihilism for me was useful in breaking down constructs and fa...

I often get the sense that I am aware of distinctions within my mind (such as between feelings and the emotional reactions they initiate) that others ...

The way I see it, the ‘full range of angry feelings’ can be felt and even expressed without hate. In fact I would argue that they should be expressed ...

I agree with you. The point of nihilism, in my view, is to emerge on the other side of it without baggage - not to stay there. No authority and no cer...

I can relate to much of your experience - I was also raised catholic and journeyed through nihilism to begin to formulate a philosophy that better ref...

This is the reason I have been using the terms ‘justifiable’ and ‘necessary’ to clarify the argument. GCB accepts that hate can be seen as ‘evil’ but ...

...even though your decision to act was also influenced by your feelings of preference towards one child over another...ok I find it interesting what ...

But I disagree that it means we love one child more than another. That we connect more with one child does not mean that we have less love for the oth...

I agree with you on pretty much all of what you’ve said here. Apart from this: I don’t deny that, at any point in time or set of circumstances, we wou...

There are many reasons why I believe that I would choose to save my own child before my neighbour’s child - and my husband’s feelings as well as my ow...

If I can offer an alternative viewpoint: Mercy positions the injustice and all of its baggage in the past. To have mercy is to see the potential in so...

And I think it is you who doesn’t know how to love. To love is not simply to feel - we don’t love when we desire or prefer or value, although we may c...

Well, that depends what you mean by ‘successful’. I think when we parent with fear, we pass our fears onto our children. But one of the hardest things...

And let me emphasise the distinction between your statement and mine for clarity: I don’t need to love others less in order to love my family and frie...

‘Punishment’ refers to legally sanctioned, mild or ‘unfairly harsh’ retributive action against another. Retribution is a ‘natural’ fight response to a...

David Eggers’ novel The Circle explores this question - it may be worth a read (the movie is terrible, by the way, and completely misses the point). T...

...as opposed to the apostrophe in ‘user’s’? :wink:

How much of what we achieve is solely our own accomplishment? I don’t believe we accomplish much (if anything) in isolation these days, such that one ...

Yes, back to when it was written down and people lived by it without considering the damage it causes. The law of excluded middle refers to truth valu...

Agreed. But I never said gossip wasn’t harmful, just not necessarily harmful.