It isn't clear to me HOW abortion came to be the hot issue it has become. I am familiar with the 20th /21st century history, going back at least a cen...
People who "join the army" or "follow certain spiritual paths" are "different" before they even make that choice. Somebody who is tone deaf doesn't de...
I grew up hearing that this or that species of bird were monogamous for life. Usually said bird was held up as an example of virtue to be emulated. La...
We are animals, unequivocally. It doesn't matter how well we reason, how well we do or do not control our emotions -- we are part of the animal kingdo...
Taking the expression literally, I think a man with steel balls would find them an inconvenience. They'd be much too heavy, make too much noise bangin...
Both posts served a salutary purpose in this discussion. Quite a bit of the discussion one hears about the differences between, and grievances directe...
If the principle of freedom of speech is not protected in its practice, then it will eventually be whittled back to "the principle of convenient, allo...
Your scenario may seem bizarre, wild, extreme... but actually it isn't all that far out. Some people will engage in this sort of behavior--not all tha...
Matters of taste might have existential gravity. It is quite possible that someone might so strongly prefer to speak French rather than German, prefer...
I am much closer to Terrapin Station's position than Christoffer's. I'm not in favor of banning hate speech. I am a member of a group which many peopl...
I have always thought "de gustibus non est disputandum" referenced nothing very weighty, but about which much dispute could occur. So, if its a matter...
And that's the end of it. We don't get any of our laws from the universe. Never mind about conservation of energy, gravity, momentum and all that. I'm...
So, that was your evidence of trolling. What you took to be trolling was hyperbole. Any sort of off-beat humor is difficult in on-line communications ...
Don't troll me, young whippersnapper! What I said was we have no choice about consuming "other life forms" which includes what fruitarians, vegans, an...
No. It's perfectly appropriate to reject the validity of a discussion. Humans are as much a part of the web of life on earth as any other creature. Al...
You apparently are suffering from a chronic condition. You have learned how to live with it -- else you might have committed suicide years ago. I'm gl...
@"Vegans", @"Vegetarians", and @"Vigilantes" Nature is neither moral nor immoral. To the extent that we fulfill our natural functions of thriving (eat...
What animal is there that is not subject to being eaten? Porcupines? Maybe porcupines are exempt. Not sure about that. How would the wolf go about it?...
The universe is matter and energy. The brain is matter and energy. The brain produces the mind. The mind produces meaning. The universe is the source ...
It is. I am loved. I love others. I find some meaning in service to others. I find more meaning in gaining understandings of the way the world works. ...
I must be brief; I have to usher at a funeral in 28 minutes, and I'm still in my bath robe. The universe doesn't provide us ready-made, objective mean...
Your view is all too rare. William James thought that the mind followed the body as well. I'm not sure either. It can be a very slow process, megatons...
Of course you have a lot of self doubt -- you and few billion other people. As for being so critical of your own and others writing, it's a dead end. ...
Honest criticism for an actually aspiring writer is one thing. What you did was nip it in the bud. I agree with the excellent author, Flannery O'Conno...
It's been decades since I read Bulgakov. I loved The Heart of a Dog -- about a stray dog that received the transplanted balls of a soviet bureaucrat o...
See, that's what I mean. Criticism that keeps you from even getting close to the airport, let alone starting down the runway to take off. So there's y...
Alice in Wonderland is great. I need to reread it. Some science fiction books rise to the level of philosophical novels and they are good stories to b...
Were our genes to become very disordered, we would drop dead. Big change, for sure. On one level we are constantly changing and on another level we ar...
A philosophical novel needs a good plot, interesting characters, convincing dialogue, and so forth. The plot and the characters should lead in a compe...
Right, almost all of the body cells are replaced periodically. The exception is the brain and the muscles of the heart. It's not quite settled whether...
It is true that many species, some of them much-honored megafauna, are being killed off by deliberate human acts of killing. Whales, lions, elephants,...
And is it not the case that moral, ethical living is directed toward the manner in which we treat each other? How central to the moral and ethical cod...
When it comes to concrete, the moderators tend to be brutalists -- that is, they like seeing the forms of concrete fully exposed and visible. I suppos...
I have enjoyed reading Hitchens. I once read a laudatory biography of Mother Theresa (Something Beautiful for God) and later read Hitchens' The Missio...
Someone should welcome you to The Philosophy Forum, so I will. Consider yourself one of the family. We're kind of a prickly family, however, so don't ...
Does Trump need help making up the stuff he says? "You can't make this stuff up" so the saying goes. It's just too off the wall! No, I think Trump thi...
According to this angry woman (there are so many) there are 3 characteristics of the right-wing authoritarian personality: Seems like an adequate desc...
Much like sisyphus, only smaller boulders. One could actually roll them to the top without too much difficulty. The drawback is that one was not allow...
Indeed there are. Here is an example: The Virgin Mary with elephant dung https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/mm/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftimedotcom.file...
No, of course you are not being consumed by a gigantic cyber-mechanical monster. You are merely a meaningless cog in the remorseless extraction of pro...
I was going to say that everything gets boring, but then I thought of sex (good or better), so that's an exception. Eating very good food when one is ...
You would want to clean toilets if the wage and benefit package was excellent, and if the job was structured as dignified safety and health work, whic...
The unattractiveness of a given job can't be separated from the wage that will be paid. Supposedly, meat packers have to hire Mexicans to slaughter an...
Wouldn't that be true for Europe and particularly for the UK which is leaving the EU in order to avoid having so many immigrants? There are some downs...
That depends on want to, preparation, and IQ. A determined person of average intelligence who is well prepared can do quite well intellectually. A poo...
Eternity is infinity -- no place, no time. Forever. Yes, people would mark out their political, or technical, or romantic or current cat present howev...
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