Pantagruel

Is it animism? Is it panpsychism? Something else? I know lots of people would draw the line of consciousness at homo sapiens. I prefer the bio-evoluti...

That's certainly the logical conclusion. :up:

This all may be, but my understanding is that the theory of anamnesis is a species of innate knowledge theory. Do you have citations pertaining specif...

But Socrates' belief in anamnesis implies the things you don't know you have in some sense forgotten (hence the Platonic strategy of evoking knowledge...

Exactly. And this is exactly the nature of consciousness itself, its present experience is a living amalgam of the past and future, per Cassirer: this...

Kind of Rabelaisian, so I found it entertaining.

:ok:

Am I biologizing intellect, or intellectualizing biology? Yes, absolutely I'd say we are on a continuum which stretches from the poles of pure objecti...

That's a non sequitur. The human enterprise is and always will be a human enterprise. As I pointed out, the nature of the environment to which we are ...

Then they are elements of whatever theories happen to have practical application. Life is on a voyage of discovery wherein it inter-evolves with an en...

If you mean the theories function in some holistic sense by deepening the coherence of an overall theoretical framework then that would be an applicat...

In which case what are they? If they don't have any kind of practical application their value is purely aesthetic.

I guess those can be in some sense be formulated in terms of heuristic rules governing systems flow. So while it seems arbitrary and artificial that t...

I was generalizing the sense in which applying a concept is a commitment to a type of task. Similarly, scientific laws are instantiated by and through...

You could say that when we act, we realize the law or principle which guides our actions. Indeed, the scientific method is essentially that, the insta...

Yes, precisely that meaning of free. Regarding our 'eerie temporality', I have lately been speculating on the forum whether consciousness might not ac...

Nicely put. I'd say the species itself is similarly entangled with the biosphere, etc. ie. That there is tiered entanglement from most to least animat...

Well, if fits the model of the "new science" which I describe as emerging, ie. it is theoretical modeling. Certainly a complex-cohesive model that can...

I second that. Nicely stated. :clap:

I like Pigliucci's description "mathematically informed metaphysics." Suggesting the intimate relationship between science and metaphysics, as I've co...

I think that pseudo-science is perpetrated intentionally by people for material ends. Most of that stuff educated people can ignore, but if I cared to...

More generally, lets consider quantum physics. Essentially, Einstein's General and Special Relativity remains the best version of an empirically valid...

But isn't the essence of culture its values? It used to be called crass materialism. It is no less crass because it wears a shiny technological garb. ...

But the celebration of pluralism essentially defines universal consensus as an archaic concept. There is no longer any interest in an "overarching tru...

As I've mentioned before, I think that the boundaries of our scientific understanding have expanded beyond the limits of convenient observability in s...

But isn't this what keeps philosophy alive as an independent discipline? Without that, doesn't it become just a theme?

Yes, they require it. Will there be disciplined minds there to supply it? I do feel philosophical studies form part of the balanced project of the adv...

This was my conclusion too. However the technologization of our culture is in danger of fatally marginalizing philosophical values. If it can even be ...

Sartre is a great starting point for embracing the power of human choice. I still advocate his notion of 'radical freedom' often.

How much is the quality of the experience of the present enhanced through understanding of the past? How much does understanding enhance experience?

:up:

Well that is the question, are there valuable things of which it is inherently productive. I was suggesting at a social level that it produces 'philos...

Hmm. Are you suggesting these are sciences where "value" enters in? Because, just to continue the science/philosophy dichotomy, you could call those t...

And does it exhibit a clear benefit in developing minds the way that science does in developing technologies? Is such a progressive evolution even hap...

While not every student can contribute to the body of knowledge of philosophy in a significant way, the body of knowledge of philosophy can contribute...

Are you saying that there are fundamental philosophical principles that are "built-in" to sciences, for example? Because I am thinking that sciences u...

Tomato tomato.

I think that arguing about the nature of the problem when the solution is the same describes exactly the fragmentation of political will by diversity ...

What does this have to do with anything? Obviously, the problem has to be addressed where it is created. If I read you right, you would advocate for a...

It's almost like they enjoy the exaggerated sensation of being in control.

Granted, that last part was really poor. However, up until then I thought the points were legitimate. The best argument becomes meaningless when it de...

Seems like a perfectly reasonable position to me. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't make them a troll. Sounds more like an ad hominem to...

To really appreciate it, a good grasp of systems theory is essential. However, I can offer part of Laszlo's explanation of why systems philosophy (the...

Conscious presents itself in our experience of it through the physical brain, as well as through the mechanisms of other living beings. Consciousness ...

I don't think that either monism or dualism do justice to what's going on in the universe. Cassirer talks about reality as both meta-physical and meta...

Yes, there really are no "generic usages," (unless perhaps media is contributing to the creation of a "generic mind"). But maybe not all nuance is imp...

:up: Why wretched? I thought it a good read.

Minimally, to be a subject is to be a subject "of" something. I am a subject of perceptions, of ideas, of feelings. So while the "ordering principle" ...

Yes, that was the idea. We are the avenues by which meaning accrues, but, in some real sense, it must also be external to us since it is objectively e...

Meaning evolves as it accrues new experience. Barring simple ostensives, the meaning of words derives from their function in sentence-level constructs...