Pantagruel

Within a Budding Grove (À la recherche du temps perdu #2) by Marcel Proust

Yes, the Proust. It's really, really good. I guess I envisioned it would be a bit of a chore, but quite the opposite. It carries you right along.

As it happens I'm just reading one of the longest novels in the world, whose main themes are the ways in which memories extrude themselves into life, ...

Granted. But even lower animals can learn, which is a form of temporal-awareness, I guess.

What does "immutably real" mean? The essence of property (?) real is that it is itself a complete characterization. Things are not "more real" or "les...

The past was real, now it is past, a real past. We are in contact with the past constantly, as every moment incessantly falls into it. If the now has ...

2022 Summary. My favourite fictions this year were The Glass Bead Game and Jude the Obscure. For non-fiction, I really enjoyed The Dawn of Everything....

Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought by George Lakoff, Mark Johnson I've seen this book mentioned a few tim...

Speak for yourself. Meaning and purpose are created through effort, not bestowed. Maybe you just need to try harder.

Yes, I have been wanting to tackle this for some time. I'm transitioning to semi-retirement in the new year so I can make the time to do it justice. F...

Swann's Way (À la recherche du temps perdu #1) by Marcel Proust ISO...lost time. Thanks Amazon! Boxed Set

Broad, but not vague. For me, everyone on here shares a common love of thinking and expressing thought, albeit across a very broad spectrum of subject...

I really liked this book, especially the exploration of the wisdom and depths of the indigenous world-view. Cartesian Meditations by Edmund Husserl

There is a section in Neurocomputational Perspective where Paul Churchland speculates that, if we could develop a deep enough theoretical understandin...

Do you think that the pursuit of understanding should be enjoyable or challenging?

Perhaps this relates to the extent that having a description of an experience can thereby alter that experience. In any field where technical competen...

I would go so far as to say "what we are" is very much at issue and up for grabs, in the sense that any interpretation of that oriented around basic f...

Definitely start with Theory of Justice. Political Liberalism expands upon Theory of Justice. Both are well worth reading.

Since we essentially evolved from animals, do you think that there is a jump somewhere from having no beliefs to having beliefs? I would imagine the c...

Here is a little piece of experimental technology that may be useful in this project (which has merit I think). The Fibonacci sequence exemplifies a p...

Given that the normal functioning of the laws of physics encompasses both entropy and negentropy, the possibilities are pretty much endless already......

What determinist chain? We are having a "discussion" about free will. A "discussion" is something which can only exist in the context of free will. So...

Actually, there is quite a bit of research on animal beliefs. I don't think they have a lot of them or that they are overly complex, mostly related to...

Not only human behaviour, I would go so far as to say this is what characterizes consciousness as such. The question then becomes that of the accessib...

I guess my take is that people are always being ethical. Even when they fail to be ethical, they are manifesting an ethic, just not what we construe a...

Human behaviour is by definition a manifestation of an ethic, which is a specific instantiation of ethics. In other words, all behaviour is ethical (o...

Is it the philosopher's task or aspiration? It isn't like the relevant information hasn't been presented. The public at large is responsible for what ...

Well, the concept of consciousness as primarily intentional is often a starting point in phenomenology (i.e Brentano). From consciousness being direct...

I think that will is something that presents in degrees, just like consciousness. In fact, I'd say there is a relationship between the two.

What truth is does that overlook?

True enough. And compulsion also abrogates responsibility. The question is, can we ever really be compelled, or do we allow ourselves to be compelled?...

I think of it more as an executive function that can assume control. Searle describes how intentional consciousness rises to the level of background a...

Exactly so.

I think that the role of belief is to believe accurately. So when people pour extravagant amounts of energy into defending the belief that the earth i...

I think you partially misunderstand me. I'm suggesting that a mechanistic causation is the case, but that we can override even that through concerted ...

Right, and behaviourism steps in and says that this is environmentally triggered and there you are. I'd propose an interpretation that is a kind of so...

I think some of the newest forms of science tend by their very nature to guide humanity in an advantageous direction. Systems theory bolsters the awar...

But are these surmountable through increased communication and increased knowledge? Surely a person who is moving towards enlightenment moves away fro...

There is some truth to this. In Oneself as Another Ricoeur looks at Gertrude Anscombe's event ontology, actions versus events, wanting and the why que...

Definitely. Much - I might even say most - of our 'significant doings' are no longer merely mechanical in nature but operate by invoking and engaging ...

This is absolute true and relevant. To use will in a non-trivial and non-destructive way (which I don't consider exemplary willing anyway, just doing)...

Yes, as I describe in people who can violently defend clearly absurd positions, will can be misused. For me, they would be self-consciously acting in ...

You don't believe there is an inherent capacity which causes will-like actions. How do you feel about certainty then? Do people have different capacit...

Once again, we are at a fundamental impasse. The notion of free-will and, co-extensively, responsibility, is central to my entire understanding of rea...

I don't think identifying a capacity is fetishizing it. Transcendent? Well, again, that is a fundamental orientation. Yes, I believe in the transcende...

Indeed. And do you not think that is the ultimate act of will? I had chronic substance abuse problems. And suicide attempts after my fiance was killed...

I'd say it represents a fundamentally different approach to the psyche, which I don't share. However upon reflection, I would further characterize wil...

I thought I characterized it pretty well in my opening post. I'm not interested in disputing its existence with a will-denier, if that's where your go...

I don't know...it seems pretty self evident that you can give up easily or you can keep trying. Effort. I've spent a lifetime doing difficult things. ...

I think this last observation is great. The will is both a means and an end; we must utilize our will in order to strengthen it. :up: