Pantagruel

I always found abstraction itself to be somewhat mystical.

This seems a valid observation.

We know that we are talking about the same thing when we achieve consensus. Then our communications are co-ordinated. I fully admit, this is an inters...

1. It is a fact that we are communicating now. 2. Because I have presented this fact, it is (trivially) my opinion that this is a fact. 3. You can dis...

:lol:

I didn't say that. I said our own opinion about whatever it is we are talking about. You have missed the nuance of the statement.

Absolutely! But that is not necessarily a point in their favour. Just because something is great, doesn't mean it couldn't have been better.

Yeah, it was tongue in cheek.

I don't necessarily endorse the implied ad hominen here, but I do concur that this mnemonic falls more in the way of an heuristic than a principle. I ...

The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol 1: Reason & the Rationalization of Society The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol 2: Lifeworld & System: A Cr...

I was just endorsing your previous conversation, I came to the same conclusion on this thread a few days ago.

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:up:

I believe I already addressed your concerns about the relationship between the subjective and the objective, per above. I didn't pretend to solve it, ...

Quite. That is one of the core questions of epistemology isn't it? We are constantly fighting a battle to find a universally valid methodology for ste...

I have the citation somewhere, but I think it was von Bertalanffy who said that what justifies any metaphysical theory is ultimately its elegance.....

That seems to me to be a bit of a non-starter. Everyone is always talking about their own opinion of whatever it is they are talking about. You can pu...

Because expressing an opinion about mysticism was the subject of the thread. Non-linear dynamics is not illogical, it represents a different form of l...

I would agree precisely. "Mysticism" is no less a valid experimental or theoretical domain than any other. It is just a question of the nature of its ...

I think this is a difference of degree, and not of kind. Mystical experiences are not impervious to communication (I don't limit myself to language he...

I have been what I would classify as a seeker from a very early age. I considered entering a Zen monastery when I was 25, visited and did the intake i...

Do you believe that when Pythagoras first grasped the relationship between the squares on the sides of a right-angled triangle it popped into his head...

Any mid-level and up IT person can probably work from home (I can with no loss of productivity). Pretty sure that none of those are bullshit jobs. Cur...

I think the question being bruited is, is this a material value, or a social value?

Well, if understanding represents something in addition to what is explicitly presented in a proposition, then by definition it is "beyond words." So ...

Uh-huh. So you would tend to agree that the "practical value for society" is a good criterion of productivity? I was more re-affirming your question t...

Exactly. Marx differentiates "productive labour" from "socially necessary labour," and considers average socially necessary labour to be the aggregate...

Yes, mysticism is one of those "proof is in the pudding" things. My perspective is that the primary results are personal, and that that personal growt...

Nicely put.

I guess it's just your style. I never held with the "conceal to reveal" philosophy of writing. Say it plainly or don't bother is my preference.

This all seems rather unenlightened indeed. And there is lots of viable material even in the wiki-drivel. Seeking "by contemplation and self-surrender...

Psychedelics are not for entertainment. Maybe if you are only interested in getting as far out of your own head as possible without any concern for th...

Mysticism to some extent involves the concept of freeing oneself from the constraints of the mundane (viz the whole monastic tradition is a separation...

Any effort to translate from the sphere of institutionalized practices (e.g. Buddhist meditation) to uniquely personal experience (which mysticism is ...

Thanks for clearing that up! :)

Perhaps like saying, "I would say this, even if you put a gun to my head"? Some contexts dictate results in ways we might not anticipate.

Do you think the quality of criticism offered by someone who has, in turn, offered their own work for criticism is the same as someone who is critiqui...

Yes, that is the essence of criticizability in general. It's what makes rationality possible! Edit: I think it isn't clear that pleasure is the only o...

So an exercise in philosophical rhetoric, basically? Contribute if you want to critique?

LOL! I presume you just read why in the other thread and this is banter.

Because it is specifically an example of the fallacy of division? Johnny loves his car. Johnny mostly loves the engine of his car. But without the car...

There are certain specific themes and directions of thought that I find most interesting. I like to compare my perspectives with those of others. I'm ...

I have a pretty heavy reading list already, but I'm definitely interested in tagging along on this. I just may not participate in every discussion.

This seems to me a spurious regress. While you can always analytically decompose any thing or event, this does not remove or divert the value or exper...

I'll be honest, I have no idea how to interpret your proposition in that case.

It seems that you are using "creationism" as a kind of anchoring symbol or paradigm of an "ultimate metaphysical value". This is exactly what Talcott ...

Creationist logic is only valid within a communicative framework of rationality.

I don't deny that creationism exists as a sociological fact (although I do think that is over-narrowly construing the scope of sacred meaning). That d...

I think the ultimate authority must affect us not at a proscriptive but at a prescriptive-motivational level.

I am thinking that the mind's intuition of its own existence corresponds with and is the synthetic integration of the total set of ts functional conne...