Pantagruel

Since there is frequently a gap between what people claim and what people do, the only reliable measure of belief is the actions which those beliefs e...

So you are also an expert on epistemic coherentism now? Along with every possible variety that every person might ever have held? Ok Frodo.

"Epistemic coherentism – Beliefs are justified if they cohere with other beliefs a person holds"

By definition, belief is not knowledge. You are treating belief as if it were knowledge. You keep coming up with sweeping statements like Nonsense. A ...

Who said it has to be justified? A belief is essentially a hypothesis. Justification goes beyond the hypothesis to its proof. Again, per Popper, the o...

Wow. You have a real issue with this, don't you? Many people (myself included) have an inkling, an expectation, a hope, that there is more to life tha...

In the sense that it is a metaphysical claim, it doesn't. This is an idea whose origins predate science certainly, probably recorded history. It is an...

The latest study I read shows that students who use the internet occasionally show measurable improvement in test scores over non-internet users. Thos...

Anyway let's drop as it has become a question of the legitimacy of metaphysical claims in general which I'm not prepared to argue at this time. :)

Your claim to falsify "The universe was created" by appeal to the total body of knowledge is weak because it isn't possible to ascertain the total bod...

You are construing everything literally and narrowly, instead of addressing the general principle which I over and over reiterated. As I suggested, th...

This is all I am saying. Nothing more. Especially when it comes to establishing a dialog. If we fundamentally disagree, we need to find a common groun...

Sure. Paradigm shifts illustrate that even our most "certain" beliefs are subject to revision. So you may be "certain" that the universe wasn't create...

The argument was about the reasonability of believing in anything that isn't contradicted by existing evidence. As I said, how about you explain why o...

You weren't able to follow the line of reasoning about the origin of hypotheses, contingent and limited character of knowledge, and the possibility of...

All I'm pointing out is that it is possible for someone to have a legitimate reason for believing that there is a higher form of consciousness, differ...

Doesn't alter the argument's force. A valid hypothesis will eventually prove its merit. Paradigm shifts are real.

You are being glib. Popper points out that it doesn't matter where hypotheses come from. You can't require that a hypothesis be evidentially based, yo...

That isn't what I said. I explained my positive hypothesis.

I personally am quite "creator-friendly". As indicated, I just don't see this imposing any other constraints.

Here I'd have to disagree. There is barely a consensus as to what knowledge is. However one thing that science has established quite satisfactorily is...

I get that. Science points us down roads of further discovery of unknowns. If we allow your Deist assertion, where does that go? What do we discuss ne...

I am impressed by your balanced (if dogged) pursuit of your creationist agenda. I think, however, your intuitions about "fine tuning" are a red herrin...

I think one needs to be cognizant of the relationship between norms and laws here. And the fact that due to some new features of telecommunication the...

If you wanted to beg the question of God why assume the universe had to be "fine-tuned" from the beginning? God could just as easily have ordained the...

Quibbling. If you don't disagree that the property is a holistic feature and more than the sum of component elements.

Emergent properties are not explanations, they are facts. Trying to explain them away reductively is the mistake.

No one asked me, but I'm personally leaning towards Scientific Realism lately, all of the substance of science with none of the clutter of materialism...

I'm pretty sure that is an open question, and not an established fact as you are suggesting. In any case, the property could still emerge by the proce...

Right, which is all consistent with those entities emerging as a result of systemic evolution, as documented and tested through systems theory.

I think if you coded it using non-linear equations tuned to the proper set of fractal attractors iit probably would work...

Systems theory eliminates all the teleological confusion by simply establishing that it is a normal feature of some systems (complex adaptive systems)...

Late to the party, but I have always maintained that what is going on is probably no more (or less) nefarious than a "conspiracy of greed."

"Quantum Field Theory Demystified" by David McMahon "The Open Universe" by Karl Popper

Actually John Searle has claimed that the average man on the street is a Cartesian, and I tend to agree with him. Most people have a strong intuition ...

"Trigger" is exactly the terminology used in a systems philosophy book I just read to describe the influence of a key-subsystem within a system to cau...

I'll quibble with your quibble, since the original derivation of physics - phusis or nature - arguably generalizes to all of the natural sciences, not...

By definition Metaphysics and science are different things and play different roles. Any attempt to fuse them confuses the fundamental nature of each....

:up:

As far as we know, maybe. On the other hand there is evidence of "distributed cognition" and "collective cognition" that suggests consciousness may in...

Espousing the fundamental reality of mental processes doesn't contradict quantum field theory.

Are you suggesting that science grounds metaphysics? Metaphysics isn't the same as science.

Fundamental to what? Not everyday experience.

That doesn't discount the reality of the things which we do experience.

Ok. But "everyday experience" is the world. So why not assume "that" is fundamental?

I believe that is called the principle of the identity of indiscernibles. Maybe look into that?

Ulysses I found a bit of a mountain to climb. Proust has been on my to do list forever, but I fear it will be even steeper than Ulysses...

Reading a just-defended dissertation entitled "Into the Heart of Systems Change" by Anneloes Smitsman. It's over six-hundred pages but is very readabl...

R.G. Collingwood - The Idea of History A compilation of his later essays on the subject

One should always be cautious how one words one's objections. Our closest relatives may posses a theory of mind.