Pantagruel

There seems to be a conflation between the sense of the original post "to be ruled" and the sense of "having rules"? Maybe it would be helpful to clar...

I think the best answer I can give you is that materials science if by it's nature inexact, due to the innate complexities of natural objects (systems...

I think it is an extremely interesting effort, only I don't think it does exactly what you think it does. The term "conscious" has a lot of technical ...

Are you equating "imagination" with "comparing alternate possibilities"? Because computers and lots of lower animals can do that.

Yes, I came across the epistemological equivalent in a book by Kornblith many years ago on naturalistic epistemology. Kornblith describes "natural kin...

Yes, I just skimmed through the Stanford article on Tropes also. Personally, I find metaphysical hairsplitting to be a little tedious. Invariably it s...

Ok. New to me, however what I just read says that tropes can be viewed either as objects, or properties, but not both, so they cannot bridge the gap b...

Typically, properties are considered to be examples of universals, not particulars.

To quote Regis, Is that your final answer?

How do you figure this? Practically speaking, physical science is always subject to some degree of inaccuracy.

I think philosophy should bend over backwards to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Poor argument is its own best censor.

I don't think we have to assume reductionism. Chemical properties emerge from physical systems which have evolved to a certain level of complexity, bu...

Yes, I thought that consciousness "having" an idea ought to be different from conscious qua idea. Unless we are saying that an idea can have an idea?

If mental constructs exist then I guess a fortiori consciousness must also exist.

As personal progress, for sure! I am starting to think that, culturally, we have reached the tipping point of decadence and are now cartwheeling down ...

I had horrible social anxiety until I was about twenty. I recall having to give a short introductory presentation to my grade 9 english class (everyon...

My interest and whatever knowledge I have of that subject specifically starts with Durkheim and anomie.

I personally have never seen or read anything that contested the suicide rate data, and it is a subject that has received a lot of attention, since it...

Durkheim's "anomie" hypothesis, that a dramatic climb in the suicide rates towards the end of the 19th century was related to a disconnection of indiv...

No, it has to do with what constitutes evidence for the existence of God, which is the more fundamental question, certainly to the position of atheism...

As I said to Mr. Terrapin, anyone claiming to see snafboggles pretty clearly doesn't require refutation, he refutes himself quite effectively with the...

Of course, I just don't have a name for the many, many things that I don't believe in. Or espouse my non-belief in them as a significant position.

Again, do you have a lack of belief in unicorns? Or Santa Claus? The position of weak atheism makes even less sense than strong atheism. At least stro...

Yes and atheism assumes there is no evidence for God. Which is what seems to be at issue now.

Actually, I would argue we are talking about what constitutes evidence for the existence of God. Which is what I described.

As I tried to say, if someone says, "I like digging holes because the view is so great from down there," then the statement reveals its absurdity. But...

Yes but the claim of atheism is analogous to saying "a round square doesn't exist". Everything that doesn't exist because it is 'counter-logical' fits...

Hoping that anyone with a thousand posts to their name will eventually find their way back....whatever differences of opinion we may have we are all u...

:up:

Yes, where internal religion (spirituality) meets religion qua institution. Institutions invariably seem to drift tragically away from the criteria of...

Don't get me wrong. I respect faith. One cannot know everything and sometimes one is forced to enact values that possibly can't be justified in any ot...

If anything agnosticism is far more sensible than atheism. If something doesn't exist why bother taking a philosophical stance on it? Atheism as an ar...

I would have voted agnostic had the choice been offered. I am open to either possibility, in the absence of conclusive evidence either way. edit: didn...

Actually I agree, but I think that particular perspective results from him being a product of his age. Which just goes to show how different fields of...

Not sure what you mean by "criteria for explanations"? The fundamental forces of physics are gravitation, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, an...

True. Chemical properties are "properties" of physical systems, however chemical properties are not explicable in terms of the laws of physics. Rather...

A human is capable of great sacrifice, yet is often selfish. Great kindness, but is frequently cruel. A human is both stubbornly good and stubbornly b...

:up:

Wholeheartedly agree with this characterization. What we do know is that complex systems can and do achieve various stable states. If we don't even kn...

Hmm. The whole "requires time" premise seems to me a red-herring based on an exclusive definition of synchrony vs diachrony. A thing can cognitively b...

Yes, I assumed that the significant case falls into the modal categories described. The only case for "broad pessimism" I can think of is this: There ...

I think this is the key. What we are really talking about here is optimism vs. pessimism in the case of serious and complex situations with lots of un...

As in a perfect system adaptively changes, yes, I see.

Is this really true though? A defining characteristic of a complex system is that it tends to transition rapidly (tipping points) from one stable stat...

I think the fitness of something to a purpose is a really good way to conceptualize perfection.

I like the idea as perfection as "fitness for" also. It works with a process philosophy.

And linking to abiogenesis - I just read about an experiment in constructing simple cells from inorganic elements. The idea was to create a solution c...

That'd be for you to decide. Systems theory alters the boundaries of what we think of as 'conscious'.

Actually non-linear dynamics goes a long way beyond what standard calculus and probability can do. It's worth a look if you like math, especially when...

Optimism and pessimism are both inherently goal-directed, i.e. they both inherently transcend the existing context towards some future state of affair...