Thorongil

Nothing. To speak of a square circle is to speak of nothing at all. It is synonymous with nothingness.

Which is not nothing.... Nonsense. A square circle never has, nor does, nor ever will exist. It is not a possibility.

This further highlights the problem with materialism. To believe that "only matter exists" begs the question. A materialist in the 17th century and a ...

Ask yourself what it is you're "talking about." We can speak about things that have existed but no longer do, but we can't speak of that which never w...

Even granting this (which I do not; I would have to know more about what is meant by and how Levinas argues for this notion), it would only refute a c...

Wow, that's neat.

Why is banning guns an ideal, then? Imagine that we do eradicate all crime. You would still apparently object to people owning guns. Why? You ought to...

http://thefederalist.com/2018/05/09/heres-supreme-court-already-repealed-second-amendment/ I wanted to leave this here, just to give some perspective ...

We can try to do so by using reason. Making valid and sound arguments? I never said I couldn't support the claims I hold to. We're getting rather far ...

That's true of all non-scientific claims, so this doesn't bother me. I can always retort by asking how one goes about verifying or falsifying the clai...

Nice quote! It cogently summarizes the primary reason I rejected antinatalism, which is basically that it tries to compare apples to oranges.

Yes. The same can be said of serial rapists, murderers, pedophiles, thieves, etc. Your moral relativism is a non-starter for me. No we're not.

Not intrinsically, no, or so I would submit. For most of human history, animals were necessary to human survival. In many parts of the world today, th...

Speaking of garden paths, when I studied abroad in Austria, I had an experience of the kind you describe when viewing the following painting by Monet ...

I hereby dub you T Snark.

Hypocritical mods gonna hypocrite.

Gotta keep winding up this topic. http://content.presentermedia.com/files/animsp/00014000/14235/figure_cranking_wheel_md_wm.gif

Incidentally, Darwin cites Schopenhauer in The Descent of Man. It's brief, though. Anyway, from what I can remember from my list: Darwin: The Life of ...

I made a thread that was basically identical to this one not long ago. That could be why.

Wow, how virtuous of you, frank. I'm sure you're the only one with this sensibility. To what address shall I send your monument?

Couldn't it be both? I'm glad you brought this up, though. If freedom is doing what you should, then no one sins freely. But if no one sins freely, th...

No, of course not! I love war and death! I'm just a callous asshole, as you implied. Your post totally wasn't a snide violation of the principles of c...

So you don't deny it either. Why not just come clean now?

Yeah, I'm just a callous asshole who thirsts for the blood of war victims. Go fornicate yourself.

Yeah, I have no criticisms of George W. Bush. None whatsoever.

It seems that you agree with me, then, that the primary purpose of guns used by the vast majority of lawful gun owners is not to kill or hurt people. ...

A gun's primary purpose (in the sense of what it was originally designed to do) would be to discharge a small projectile at great speed. Guns don't ki...

I'd sooner tithe than writhe in reaction to your inanities.

Why are you such a loonbag?

I'm not sad to see him go, but this doesn't much improve my opinion of the mods here.

A gun is an artifact. Human beings apply the form to, and therefore invent the purpose of, the objects we create. If a gun is used to fire bullets at ...

The problem, basically, is that one side wants to leap frog over trying to implement a bevy of reforms that could greatly reduce gun crime and mass sh...

You're assuming it will cost an obscene amount of money. Have you taken a look at the US budgets recently? They run into the trillions of dollars. Exa...

Better mental health screenings and treatments. Better policing. Universalized gun-violence restraining orders. Reform of existing laws. Etc.

Yeah (although I'm slightly unsure of the metaphor employed here). Did you know that the government will be the one in charge of regulating or banning...

If it is, then you need to explain how exactly most gun owners don't in fact use it in this way. I fail to have registered any other reason offered in...

I'll let Sir2u handle that. I was shedding light on the frequency with which you accuse others of concocting strawmen of your position.

I once thought I straw a man made out of stalks of grain in the distance, but before I could confirm, 'ol Quick Draw gunned him down in a flash and th...

Sapientia: the owl who cried strawman. We call him "Quick Draw Straw." Let every outlaw of straw beware!

Knowledge without experience is empty. Experience without knowledge is blind.

Aristotle is to Plato as Schopenhauer is to Kant.

Nor does one not have to not commit to this either. :confused:

Nobody knows what they want because they do not know why they want anything to begin with. In finding what is sought, one seeks what is found. Desire ...

A benevolent monarch is better than a corrupt republic, while a republic of benevolent citizens is better than a despot.

Now you're starting to see the absurdity of your original statement. :up:

A truck can be a weapon, too.

You're right. His sentence applies to any vehicle. In fact, it applies to anything at all: "Mistakes involving X wouldn't happen if the Xs weren't the...

Find and you will seek.

Ignorance is a still pond. Learning is a stone dropped into it.

Neither are guns.