Sad, but true. Philosophy has become polarized around political positions, usually hinging on the definition of "admissible evidence". See the thread ...
I referred to political polarization because you seem to be defending an ideological position, which some refer to as "Scientism". I'm reluctant to us...
The last part of this assertion belies the first part. The "absolute category" would be inherently all-encompassing & Holistic, hence not piecemeal & ...
Here's a link to a YouTube video of a Ukrainian woman handing an invading Russian soldier some flower seeds to plant on her martyr's grave. Now isn't ...
You can find the Black vs White critics replying to my BothAnd posts all over this forum. They try to push me to their side of the absolute Truth spec...
GT, I appreciate your willingness to engage in a principled philosophical exchange of views on a controversial topic, without resorting to (much) name...
Your usage of "Empirical" seems to go beyond the literal meaning, to include Theoretical inferences. So, we are, as usual, talking past each other ; u...
I agree with that last prediction. You won't be getting any empirical evidence for mental phenomena. Not due to absence of evidence, but to categorica...
Do you really require objective verification for all of your beliefs? Most people get their technical knowledge second & third hand. So, they must tru...
Unless you are a professor of Consciousness Studies, you are not likely to put food on the table by understanding Non-physical Reality. But, if you ar...
For a biologist there may be no distinction, because he's interested in mechanisms, not functions. But for psychologists and philosophers, the meaning...
If mind & body are the same entity, shouldn't they have the same properties? Yet, we give them different names & meanings because we perceive a signif...
I understand where you are coming from. But you redirected the intent of the OP, to change the controversial subject to one less debatable. OP seems t...
Yes, It's that dual meaning of "exist" & "real" that causes us to talk past each other. Some deny the existence of "a different order of phenomena". A...
It means that what you think of as capital "S" Science is a moving target. And these envelope-pushers may know something you don't. For example, Deaco...
Good! The problem with Systems Theory is that, like all Holistic attempts to understand Nature, General & Universal concepts are not knowable by senso...
Since when do philosophers wait for more facts before they start "speculating"? Besides, the authors of the books referenced are pragmatic scientists,...
I haven't read the book, but from reviews I get the impression that his Mathematical Reality is essentially the same thing as Virtual Reality. If that...
You misunderstood. I did not assert that these scientists were claiming that "reality is not materially composed", Instead, they are beginning to expl...
Well, I suppose we have nothing to discuss then. :smile: If you'll check out the books listed, you'll see that they do question classical mechanics. T...
Yes. Most of the theoretical scientists on my list attempt to avoid losing their materialist credentials, even as they undermine the foundations of Ma...
Can we take a modern, science-informed perspective on the topics that Aristotle covered in the second volume of his encyclopedia on Nature (Reality as...
I mentioned that Jesus seemed to be influenced by the Essenes, who were mystics, Instead of physically fighting the Romans, they withdrew to the deser...
Yes. I suppose the Jews were familiar with the notion of the "word" (dabar) of God, referring to spoken creative power. But the implication of Greek "...
Of course, Jesus must have been influenced by the Greek culture that had ruled the Middle East for centuries. But the actual "sayings" of Jesus reflec...
Exactly where to place Limits on Liberty is an ancient philosophical conundrum. Supreme court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said something like "...
OK. I didn't know that. But I was responding to the OP, which mentioned "computational metaphysics". I suppose the difference between Modal Logic and ...
I'm not a mathematician, so I don't use "mathematical logic" to prove the existence of a Necessary Being. So, while I agree with Goedel's general conc...
When I look for synonyms of "Romanticism", most of the alternatives sound like innocent adolescent sentimental mawkishness. So, I suspect what you are...
In theory, perhaps. But in practice, it seems to be the other way around. We are indeed "corralled" by forces beyond our ken, yet we are free to run a...
It takes two to tangle. So idealistic liberal poetic Romantics might build their Utopias & cloud castles, if not for the obstruction of pragmatic cons...
I suspect that Aristotle's motto of "moderation in all things" was adopted by the Stoics as the best path to happiness. Like the Buddha, they saw that...
That reminds me of a quip my non-racist mother made during the racial tensions of the 60s. In the early 20th century, she grew up in the Black Belt wh...
Sounds like you are a political moderate, seeking Aristotle's proportionally balanced Golden Mean. But there are always a few people in any group that...
Probably not. But the poles may be temporarily reversed. In the 60s Liberalism became radicalized, partly in response to the Communist crack-down of t...
If cosmic questions don't tickle your impractical inquisitiveness, I'm sure you can find more practical & proximate problems to philosophize about. Ho...
OK. But that sounds like philosophical Apatheia gone awry. I appreciate the Stoic state of mind, but not to the point of complete indifference to the ...
Maybe we could refocus the topic from speculativeTeleological Ends to retrospective Evolutionary Trends. Would that be less polarizing and more produc...
OK. I understand that you believe evolution is "not getting anywhere". But I was hoping you would at least offer some relevant evidence or argument in...
You said that you were not going to "waste anymore time" on this thread. But you continue to take boo -hiss pot-shots from the bleachers. Unless you h...
OK. But what does the marble analogy have to do with cosmic coincidences and Teleological inferences? As noted in the quote below from 20th century as...
That's OK. I may have found someone I can dialog with. See above. You can sit on the sidelines and watch as the grownups have a mature conversation. :...
OK. What about the "believer" vs "apostate" part? Back when I posted on another forum, various atheist vs theist arguments usually began with somethin...
Seppo ; this is not addressed to you personally. Because you've made it clear that you are not listening. I'm just mulling over the possible reasons f...
Your apology is mis-directed. My intention was not to be provocative, but the affronted reactions to an alternative explanation for cosmic evolution i...
The word "before" in this phrase is probably a metaphor drawn from our experience with space-time, and our lack of experience with infinity & eternity...
No, the reactionary responses on this thread are defending a belief system that is threatened by investigation of its underlying values (e.g. Existent...
And you know this absolute scientific fact how? Have you ever looked into models of reality that go beyond "established" (settled) opinion? Of course,...
The analogy points to how we distinguish intentional patterns from random activity : by rational inference from physical evidence. If you imagine the ...
I didn't say that Einstein was "incorrect", I merely noted that he was a theoretical scientist instead of an empirical researcher. So, I agree with th...
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