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Gnomon

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That concept probably originated with Pythagoras about 2500 years ago. He was a sort of mathematical mystic, and numerologist. In his mathematical stu...
October 27, 2020 at 03:06
Ironically, Aristotle's definition of "Substance" combined the mental (metaphysical) and material (physical) elements : Form + Matter. But Materialist...
October 26, 2020 at 22:36
Excerpt from blog post : The Paradox of FreeWill I summarize my personal hypothesis of FreeWill Within Determinism as follows : Freewill is the abilit...
October 26, 2020 at 17:17
Yes. Before the advent of the Big Bang theory, many philosophers and scientists assumed that the ever-changing physical universe itself actually etern...
October 25, 2020 at 17:50
One of the smartest people ever, was mathematical genius Martin Gardner. He called himself a Mysterian, but he didn't present a philosophical argument...
October 24, 2020 at 02:08
Maybe what you need is not a philosopher, but a psychiatrist or doctor. If you are literally, rather than figuratively depressed, you may have some ph...
October 24, 2020 at 01:57
Philosopher Edward Feser, in his Aristotle's Revenge, comments on this key feature of modern science : monistic Materialism. He says, "most scientists...
October 22, 2020 at 23:38
Unlike some philosophers, I don't think it's my duty to undermine the faith of other people. But since you noted that you are not well-read in literar...
October 18, 2020 at 23:04
Yes. Both options are correct. But the first Mind is universal or cosmic, while the second is plain old human mentality that emerged from a long seque...
October 16, 2020 at 17:49
Yes. Information is the form or structure of every aspect of the world, both Physical and Metaphysical, both Matter and Mind. Unfortunately, reaching ...
October 16, 2020 at 17:39
Yes. That's why I called it "insurance", which is mostly an Anglo-American concept. Ironically, the modern form of commercial insurance may have emerg...
October 15, 2020 at 22:40
I agree that immaterial Mind is the function of Brain matter. But, do you know of a viable theory to explain how Mind & Consciousness & Meaning are "d...
October 15, 2020 at 22:30
It just occurred to me that my All Is Mind reply above, may have inadvertently explained the essence of Poetry : it expresses immaterial qualities & s...
October 15, 2020 at 22:20
FWIW, I'll introduce you to the notion that everything in this world consists of immaterial mental Information (ideas), including Matter. Neuroscienti...
October 15, 2020 at 22:03
The legalistic terminology may be relatively new, but the concept of planning now for the future of your soul seems to be inherent in the Hindu/New Ag...
October 15, 2020 at 21:46
Are you familiar with the Jefferson Bible? Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States, and a Deist. He distilled his own copy of th...
October 15, 2020 at 21:27
Thanks. But some people on this forum think my thesis is airy-fairy religious nonsense. And others think it's quantum-weirdness atheistic nonsense. Bu...
October 15, 2020 at 21:14
Unfortunately, I learned the hard way, that the Gospels are not the words of Jesus, but a compilation of ancient writings from various anonymous sourc...
October 15, 2020 at 00:09
No, I'm suggesting that since reductive Quantum scientists have sliced the material world down to nothingness, and never found the holy grail of a fin...
October 14, 2020 at 23:50
I'm 75 years old. So, I'd say that old age can be good or bad, but personally it's what you make of it. :smile:
October 14, 2020 at 01:52
Yes. I came to the "all is mind" conclusion from the evidence of Quantum and Information theories. The "hard problem" of how Mind and Consciousness em...
October 13, 2020 at 22:22
Stove's "Gem" is a bit over my head. But how does he accommodate Einstein's Relativity ?'' Relatvity and Reality : We take our own personal orientatio...
October 13, 2020 at 21:58
The key point in my concept of Deism, is that it is an individual understanding of the world, not a collective belief system. As personal Beliefs are ...
October 13, 2020 at 17:52
Quaint indeed! Berkeley's Idealism was, in part, a justification of Christian Catholic theology --- yet, influenced by ancient Pagan Platonism. My own...
October 13, 2020 at 17:28
Yes. That infinite source of Possibilities is what I call BEING (General Potential; the power to be). My imaginary creation scenario has Chaos (random...
October 13, 2020 at 00:07
My Enformationism thesis does have some parallels with Whitehead's Process Philosophy. Unfortunately, I had difficulty following his arguments in Proc...
October 12, 2020 at 23:53
What would the Idealists think about a world composed of Bits of Information? Maybe all those zillions of bits add up to one really big Idea. :joke:
October 12, 2020 at 23:41
Enformationism does imply PanEnTheism. Yet it's not about pixels, but Bits of meaning. :smile: Bit : the smallest increment of information, of meaning...
October 12, 2020 at 18:02
I still view Randomness as a necessary source of novelty, which supplies open possibilities, for Selection to choose from. That's where we differ. "Ch...
October 12, 2020 at 17:55
Yes. I emphasized "Natural" selection, because scientists, and many philosophers, are uncomfortable with the idea of "Super-natural" selection. But th...
October 12, 2020 at 17:46
Technically, you are correct, but I was not speaking as a physicist. Mass is indeed an inferred immaterial property or essence of Matter. But humans n...
October 12, 2020 at 00:18
Deism is sometimes called a "religious philosophy or worldview", but it has no dogma or rules. Each person is free to determine how a created world im...
October 12, 2020 at 00:10
I came to the conclusion that "all is mind" by inference from the modern scientific theory that "all is Information". Einstein determined by theoretic...
October 11, 2020 at 23:50
By "faulty" do you mean imperfect? One essential "imperfection" in the evolutionary program is that it may permit self-reference. Which allows causal ...
October 11, 2020 at 23:09
I should clarify my statement to include "Natural Selection", which is the complement to "Random Chance" as the Cause of Natural Evolutionary Change. ...
October 11, 2020 at 17:49
Apparently, you are looking at causation from a different perspective. When I say that Intention is a deterministic cause, I mean that the human Inten...
October 11, 2020 at 17:28
Are there abstract Ideas in your Real world? If so, then you must accept both Idealism and Realism. If not, then you must repudiate the reality of Ide...
October 10, 2020 at 18:10
My contrast of "Intentional Cause" versus "Accidental Cause" is basically a pragmatic scientific distinction, not an abstract philosophical category. ...
October 10, 2020 at 18:02
You must have in mind a different definition of "Intentional". The antonym of Intentional (planned, willed) is given as Accidental or Un-intentional o...
October 10, 2020 at 03:07
Are there philosophers who hold that "actual concrete reality" is transcendental? How would you classify neuroscientist Don Hoffman's Model Dependent ...
October 10, 2020 at 02:44
Does your "explosion theory" take into account the weirdness of Quantum Reality? If so, then statistically your exploding particle can be both P and ~...
October 10, 2020 at 02:03
I don't know. You tell me. It's your subjective theory. :joke:
October 09, 2020 at 22:09
Your comment missed the point. From my perspective, the Empirical and Theoretical views are not contradictory, but complementary. Human reason can "tr...
October 09, 2020 at 22:00
My own worldview is best defined as both Empirical Realism and Transcendental Idealism. That seems to be similar to Kant's position on Reality and Ide...
October 09, 2020 at 21:46
Yes. Robert Wright, in Why Buddhism is True, used the Matrix movie as an analogy to the state of humans enslaved by their evolutionary programming. He...
October 09, 2020 at 21:29
No. In this context, "accidental" is the opposite of "intentional". In modern terms, an Accident is caused by random forces, and does not involve the ...
October 09, 2020 at 17:01
Yes. And Republican vs Democrat. Most of those antipathetic worldviews have ancient roots : Nobles vs Plebians, Conservatives vs Liberals, City Mouse ...
October 08, 2020 at 22:49
Actually, I'm not concerned to have Aristotle validate my notion of Eternal Potential. The Enformationism thesis will have to stand on its own legs. I...
October 08, 2020 at 22:39
Yes. Something must trigger that Potential into an Action to produce an Actual thing. In physics, the prior potential of a cause is taken for granted....
October 08, 2020 at 22:18
Yes. I understand that Aristotle was not comfortable with Plato's Idealism. But my worldview combines Idealism with Realism. For all practical purpose...
October 07, 2020 at 17:09