javra

Curious if you disagree with this: In commonsense language, then, Superman, the comic-book character, exists (in our culture) but is not real.

Of course. Yea, neither do I. No. Just keeping things philosophical. That's not what I said, is it? You and I are selves, and selves do stand out ... ...

Yes, but then a platonic number or form (e.g., the perfect circle, devoid of which there is no pi, devoid of which there is no QM) will all "stand out...

I grant that reality, existence, and being overlap while having different referents. But, finding little to no use for Pierce’s tripartite system of f...

If I read you right, I can only address the issue by pointing back to newly coined English terms that express complex enough concepts in manners that ...

Right. Presuming that the human species doesn’t bring about its own extinction (the pressing of a few red buttons could be sufficient for this to occu...

Thanks. I’m glad to hear that what I said was comprehensible, if only to me. :grin: :wink: But then, so too is comprehensible the notion that there is...

Assuming the alien got here by traveling faster than the speed of light in some contraption (an impossibility given the physics we know of) there’s so...

I can very much see your perspective, for, after all, there is no shortage in the world of myriad examples regarding exactly what you say. To try to b...

Is there a right way to think? He's among my favorites, so here’s yet one more of his poems: An analysis: Blind obedience to authoritarian others who ...

A very good way of judging the verity of ideas, etc., or so I find.

I can’t find argument with anything you’ve said, and it was a very nicely expressed. To succinctly add my own perspectives to its contents: What Julia...

And yet the word used was "competence" not "virtue" (be it the Ancient Greek term for "virtue" or otherwise). How do you figure that one. Socrates was...

You have not addressed the issue other than by now conflating "competence" with "excellence". Which is a red herring. Competence: 1 (uncountable) The ...

Just saw that you modified and expanded the paragraph I’ve quoted in my previous post. Assuming no further modifications to your previous post will be...

Back in the la-la land of rational philosophy, many a human is, or can become, quite competent at committing so-called "perfect crimes" where all nega...

In considering this in manners devoid of a “cosmic (ultimate) telos”, how would ethics not reduce to evolutionary processes of natural selection? Some...

And you could add more vilifying examples to your list. You address a lot of details, yet many details could in turn be presented against Abrahamic cu...

:up: Nicely said.

Yea, I very much agree, and find the Gnostic interpretations I've so far read to be far more coherent. Which reminds me: "Turn your other cheek". From...

:100: And the greater the political power, the greater the likely corruption. It's what checks and balances of power counteracts ... when it's not mer...

While not denying the majority of what you’ve said, the focus on Christianity seems to me to be somewhat shortsighted. I’ll try to succinctly explain ...

----- As a precursor, I hold great admiration for Jesus Christ, but deem Christianity per se to be the most violently hypocritical religion that has s...

Yea, OK, In partial keeping with Epicurus and, maybe more, with Lucretius, mahwidge ... a perspective: You willfully enter into a pretty sturdy cage w...

Made me smile a bit. Explanations for this can be a dime a dozen, with many directly contradicting. But, again, as another example, that Christians ha...

Yes, that is correct. As to the quote you presented, please notice that I did not state that "romantic love always leads to unnecessary pains" or some...

And where did I ever mention that to Epicurus "marriage was a bad unto itself"? I've only mentioned that it is, according to Epicurus, something to be...

To be forthright, I have no interest in doing a month-long debate on the matter. Much less in rereading Epicurus’s works so as to properly reference, ...

I then take it that you find Epicurus wrong in his stance that romantic ("passionate") love, and marriage, are to be generally shunned. I hope I'm not...

Sure, but you do know you're here putting words into the mouth of a different poster. I was wanting to see what he had to say as a rebuttal, this so a...

I can respect your views but, to be clear: To me, eudemonia is very much objective. The pleasures of chain smoking till you die to this world as just ...

OK, I don't though. For one thing, I don't agree with Epicurus that everyone ought to be an ascetic like he was. For starters, just because most cases...

Not a proper reply. Or should I point you to links regarding what Epicurus in fact stated? Time is a commodity.

In many a way, yes, but, in addressing Plato, the question instead becomes one of whether eudemonia too is subjective ... or, else, if there is such a...

I haven't read Epicurus (who, after all, was a relative ascetic) since college, and yes, many of these issues can be argued back and forth in terms of...

You might then want to change your written position, namely this: So its not "unnecessary or unnatural" but something else ... As to wealth, power, an...

Don't know if you happened to read my post, but, pulled out from it: Going by Epicurus's thoughts as just outlined by you, running marathons would the...

To me too this is a very complex topic. I’ll add to what has so far been mentioned in the thread that happiness (our bet fit modern-day term for eudem...

As it happens, I know it on par to knowing that 2 and 2 doesn’t equal 5 but does equal 4, and can likely justify the affirmation you’ve quoted from me...

Yea, you too. :up:

I read it. It does not address the question I posed. Which I would still like answered. And so your argument then had nothing to do with homosexuality...

A bold statement. Can you please reference any known lifeform that can live in the complete absence of both aerobic or anaerobic respiration? Fermenta...

Considered and acknowledged.

Would you affirm the same of positions such as that of Holocaust denial, the somewhat different belief that the white race is superior to all others d...

Good post, but if we start playing footloose with the term metabolism - which in part necessitates cellular respiration - then fire is certainly alive...

:up: On this we very much agree. Because it deviates from the intent of the OP, I was trying to keep things short in my last post. But yes. Its what i...

Not to my knowledge. But I do assume it's constituted from organic chemistry. Still, as with the metabolism that likewise unfolds, there is an autopoi...

In many ways I agree. But to be clear, at least personally, I'm not "anit-modernism" nor do I hold a desire to return to the days of old. There's no l...

Seems like you're trying to insinuate something here. Of course everyone, me and you included, is engaged in self-deceptions. That’s not the issue. Fo...

No, so long as it’s taken to be an oversimplification of real-world applications, where the criteria that determines better or worse is context-depend...