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Andrew4Handel

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If we didn't we would probably be dead. We can predict reality's behaviour accurately. Our perceptions need to represent something accurately about re...
February 04, 2023 at 15:58
Why are we able to understand reality at all? Something about reality/the world and our cognition allows us to give detailed and causal explanations o...
February 04, 2023 at 12:25
To me existence is a puzzle. Even if all that existed was one atom it's existence would be a puzzle. It would either have a cause or be uncaused. It's...
February 03, 2023 at 14:24
I think our best understanding may be mechanical where we can see how A causes B. At the same time we are good at predicting humans behaviour and the ...
February 02, 2023 at 12:20
What do you mean by a given matter? A puzzle is something that is hard to understand. Maybe you are overconfident in your perceived understanding of r...
February 02, 2023 at 12:15
No. Facts trump values because they impose themselves. I can't change the laws of physics based on my desires and values. It is certainly impressive t...
February 01, 2023 at 23:39
Facts I would say. Facts restrict desires or the outcomes of desires. Some restrictions maybe down to limitations of our knowledge and imagination but...
February 01, 2023 at 21:41
Apparently 63% of the USA population is Christian now and it was 90% 50 years ago.
February 01, 2023 at 20:12
That is an interesting observation. Our consciousness does seem require us to travel at a particular time flow to maintain coherency. Although that se...
February 01, 2023 at 19:17
I wasn't advocating them seriously. I was advocating commands over suggestions and theorising which is what people want from morality. for it to work ...
February 01, 2023 at 19:05
I was just referring to the lack of ambiguity in the 10 commandments. As I have said elsewhere I think morality needs truth value and one reason for t...
February 01, 2023 at 18:02
It seems like we'd be better off with the ten commandments because they are less ambiguous. Law seems to have replaced morality. We just need to enfor...
February 01, 2023 at 14:35
Well the majority of atheists are middle class people living in the wealthy west. Atheism has less ramifications here and there are a lot of distracti...
February 01, 2023 at 14:27
You can ask if there is anything before as well. I am friendly to the notion of the persistence of consciousness. I think that death is a topic in the...
January 30, 2023 at 10:51
I suppose I would add Time to my list. It is an elusive concept more in the realm of physics.
January 30, 2023 at 10:47
Nope. Leaving religion turned me into a nihilist. Now I am agnostic I have recovered some hope. In this thread I have been exploring whether atheism i...
January 29, 2023 at 12:12
Cultural moral norms have been destructive and abusive. Cooperation can be a bad thing. There was a lot of cooperation and self sacrifice in the two w...
January 27, 2023 at 12:36
Thanks BC!
January 26, 2023 at 23:40
But then we need to have some kind of shared goals. People cooperate for different reasons with different belief systems. People want different things...
January 26, 2023 at 23:39
The course book I read pointed out the problem with all the theories. And they all competed with each other so you would have to select one from sever...
January 26, 2023 at 23:31
Agnosticism to me would entail only acting on facts and when facts are not available acting with caution. I am not saying there is a solution but I pr...
January 26, 2023 at 22:49
. Because you don't live in Ukraine. You I assume live in a country with a vigilant army and police force keeping you safe and where the general popul...
January 26, 2023 at 22:46
I view moral claims as "oughts". I don't see the point of moral claims that can be ignored. You could call them moral laws. The laws of physics impose...
January 26, 2023 at 22:41
My analogy is about what beliefs you form when someone goes missing. Sometimes there is nothing you can do. The police are searching. The person has m...
January 26, 2023 at 22:37
Because they don't enforce themselves like natural laws. I am saying atheists are relying on social structures created through force not reason which ...
January 26, 2023 at 22:33
This is an analogy to how I see the situation. A friend or relative goes missing and no one currently knows what has happend to them. You are not just...
January 26, 2023 at 22:27
Are you committed to the notion that all harm is bad? Harm = Bad? Some harm is bad? We should prevent all harm? We should prevent subjective harm as e...
January 26, 2023 at 22:21
I am saying atheism seems to lead to moral nihilism and other forms of nihilism. If someone is consistent about not believing things without evidence ...
January 26, 2023 at 22:12
No one is obliged to take a medical treatment. But if they cure an illness they do what they say they do. I don't see how you get from an assessment o...
January 26, 2023 at 22:04
What are you referring to? When I studied moral; philosophy no theory we were presented with was able to give convincing evidence for moral truths. I ...
January 26, 2023 at 06:20
This would be impressive if there was a right thing to do but no one has proven that anything is right or wrong and nature allows everything to occur ...
January 26, 2023 at 06:07
What I mean is that they are acting in a quasi religious way with unsubstantiated values. They have not transcended religious superstition and unfound...
January 26, 2023 at 06:05
I agree with this perspective. It maybe hard to falsify as a scientific theory though but you can certainly see a coherent reason why family dynamics ...
January 26, 2023 at 01:35
I like it..
January 26, 2023 at 01:08
I have repeated this here because its relevant. People don't seem to comprehend the lack of truth value in issue in morality. Morality may as well be ...
January 26, 2023 at 00:33
People don't seem to comprehend the lack of truth value in issue in morality. Morality may as well be a religion if it is just making up a system of r...
January 26, 2023 at 00:32
That is what I am disagreeing with and the argument of this thread. I have been arguing it entails a worldview. This goes against the idea of a simple...
January 25, 2023 at 04:42
Are you including the philosophical arguments for God in this? The cosmological argument. The moral argument for God. Aquinas's Five ways The ontologi...
January 25, 2023 at 03:02
What do you think would have motivated atheists living in primitive conditions? I assume they wouldn't have churches, religious architecture and art a...
January 25, 2023 at 02:12
If people don't agree on a definition of morality then that is an unresolvable problem itself with no objective arbitrer to refer to. I think it is ar...
January 25, 2023 at 00:12
Belief seems to be a problematic area to me. Does it matter whether or not you believe in gods? Should beliefs entail action? Do they cause actions? E...
January 23, 2023 at 19:20
The Mask Speed Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert Sister Act 2 Being John Malkovich True Lies La mala educación, The Exorcist Inferno Crouchi...
January 23, 2023 at 18:46
What kind of threat though? There is something very specific about the continued stigmatisation of homosexuality in various cultures. Why did the writ...
January 23, 2023 at 18:36
I think the term "God of the gaps " is deflationary and not a true representation of the type of gaps in our knowledge. There is difference between a ...
January 23, 2023 at 13:16
I generally agree. I think the attempt to deconstruct sex and gender has just left a lot of confused people. So I start a thread to celebrate women an...
January 23, 2023 at 10:13
I think you can compare The case of Santa Claus and The case of God in this situation. Parents sometimes tell their children that Santa Claus came and...
January 23, 2023 at 10:10
What about moral norms such as the prohibition of homosexuality, the acceptance of slavery, the inequality of the sexes, the application of the death ...
January 21, 2023 at 19:12
We need to know we are doing good and we don't and possibly can't. If I judged people based on my own moral intuitions it would condemn a lot of human...
January 20, 2023 at 07:05
I am insisting ona causal explanation which is somewhat different. For example I could say "I studied social psychology because I am really interested...
January 20, 2023 at 07:02
It is evidence of the success of causal reasoning and helps us not to die. So it is by no means a banal process.
January 20, 2023 at 06:48