1. What makes us different from others are exactly the opinions based on perspectives, not the universal truths. I actually find it hard to think of m...
Yes, I am of the same opinion, just to add something else: opinions and beliefs can be based on obvious truths (eg 1 + 1 = 2) or perspectives (eg demo...
This is a double-edged sword: you underestimate the power of nostalgia and the power of time to push even harder the defining things into someone/some...
I admit that it is tempting to believe that long periods of time automatically bring radical changes. However, things tend to become complicated when ...
Ok. Let's take a banal example: one's love for his mother. There are two possibilities here: to love or to hate. Is it a certainty that at one moment ...
Alright. Let's not call it identity, but "things that define you". I believe that there are some characteristics that become very rooted in one's life...
Let's assume that person didn't learn how to live forever, let's say that somehow science or magic (really not important) made humans eternal and this...
Aren't opinions polished by life experiences and the more polished they get, the stronger and harder to change they become? Eg.: Alex and David are fr...
Regarding faith, one of the main targets of communists in the Pitesti experiment was to make their victims lose faith in God. The result was actually ...
Dude, I never said that. Relax... I didn't talk only about one-day torture, I have mentioned the Pitesti experiment several times. It lasted 2 years a...
Ok, hopefully, torture will disappear because I think it's the ugliest thing that exists. For me free will represents one's capacity to oppose his/her...
PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY 1. I am sure with proper training you could get over a rape. If you throw away the symbolic part of masculinity and other alp...
I had a hunch before, but now I am sure you haven't read my posts carefully. 1. I stated repeatedly, even in my last post that EVERYTHING WE DO IS BAS...
"Or in a sense, myself. I would only fight torturers and try not to reveal something because of my desire to fight them/protect something I care about...
I do believe most of the elements that make us who we are are deterministic. Moreover, I believe the things that free will acts on are actually determ...
I remembered something even more interesting. I am a fan of Real Madrid football/soccer(US) team. Their rivals are FC Barcelona. Well, when I was a ch...
"in philosophy, generally, and for me, I find hunger as part of my mind, my experiencing of myself, part of the feelings and thoughts I have,. " I can...
"I'm sure they will think otherwise." I do not necessarily agree. There are times when they truly think the salaries back then were higher. If you sho...
I agree they are all desires, but there are many types of desires different from each other in their nature. Even if they are all initially created by...
The people I argue with are not concerned with communism, they actually consider the pre-Ceausescu period very dark and so do I, it was much worse tha...
"Those are just fancy desires. I desire to be good to others and not just myself. I desire to achieve such and such a goal because of X. It's just mor...
"I wouldn't want to act against all desires. More or less by definition." Free will represents exactly the power to act against these desires when the...
"More realistically, persuasive arguments tend to act over time by slowly wearing down confidence and giving rise to reflection and examination, until...
I just couldn't agree more with everything you said. 1. Yes, our beliefs have to be tested constantly, no matter how strong they are - arguments or re...
You said something very important: "... we don't live within many of our convictions.". This is a key element in my opinion: we think that we are stro...
I think mind/consciousness + unconscious = brain. I also think free will is the capacity of the conscious brain (mind) to act against all instincts, d...
"I do think we can do to minds something that parallels using force on bodies." - We almost agree on that. Why almost? I do agree that if you shatter ...
"The little conscious thinky thingie in the forebrain would be noticing the decision the bulk of its unconscious made for it." - that's NOT free will....
"I assume we're talking on essential beliefs of a person's original project or basic ideology. These beliefs are not usually based on rational logic b...
Again, shattering the personality by force is different from auto-destruction with free will. It's similar to killing somebody, the only difference be...
If you're trying to convince someone that 1+1=55 you will eventually convince him, it's just a matter of time. Example: you're trying to convince me t...
In my last post, I've stated that there are several cases when beliefs cannot be changed with the power of arguments. But what about "stick to your ow...
It's rather a matter of perspectives than probabilities: personally, Science is a catalyst for my faith, as for others it represents the opposite. But...
I think I have found something: it is wrong to look at this from the limited and unlimited power for a belief point of view, but rather from the exist...
But the "loss of self" implies the fact that it is not you, the one who strongly believe in something, the one who freely chooses to change himself un...
Doesn't the fact that many who resisted for so long eventually broke represent a tricky temptation to believe that eventually anyone would break under...
I also believe torture has a huge role in this matter. I involved torture in my previous posts and I hardly kept myself from bring it up here as well....
Good one! I personally think that many of our beliefs, including very strong ones, can be changed. I also believe that there are certain people who ac...
Interesting that you've mentioned torture, I actually wanted to bring that up into this discussion. Do you think unlimited torture can make absolutely...
Good point! That is a part of the mystery - can one identify with something to a point where that thing becomes part of himself forever or things that...
I think your answer is absolutely fantastic - simple, clear, touching the main aspect of this apparently silly question. I believe in free will (thus ...
Maybe there are huge things like the wheel that we're missing right now, let alone far future civilisations. Some ancient civilisations were developed...
I totally agree with the fact that language and communication was a huge step, but no more than in the sense of giving us the capacity to express in a...
Humanity has the same basic set of wishes over time: to travel on ground, under ground, on water, on air, in space, other universes; to obtain and acc...
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