Mikie

The fact that you find so strange the idea of a building as a being, or a chair, or a rock, or literally anything at all, is puzzling. Unless you've m...

Since you ask me what I think, I think it's a complete waste of time, and one would do well to skip Nagel and Dennett (who I like personally) and Chal...

If we don't know what it is, then it isn't simply "that which discloses meaning." No one is interested in defining something out in space. It's armcha...

So consciousness (of any kind) is "being," which is why (as you claim) we only refer to sentient beings as "beings." But this (1) completely ignores t...

How? And according to whom? The English word "being" and how it's used most of the time tells us what about the state of ontology exactly? So because ...

Well that's slightly different. Notice I didn't put "mind/body" in the title. To equate the subject with a "mind" is a different topic. But your point...

Depends on what you mean by "machine," but yes I think that we're not only machines in the traditional sense. How so would require a separate thread r...

Yes and no. I agree most scientists would repeat something like this as a philosophical grounding of their work, especially in the cognitive sciences,...

In common usage (maybe), which is completely useless to this discussion.

And what would that be exactly? The Greek sense of being was phusis and, later, ousia. Neither privileges the first person perspective. A casual glanc...

I’m not talking about grammar or world languages. I’m talking ontology. It’s discouraging that this has to be explained, repeatedly, in a philosophy f...

I’d consider them machines. Maybe in the future they’ll acquire “consciousness” of some kind, but we’re a long way out from that.

It amazes me you continue to argue about this. I’ll grant your point about the noun form in common usage —because it doesn’t make the slightest differ...

Wasting time making a joke about climate change as Australia is literally burning to the ground isn't my idea of "using my imagination." Unless you're...

Good in Plato's philosophy, you mean? And what do you mean by "being"?

Forgive me, I thought you were trying to have an adult conversation. My fault.

No, it doesn't. The word "being" in English references "existence" as well, and not simply human or living existence. It's the present participle of "...

It seems that before anything happens at all, people will have to (1) vote out of office climate deniers and other politicians bought off by Big Oil a...

BTW -- no one is making claims about consciousness, because no one has told us what consciousness is. It would be like saying "neuroscientists are mak...

No, it isn't. To say every human being has perceptions is more accurate, but to say what they perceive are "objects" -- a concept with a long history ...

Neuroscientists and biologists all have philosophical beliefs guiding their research, and often follow dead-end paths because of holding bogus ones. T...

Of course a chair is a being. Heidegger's talk about forgetfulness of being is not about beings, but that on the basis of which beings "show up" for u...

I doubt that very much. This conception is so prevalent in the west we take it as part of human nature, but there's no reason to assume it's universal...

Because while they may not themselves explicitly refer to the res cogitans or the res extensa, they both discuss knowledge and theory from the subject...

Please rephrase. This makes no sense. I'm not sure "pure reason" really explains all habits either.

Popper and Kuhn are interesting, but themselves presuppose Descartes' ontology.

By "being" I'm not talking about "sentient beings." By "beings" I mean to include literally any entity or "thing" whatsoever. This is where the miscom...

You lost me here. Objects aren't beings? The reference to Heidegger (who's fascinating to me) was very relevant indeed. I suggest "Being and Time" but...

Yes, that's a linguistic distinction. That's not what I was getting at, as I feel I've made clear already.

Says who? That's a nice list, but you'll rarely find that to be the case in the sciences. The philosophical justifications that many modern scientists...

I think Schopenhauer puts it best: "Descartes was probably the first to attain the degree of reflection demanded by that fundamental truth ; consequen...

Again, it seems to me that since Descartes epistemology has become predominant, the "problem of knowledge" -- how we know anything at all, what knowle...

The idea as human beings being subjects and the world being the object is what I'm referencing here. That we're thinking things in the sense Descartes...

Very true. What's "OP"? Original Post? Anyway, yes when I'm thinking about the world I think this distinction makes sense, and I see why it's been so ...

If I were to start over, I would start not with what's often called "philosophy" but with learning history, dwelling especially on the Greeks. Read Ho...

This is excellent.

Ugh. Whatever. You're boring me. Bye.

Certainly worth bearing in mind, yes.

Oh, and what exactly makes this the "best exploration"? According to who? You? (You see how easy it is to play these philosophy games.)

How the World Works, Understanding Power, American Power and the New Mandarins, Powers and Prospects, Who Rules the World?, Government in the Future, ...

Yes, I'd be embarrassed too. Run along.

That's funny.

Riveting analysis. Well I'm already sure you are, just from that comment alone, so NO. End of discussion, and reported. How about this: read some Heid...

Which is why I explained earlier what is meant in this context by power: structures of hierarchy and control. In any situation, from families to busin...

Fine, let me qualify: for anyone who's actually read it and understands it, that's certainly not what it's about. Just the phrase "concept of being em...

What's misleading is the near universal belief that language is for communication and evolved as such. Also, no one is talking about a language module...

Let's separate "thought" from "language." Thought can happen without language is my belief, and there's good evidence for that. Thinking is not merely...

Doesn't have a "strictly" scientific explanation? How are you defining "science"? Language is certainly amenable to analysis, scientific or otherwise....

That's not what it's about.

So the principle that power should be justified and the principle that workers who run the companies should own the companies is what, exactly? Gibber...