CeleRate

To practice making arguments instead of just reading arguments.

Got it. Thanks!

Much of Taiwan's manufacturing is in China. The list of American companies with manufacturing in China is frighteningly long. This is just a partial l...

Constrained is an interesting word choice. Nevertheless, the way that this is formulated appears to be a fallacy of division (I.e., if something is tr...

Just a couple quick thoughts while looking at this on an iPhone. Also, it is unlikely that people knowingly hold false beliefs, which is why a scienti...

If this is supposed to mean that the ideas, themselves, are passed along through one's genes, then I wouldn't agree. That sounds too much like instinc...

This is partly bald assertion and partly non-sequitur. "It's obvious" is also a dubious claim. I could agree, for example, that it would be fine to de...

I'm interested in how you contrast rational from irrational. You replied by saying there's a strong chance they will be irrational when confronting so...

Animals can learn to do many things. However, if you call the things they do, rational, how do you contrast what they do with irrational behavior?

I relate rationality to reasons, reasons to arguments, arguments to language, and language to consciousness. However, I'm amenable to considering othe...

We have to extrapolate backwards given that our existence as a species precedes our records, or available tools of science, by one to three hundred th...

Do you believe that one can use thought to explain one's thoughts? Isn't this necessarily circular?

Do you think a person can come to talk about one's mental states with any precision? How would talking about mental states come about?

Different experimental tactics reduce threats to internal validity to varying degrees and add to the strength of statements describing the influence o...

Pavlovian experiments were based on reflexes and stimulus-stimulus pairing. Operant conditioning is fundamentally different in that it appeals to the ...

Is "I" an appropriate axiom?

IMO, a priori arguments cannot predict the outcomes of single-case research across human participants. One needs scientific testing. For example, when...

Is this a model you've come up with to explain free will? Demonstrating awareness Demonstrating connection Demonstrating collaboration

If a person does not resist buying scratch tickets when the three conditions you mentioned (awareness of options, connectedness, and willingness to pa...

"You all know the argument from design: everything in the world is made just so that we can manage to live in the world, and if the world was ever so ...

Also, forcing someone wouldn't be free will. But if these are steps that individuals willingly and freely take. For those that feel guilt about hurtin...

What is the matrix?

If addicts recover, then they were aware, connected, and collaborative. If they do not recover, then any of the three systems might not have been func...

I'm taking your use of "essential" to mean "necessary". Addicts involved in recovery programs are routinely informed of alternative options. If awaren...

Is anyone?

While I agree that concept formation probably more easily develops thing-first (attending to stimulus features like wavelength, size, and topography),...

You describe a problem of an addict failing to increase awareness, connection and collaboration with elements of choice, and you make a claim that the...

Does this mean that the addict is the agent directing these psychological states? In other words, they are ignoring, isolating or excluding elements o...

If bias is the difference between the estimated value and the actual value, then one party would be biased against what is true and the other would ha...

Can you summarize his arguments and evidence?

A couple of comments. One, the claim of a $10 bill in an envelope can be investigated. The claim could then be "proven" true or false. Two, the claim ...

I'd like to press this line of reasoning a bit to see if there are conditions where you would differ. Is a 50% chance of being correct true of any the...

If you had no language, would you be aware of your own existence? No matter the answer, how could you know?

Thanks for the thoughtful response. Do these terms mean that you have observed the stimulus prior to its description, or, you heard its description pr...

I agree. The arbitrariness of geography and social group as practical determinants of one's world view is astonishing. How about if someone says "unic...

But aren't cases like gambling addicts curious in this framework of metaphysical freedom? Gambling addicts are one group of individuals where it seems...

What ad hominem??

David Pakman addressed the claim appropriately. There are angry Christians, angry tall people, angry vegans, etc. O'Reilly wouldn't be incorrect becau...

Clarifying questions are great. It may be true. It seems irrelevant if you've gone through the step of clarifying what the other party means, but okay...

Agreed.

Good point. It's also been asserted elsewhere on this thread that there are no credible uses of the word atheism if not used as an active claim (i.e.,...

Such an angry little man you are. I'm asking questions and challenging your positions to test their validity. If you can't handle skeptical criticism ...

It will be an issue of how to define consciousness. If consciousness is awareness (in the form of a thought) regarding internal/external stimulation. ...

This is funny. How do you deal with other prefixes like "anti"? Is antimicrobial ok, or just microbial? I hadn't heard this claim before. I didn't fin...

Philosophy has informed science regarding errors of judgement that can be discovered, empirically. Post hoc ergo propter hoc errors are routine in eve...

If you won't construct a philosophical argument, and you won't rely on science to substantiate the truthfulness of any of your claims, then there's no...

That's an assertion based on presupposition. How do you establish a first cause beyond asserting it? Even if you are granted a first cause premise the...

Language does not develop in the absence of a social environment. At some point in our evolutionary history vocal musculature came under operant contr...

Exactly! This is pretty standard stuff since Gettier. But even Gettier pointed out that JTB was insufficient to establish knowledge; hence, Gettier ca...

How has it been established that the cause is supernatural? Even if it could be established, theists still have to establish that the primer mover is ...