Ciceronianus

Humans are as much a part of the universe as everything else. How's that for an "absolute truth"? Try to remove the "human-ish" from that.

Threads like these make me wish there was no "external world."

Chesterton was a very glib, amusing fellow, and that sometimes makes his relentless special pleading nearly tolerable.

The law shouldn't and for the most part doesn't treat marriage as anything more than a partnership. Partnerships have property, income, debts; so do m...

If you murder, you ought to murder gently. You cannot murder gently Therefore, you ought not murder

I don't know if this is an assertion based on Peirce's views or on something else. If I recall correctly, though, he thought that chaos would result i...

I'd keep living until living became intolerable, for one reason or another. Lot's of things to do and see, assuming there's food and drink and shelter...

Oh, it always comes down to math, doesn't it? A real show-stopper. Who can dispute math? Not me, God (or is it math?) knows.

I was under the impression from one or two posts in this thread it was a subject of discussion. In what sense is the question "Why is there a state of...

We may be able to theorize that "existence is evolutionary"; we may be able to ascertain a tendency toward organization. I have problems thinking of t...

Accepting this, I still don't understand what assuming "nothing", whatever that is meant to mean, as--seemingly--an alternative to existence or persis...

It strikes me that the question, as stated, should never arise. Why assume that "something" requires an explanation because it exists rather than or i...

"Rather than"? Do you think there's something called "nothing" which would exist if there wasn't something? Do you mean to ask "Why is there something...

It's quite simple. No persons, no religions.

Yes? Diogenes the Dog, when reminded that the people of Sinope had sentenced him to exile, responded that he had sentenced them to remain in Sinope.

Well, the opinion is available for anyone to read. I find the idea of "offering" (as the majority opinion puts it) prayer to God about playing footbal...

Kennedy v. Bremerton School District is an embarrassing decision, in which the majority is reduced to asserting that a prayer by a coach surrounded by...

Didn't say he did. I said the Stoics (and others), who were walking the Earth long before before the Holy Spirit or whoever it was magically impregnat...

That may be, but it strikes me a virtuous life would include loving and forgiving. I mentioned the Stoics refencing love. Both Epictetus and Marcus Au...

Particularly that bit about the rich and the eye of a needle. I don't know who preached similar ideas, as "preach" has religious connotations. But the...

What Jesus is said to have said is largely laudable. I simply don't think it unique.

They are politicians, and Disraeli was right when he said that in politics there is no honor, so I'm not certain what they'll do. They'll do what seem...

He's identified as the messiah, and called the Son of God, but the messiah wasn't necessarily God, and there were quite a few sons of gods in antiquit...

Well, we certainly know that Greek culture greatly influenced the Jews, and indeed that Judaism became less exclusively Jewish after the Babylonian Ex...

A quick glance at the opinion indicates efforts were made to make Alito appear less obviously the angry, self-righteous crank he appeared to be based ...

We certainly can, but if we do we should ask ourselves whether we should disregard other claims made about what he did and said, or at least consider ...

That may be, though Philostratus claimed to base his work in part on the memoirs of Apollonius' disciple, Damis, called Scraps from the Manger. Damis ...

And then there are those who argue Christianity is simply a kind of stew of pagan philosophy (particularly Stoicism), the pagan mystery cults and Juda...

Christianity has shown an extraordinary capacity to assimilate, defer to, and "work around" prevalent beliefs, customs, governments and cultures in th...

Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis.

I'm picturing a cute, but very sad, Christian puppy or kitten with abnormally large eyes, too.

Well, a religion which one can profess and yet disregard so blithely, as most Christians do, is bound to be popular.

Yes, but perhaps the Eastern Church, like the Eastern Roman Empire, kept some of them too for a time. I'm not sure. But the Latin Church never like th...

Yes, though the schools weren't formally closed by edict until Justinian. But things became especially bad for pagans--and of course Christians deemed...

Just ask any of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. But perhaps there was nothing good there before the Christians arrived.

Yes, things haven't changed much since the fifth century C.E. monk Shenoute said "There is no crime for those who have Christ." Better get your mind r...

With the exception of the short mention of the Logos at the beginning of the Gospel ascribed to John, the last Gospel written, there's nothing connect...

I guess the "pull" may be a reference to "fishers of men" but if so, I don't think of the systems of thought listed as being in the nature of bait for...

Christianity was influenced by and borrowed extensively from virtually every philosophy and religion popular in the Roman Empire. I would think Neo-Pl...

We can certainly do so, if we choose to, but I think we should recognize that in that case we don't consider how questions are used in our ordinary di...

Let's just say that there is no external world and continue to live our lives as if there is one. Then this silly debate would finally come to an end,...

I'm not sure whether you're saying, in that case, that rhetorical questions are, or are not, questions for your purposes (unless you maintain that pur...

So I've heard. I love the Romans in that movie, and particularly the "Romanus eunt domus" scene.

As far as we know, Pilate never masturbated in public. You're thinking of his great friend in Rome, Biggus Diccus. Well, better late than never.

Well of course. If a thing exists, it's obvious it doesn't exist.

If that's the case, then questions which aren't questions are questions. If Socrates' (which is to say, Plato's) questions are questions, of course, t...

Rhetorical questions?

Which question is that?

Tertullian (Latin for "turtle") was probably just parroting Paul's curious argument that since God is so much wiser than man, his truth would appear f...

The late, great Warren Zevon described the curious blend of fear, loss of self-esteem, belligerence (or perhaps chest-thumping) and eagerness which ch...