T_Clark

What a good question. No fair. I don't think it so much changed my thinking as made it clearer what I actually think. It tested my ideas by making me ...

Maybe.... Making up new words is certainly needed for technical and scientific writing, but some people seem to think that making up a new word means ...

Definitions of words are established by humans based on a consensus of usage. There are good and bad definitions, but no true or false ones. Yours is ...

Making up new words when there are already perfectly good ones is one of the reasons people don't take philosophy seriously.

Yes, I feel the same thing. I keep thinking something really bad is going to happen that will affect the whole world.

"Evil" is both a noun and an adjective and works very well as either.

You can say any word means anything you want, that don't make it so.

You wrote "Reality is by definition the containing medium of anything you're able to interact with." I wanted to point out that is not the case. As I ...

I've been thinking about this poem in the context of some previous posts about translation with @"Dawnstorm". I think this one is a good example. The ...

How is "evility" different than "evil?"

I'm with @"Tom Storm" on this. Your way of formatting, as opposed to using the quoting mechanism provided by the forum, often makes it hard to follow ...

That is not a standard definition of "reality." I listed several examples in my OP, although it was not my intention to limit discussion to those defi...

I've read what you've had to say about Austin, including the quote you provided, and I'm with @"Nickolasgaspar", I don't see how it's relevant to the ...

I admit I am lost about what Banno is saying. I don't think it is a red herring, i.e. a rhetorical device. Seems like he sees what Austin has to say a...

@"Nickolasgaspar" is right that my purpose in starting this discussion was to examine "real" and "reality" from an ontological perspective. On the oth...

I don't really have an opinion on whether or not an imagined apple should be considered real or not. What's important for me is the recognition that t...

For me, this is the heart of the matter. I've told the story before of my friend who visited Hawaii for the first time when she was in her 60s. Becaus...

Many think, wrongly, that physics and ontology are the same thing. Chemistry is harder to mistake for metaphysics.

I don't know Kirshner or his politics and I dislike Ayn Rand's philosophy intensely. I think Donald Trump was a very bad president and is a very bad p...

I understand the point you were making and I generally agree. On the other hand, just as you've noted, those unwilling or unable to acknowledge our ra...

I don't use the terms "racist" or "racism." I don't think they're useful. But... if you and I were having a discussion about race, and if the first th...

Which is why I like short poems. I tried to memorize "Two Tramps in Mud Time," but finally gave up.

This has become one of my all-time favorite discussions.

As I mentioned to @"Dawnstorm", this is the kind of explication I'd like to be able to do.

I like this a lot. Sheepish guilt. Sheepish smirky guilt. In the end maybe a bit too smirky. That is what makes it amusing to me. I like this too. I s...

How does that apply to this poem in particular?

I didn't really like the whole "philosophy bin of life" metaphor. I tried to think of a better one, but couldn't find it. I like yours better.

You are a self-described picker and chooser from the philosophy bin of life. I would think you've been exposed to eastern philosophy enough here on th...

That's definitely part of it. I try to pay a lot of intention to different kinds of pauses when I write. They can be very expressive. Commas, colons, ...

I like the poem a lot and I really like your explication. Is what you've written intended to be about meaning? It doesn't seem so to me. I wrote earli...

I like it too, and I it made me ask myself something. If I wrote "I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving fo...

No need to be sorry. I've been reading everything here and I'll read if you post more on this, but I won't likely be able to respond intelligently.

Boy, you really lost me here. No need to go into a longer explanation. Sorry I can't respond more helpfully.

As I noted previously, I find this affectation annoying.

I started out discussing what "real" means. Then, in the passage you quoted, I indicated that "reality" is the noun form of "real." No circularity at ...

You are forgiven.

Thanks for the response. I've always thought of this kind of paradox as a game physicists play, not really signifying anything substantive. But I'll a...

As you say in your first line, you've taken the concept of reality out of the equation, which changes everything. As I see it, your interesting descri...

Sorry, I just really like the word "dyspeptic." It feels good to say it. Also, when I use it, I imagine you scowling.

This could easily be rewritten to accurately describe the situation in the US during the Vietnam and Iraq Wars.

As you've acknowledged; real, meaning authentic; is not the main subject of this thread. Even so, your dyspeptic take on authenticity reminded me of a...

@"Jamal" In the news here in the US, we hear about all the troubles the Russian military is having in Ukraine. We hear about the difficulties with Rus...

I wasn't disagreeing with what you wrote. My intention was to expand on this part of your post: The eastern philosophical skepticism about the self do...

Yes, I know the difference between real and real. I posted the photo because I thought it was amusing.

I understood that, but I don't think I understand your distinction between function and form in music enough to compare it to something I'm more famil...

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That's generally how I approach poems when I read them. If they get to me enough, I'll put more effort into subsequent reads. That's why I'm enjoying ...

No problem. You're much better than some here. We've had real problems with @"hanover" and @"frank" Sure, the forum can have some rough edges, but the...

Oh, geez. Now you're going to make me read "The Wasteland." It may take me a while. I did have an experience perhaps similar to the one you describe a...