T_Clark

I don't know how it is in Australia, but the UK is more willing to censor speech than the US is, even what we would consider fairly innocent. I don't ...

Condemnation doesn't lead to solutions. It only helps conceal fear. Solutions come from understanding and even, yes, compassion for people who do bad ...

Yes, I was overstating my case for emphasis, although I think the Viking theory is silly. Again, it's people trying to say something to make themselve...

There is no shame in those things. Well...some of them.

Ordering killings is completely different than promoting violence in general. I'm sure the first would be considered conspiracy to murder. The second,...

I wanted to go a little further with this, beyond just reasons, or lack of, in the universe at large. I think looking for reasons for human behavior i...

They are primarily a 1980s band.

I grew up hunting and shooting, although I don't own a gun now and have no desire to. A couple of years ago we found my brother's and my shot guns and...

I think it reveals that our society is unable to understand what is important. 120 people. It makes me sick when TV and other media broadcast hysteric...

Actually, I misunderstood where you were going with the OP. This issue is what I really wanted to talk about, but I didn't want to go off on a tangent...

Really? You don't think there are genetic or biological factors in human behavior, including how we treat other people, e.g. mothers and fathers prote...

Are you making the case that a more rational approach to morality is less corruptible? I don't necessarily disagree with that, although I don't think ...

I just checked the web. The worst year for mass shootings in the US since 1982 was 2017 with about 120 deaths. 2018 and 2019 data are not included. 12...

Everything we know, everything we think is metaphorical. Spacetime is as real as gravity, inertia, atoms, countries, oceans, dog hair, and so on and s...

Awww, shucks... Thank you.

I don't agree with your analysis. It makes something which is fundamentally human and tries to make it mechanical. Morality is a matter of human value...

Are you saying that unicorns and ghosts are as real as spacetime? Also, I don't understand why you would feel the need to ridicule people who believe ...

I suggest somewhere along the line you take a little time for eastern philosophies. I find them much more in line with my own feeling for how the worl...

People often call things "reification" as a way of undermining the legitimacy of an idea. Spacetime is as real as gravity, electrons, and dog hair. Th...

Good post.

Whether or not you include epistemology in metaphysics, it is still philosophy and it's at the heart of science.

Carlo Rovelli has a great interview on "The Philosopher's Zone," a program from the Australian Broadcast Company. It was a couple of years ago. There ...

As I said, that may be true for physics, but it's not for evolutionary biology. Which isn't to say that such observational, historical sciences don't ...

Epistemology is often included in definitions of metaphysics. I checked once and it came out about 50/50. To me it seems clear that it belongs as part...

I went back and looked. As you said, there were three long responses to your post. They seemed reasonably responsive and clear. Also respectful. Usual...

I've said this many times on the forum. Here I go again - The scientific method is epistemology, i.e. philosophy. It wasn't established based on scien...

My post was responsive to the OP, which asked for an opinion. It was respectful. Philosophy is all about opinions. All about what people think. Sounds...

That's more of a British thing. This thread is interesting to me and others, if not you. You have no good reason to be disruptive. Please stop.

I don't think it's immoral, but I think it's a bad idea. It shouldn't be easy. I think palliative care makes it unnecessary in a lot of cases. I think...

I think the activities you are listing are probably different than those I was. You're planning ahead. I would think consciousness would have a much b...

Come on. I've written a lot trying to describe how it feels to do stuff. I've enjoyed it and it's been helpful for me to try to put into words, but it...

Hey, @"fdrake", is this the direction you wanted this conversation to go? I think you need to give us more guidance. I thought you were going to come ...

I don't find it disturbing, although it doesn't seem like it would be that much fun to live for fun. That's not the way it is for some of us. Most of ...

I don't understand how.

Actually, I thought of another source of motivation, although it's probably related to motivation from fear. I also find myself doing things out of bo...

Yes, but I felt guilty too.

Our unconscious is as much us as our consciousness is. Actually, more. Just because it's not conscious doesn't mean we're not aware, that we're not re...

I don't know. It seems likely that consciousness has benefits. I just think people put too much emphasis on it because it's at the center of their sen...

I'm have no reason to believe that's true and I'm not sure I understand its relevance to this discussion.

I think you and I have a different understanding about how evolution works.

Again, I don't understand your point.

I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at.

I have no reason to believe that's true.

If that means I think consciousness is riding in the car, but not driving, I guess the answer is yes, mostly.

Usually, I eat lunch at sometime between noon and 1:00 pm, depending on my schedule. It's pretty automatic, habitual. It's not really driven by hunger...

Well, I don't mean someone is unaware of the feelings associated with motivation, only that they are unconscious of their source. Of course I was spea...

I thought you were more classically educated than that. The word "philosophy" comes from the Latin words "philos" meaning like, love, or precipitation...

There's really only one thing I do on a frequent basis that involves an act of will. That's getting up in the morning when I don't want to. Recently, ...

It is my impression that @"fdrake" doesn't want us to get caught up in this issue. I think he has other fish to poach.

Yeah, ok.