T_Clark

There have been a lot of discussions around this type of issue. They often come down to a question of the validity of a reductionist approach to scien...

I am not at all familiar with the theories you reference, but it seems like you and I are talking about the same thing. I think that's probably not a ...

As I wrote previously, I was asking my questions about work so I could understand what credibility you had to discuss the "common man." You two have g...

I don't see it that way - I just want you to show you have a basis for your comments. During a philosophical discussion, it's reasonable for one party...

I'm patronizing or you're patronizing? I just want you and the others to show you have some credentials to talk about the "common man."

For how long? Did you have to live off the money you made - pay for your housing, food, car, heat, power, health care? Raise kids?

I was civil, if blunt. Some posts call for raised voices, rhetorically speaking. I was mostly with you until the last sentence, which dips back into t...

You're not my enemy. Just tell me your experience with the "hardened poor" and the "common man" that gives you the credibility to pontificate on his l...

First - Have you ever worked for a living? Where you actually had to live off what you made? Do you know anybody who isn't isn't affluent or college e...

So, have you worked for a living? Do you know anybody who isn't isn't affluent or college educated? It's not the disrespect that bothers me the most, ...

I'm not certain, but I think this thread may be the most pitiful I've read on the forum. Condescending, ignorant, naive, arrogant, disrespectful. Piti...

When I have sex with a person, I want intimacy with someone I like. It's one way, not the only way, of being close to someone you care about. As I've ...

I think I know @"Bitter Crank" well enough to say that he is not, never has been, and never will be either silent or in the majority.

Yeah, well, that's not true. The officers and board members are legally obligated to act in accordance with their fiduciary duties. That may or may no...

I'm not sure that is a realistic expectation. I have no faith in any kind of "theory of everything," even in such hard science disciplines as particle...

That kind of article is just a reworking of the old mind/brain kerfuffle and we know how productive discussions about that usually are.

"The N Word" is not "negro." Never was, never will be. When I was growing up, "negro" was the respectable, respectful word used to describe black peop...

This is your fault, @"Bitter Crank". To anyone who knows you it's clear you set up this provocation to get the biggest boneheads on the forum to pipe ...

This is certainly not true. I say that even though you aren't clear about what you mean when you refer to "the person who thinks." In all that long li...

Some thoughts: People have always complained that psychology is not a real, hard science. That's changed a lot over the past few decades with the adve...

On the web, type in "historical Jesus." You'll find lots of stuff.

Forum members like you come and go quickly. They join and then start throwing out a bunch of posts trying to gain attention, most often smug and poorl...

We don't perceive pain and pleasure. We interpret certain sensory information as painful or pleasurable. Avoiding pain and seeking pleasure are motiva...

These examples seem like they're all the same. Aren't they really only saying "A (the necessary thing) implies B?"

I can think of lots of measures that could act as a metric for social well-being - life expectancy, unemployment rate, crime rate, distribution of wea...

This is the place where I discuss philosophy, so any examples I describe will involve members of this forum. So, I'd rather not be more specific.

I don't mean to be rude, but I stand by my decision that any further discussion of this issue at this time is pointless.

I don't "agree to disagree." Your understanding of genetics and human nature is naive and wrong. On the other hand, if what you mean by "agree to disa...

Only two of the effing posts you put up have anything to do with genetics influencing decision making. Neither of them say anything about women's DNA ...

I doubt any reputable scientist qualified to make judgments in genetics, psychology, comparative zoology, or any other discipline ever made such a sta...

I think you and I have a difference in our understanding of how inference works. I don't see how the fact that women commit suicide less frequently th...

Yeah, I'm comfortable with my original position.

So, the fact that women commit suicide a lower rate than men indicates that women's DNA makes them want to live a longer life? No... I'll stick with m...

This is not true.

I wasn't clear - What I meant to say was that, as an 11 year old, using a gun was the first thing I had ever done that could have hurt someone badly. ...

I had always been skeptical of philosophy as a pathway to becoming a better, happier person, but I have met people here on the forum who have convince...

Yes, better than Russia and Brazil. And that, my friends, is what is known as damnation by very faint praise.

Keeping in mind that the murder rate in the US is more than 5 per 100,000 while those in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia are about 1 per 100,000.

Hunting was a family tradition. We ate what we shot. Do you eat meat? Do you need to? Is it better for me to have someone else kill the meat for me? L...

If you look on the web, there seem to have been a bunch of studies, the results of which seem to be pretty inconclusive. That's for the US. It is my u...

Is this forum included as social media? I find this a very social place. I've made friends. I share personal information. We are a community. The oppo...

Generally, concealed carry is much more heavily regulated than open carry. So, the law doesn't agree with your assessment. Many places in the US allow...

I grew up with guns - for sport and for hunting. There are other legitimate reasons to own guns. They're not toys, they're tools. I don't own any now ...

GK always struck me as a prickly person who maybe wasn't exactly as nice as the character he played. On the other hand - Prairie Home Companion was a ...

Western philosophy exists in a universe of words. As far as I can see, the "greater" it is, the more that's true. Much of philosophy is playing with w...

@"Bitter Crank" By the way - I first heard the poem on the radio on "The Writer's Almanac," hosted by another good mid-western boy I know you are fami...

Yes.

The discussion in this thread is not at the peak level of philosophical discourse which might be hoped for, but I don't think it deserves the sort of ...

I've known a few people who doted on her philosophy - generally young male conservatives who imagined they obtained whatever success they had on their...

People do hate Ayn Rand. I probably do. Her philosophy is deeply, creepily individualistic. "Atlas Shrugged" is significantly more intense than "The F...