Wayfarer

didn't have to look!

:up: I will only add that I think this is where the synthetic a priori is of great significance. Even if, as you say, the purely a priori gives no mea...

In Buddhist abhidharma (philosophical psychology) mind (manas) is one of the six sense-gates - eye and visible objects, ear and sound, nose and odor, ...

Great video. Explains the current Congress and a great deal of american popular and political culture.

It's a truism that appearances can deceive. And I think that's because judgement is involved. Even in animal perception, appearances can be deliberate...

Of course it’s much easier said than done.

What can't you afford, exactly? Being calm and measured? That would certainly map well against your output.

Sage advice from the Buddha: watch your breath. Don’t pursue chains of thought, or allow yourself to be seized by emotion. Know that everything is tra...

If you mean this https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/reality-being-and-existence-an-introduction-to-metaphysics-online - I've had that course bookmark...

I’m very aware the ‘problem of reification’ when this discussion comes up. I know that Aristotle is said to have ‘immanetized the Forms’ but I don’t b...

But that's the defiency of naturalism, and the hope that naturalism will provide some kind of moral compass. At best, as you say, it can provide a mea...

I find it more than persuasive, I'm compelled by it. And why? Because, in the broadest sense, as soon as you appeal to reason then you're already rely...

'What did you do the cat, Erwin? Looks half dead!' ~ Ms Schrodinger.

I don't know if there's a course about it, but there are a number of books by qualified quantum physicists who are deeply versed in it, beginning with...

'Whenever I hear of Schrodinger's cat, I reach for my gun' ~ Stephen Hawking.

That is discussed in the Dialogue. But a distinction is explicitly made between the equality of sensibles and absolute equality, which are said to be ...

:100:

I suggest you're not finding it persuasive for the reason that the empirical philosophers always give in such instances - that it is derived from expe...

Any basis for your response to fooloso4's posts. If you say they're neo-platonic, or Protestant. then produce an argument for that. As for 'having one...

Any comments on the Argument from Imperfection? It seems germane to the topic.

Well it's an optimistic attitude. Actually it was advocated by Augustine, although it's fallen into disfavour since. Interesting. That wiki article on...

I must admit, it was one of those books I bought, or was given, but still sits unread on my shelf. But I understand the point is pretty central to her...

Fair point, but Spinoza says many things which I don't expect I would see from the pens of atheists. Besides, whilst he was often accused of atheism, ...

What about the category of ‘the sacred’? Is that also rejected? Origen and Augustine both condemned fundamentalism in the first and fourth centuries A...

Secular means 'pertaining to the state'. Concerns things like making the trains run on time and building bridges and the like. A secular state allows ...

It's not just my opinion. I think what is known as the 'Copenhagen interpretation' and also QBism both acknowledge this. Remember Heisdenberg's ''What...

I don't see that at all. I get a lot from Fooloso4's posts, but mainly I get how little I know about Plato, and the Herculean task of becoming more fa...

If you're not inclined to believe it, no argument will suffice. I read somewhere that Aquinas's 'five proofs' and other such arguments were never inte...

I sometimes reflect on the asymmetry between atheism and theism. As far as believers are concerned, God is not a social theory or internet talking poi...

I'm still persuaded by Pienaar. This 'basic premise', the division of self and world, is after all what is being called into question, and with good r...

Well, yes, but it's often difficult to make the case. It's also not true, as that article I lnked above, that Wittgenstein should be interepreted as a...

I made the OP as a pretty straight-ahead positivist. Positivism generally expresses contempt for metaphysics as meaningless words. Originally it was a...

Zettel is not around any more, but if he was, I'd point him to Wittgenstein, Tolstoy and the Folly of Logical Positivism.

In Freudian theory, that would be the 'id', 'the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memo...

Incidentally, the oft-ridiculed Medieval meme of ‘how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?’ actually started about a debate as to whether two i...

I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear on opinion on this, as currently the implication completely escapes me.

I think we’re all wresting with these things. It’s one of the main reasons that we’re members of a philosophy forum.

I think it’s possible to be critical without being totally cynical. I am disappointed to learn about this aspect of Descartes’ character, but that doe...

Reflecting on my own experience on forums, I’ve become upset mainly when I’m enthusiastic about an idea or perspective and others pour cold water on i...

Well, you know, Zen Buddhists are famous for eschewing all written teachings yet their canon comprises thousands of volumes. And I generally agree wit...

I’m sure that’s not right, either. That infamous phrase was, I believe, coined by David Mermin, mainly in respect to the attitudes of the many working...

Here is a passage from the web page that calls into question Descartes’ participation in the torture of dogs. It is by one Kevin R. D. Shepherd who se...

The question as to whether observation must consist of a conscious act is a contentious one.

Of course, it’s abhorrent, but it is still a niche below nailing dogs to boards and flaying them alive while saying their cries of agony are like sque...

For those who might have missed it - from further reading, I think the story about Descartes deliberately torturing dogs as a public display is not tr...

From a little further reading reveals the suggestion that the previously-mentioned acts of 'hammering dogs to boards' was actually carried out not by ...

I did find a copy of that work, and scanned it, but it doesn't make any mention of the allegations that I found in the post I linked to, about Descart...

(Incidentally for those unaware the original poster has been banned.) I think I'm starting to get some perspective here. I've been following a very go...

Fantastic answer from ChatGPT. But there's a lot of 'in principle' there. I agree, it's 'in principle' testable, in a way that much speculative physic...

The other point that might be considered is the confluence of metaphysics and religion. Quite often the two will be grouped, as they were by the Vienn...