I've looked closely enough to know that Aristotle differentiates humans from animals on the basis of rationality, that we're 'the rational animal', an...
His description of dualism is completely fallacious. He's depicting the belief in soul as something like an ectoplasmic jelly, some amorphous stuff th...
It's just how I see it. Of course there are those Christians who would take violent exception - more than a few would see it as more of a threat than ...
In De Anima 413a23 Aristotle says there is a nested hierarchy of soul functions or activities 1. Growth, nutrition, (reproduction) 2. Locomotion, perc...
Rather a sweeping claim, don't you think? But as the OP is about 'enlightenment', I will return to that theme. The Christian view of why Christianity ...
You're misunderstanding what I'm trying to say to such an extent that it is clearly pointless to continue, thanks all the same. //ps// one more thing ...
But I don't think that any of those sources presume the radical division between the human and the divine that you are suggesting. It is precisely bec...
Here is the passage Metaphysician Undiscovered referred to: https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1084.htm It's extremely recondite, although I can understa...
I'm tellin ya, he's a lumpen materialist, an ultra-darwinist. Give him a miss. Pinker is more interesting, more cosmopolitan, but he's still basically...
I'm still reminded of that passage I've quoted before: It is the nous, the 'rational soul of man' that corresponds with the incorporeal element, is it...
It’s the kind of thing for which hard proof is never possible. There is no need to keep labouring the point about the evils of theosophy and the New A...
reflect on the connection between 'idiosyncratic' and 'idiom'. One meaning I had heard is that it is someone who speaks a language understandable only...
depressing the amount of useless verbiage this thread is attracting. For those actually interested in the project, the homepage is here https://jwst.n...
If it comes to a dictionary definition versus your own, I will choose the former. Such as? Where does he explain this? Show me where Thomas Aquinas sa...
I think the instinct for survival is assumed by biology, and that it's a safe assumption. The very simplest life-forms display the survival instinct. ...
I studied the non-technical essays of Sigmund Freud as an undergrad - Totem and Taboo, The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and its Discontents. Th...
'The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom' Proverbs 9:10 I don't have an exclusive relationship with any of the above. I was an admirerer of Krishna...
The issue is understanding reason as 'the product of' or 'constituted by'. Certainly h. sapiens evolved and one of the abilities that evolved was abst...
I don't think anyone knows what they are, only that they must be real, in order to account for the data. I hadn't reviewed that 60 Minutes segment, th...
thanks, very interesting indeed. You're right, I do tend to see ultra-darwinists under every bed. I haven't yet attempted to tackle Husserl's philosop...
You see how that subjectivizes and relativises the idea of reason. Reason becomes a product of an evolved brain, with no inherent reality beyond adapt...
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive Dec. 25, Saturday (All times Eastern U.S. time = UTC-5.) 3 a.m. – Update on the fueling of the Ariane 5 rocket for the J...
I already gave the two different definitions of value, numerical and qualitative. Numerical values originate with counting, 'how many'. Qualitative va...
I really don't believe that is the point. I think the point is that the expression '=' or 'is', strictly speaking is only completely accurate in the c...
Wittgenstein didn't understand the point. He boasted he'd never read Aristotle. But I've never read Wittgenstein, so I'd better shut up. There's a goo...
I think it's fundamental to philosophy generally. It's the law of identity. I can't see how temporarility is intrinsic to it or even connected with it...
But you're equivocating the meaning of 'value'. In maths,'value' is a number signifying the result of a calculation or function. In ethics and philoso...
I can't see how that can be true. Mathematics is purely quantitative, surely? 2 x 2 = 4 whether I like it or not, whether I think it's appealing or no...
:up: You make some sound points. Again, it's a stretch to attribute this to Fabianism or theosophy or any other single cause. Traditional cultures are...
Krishnamurti was not schooled in philosophy and never referred to the subject of philosophy. He was, in my opinion, a true 'jñ?ni', a seer. Here is a ...
I don't mind Steve Pinker and he has some good things to say about cognitive science, language, and so on. (Strange as it seems, the last Christmas pr...
Profoundly important point, Jack. What is at issue is precisely the attitude known as 'scientism', which is 'the view that science is the best or only...
Indispensable. I donate monthly. Of course it is fallible but it's also editable, which has to make up for that. It's incredibly useful even if only b...
As always, I have some points of agreement with your analysis, but I really think you're overplaying, or rather demonizing, Fabian socialism. It one o...
Along with reactionary politics, political and economic corruption, environmental destruction, and utter ignorance of any form of spiritual insight or...
Where does the Bible say that? Buddhists believe that you are born out of the karma of previous lives, and that your condition is one of 'beginningles...
I think this depiction relies on a peculiarly modern conception of God as a kind of camp commandant. The Christian view would be more that due to huma...
Generally agree with you. I hadn't known of the connection between the chariot analogy in the Upani?ad and Plato's Phaedrus, although I should have re...
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