Deep and difficult point: what is a concept? It might be, as Descartes said, a ‘clear and distinct idea’. It might be an idea that is not peculiar to ...
Hey I know Shi Huifeng. Not that it matters. But 'the things' that are deceptive, vain, worthless, etc, do not comprise 'everything'. There is an expr...
You should know about a book called God's Philosophers, James Hannam. It debunks many of the popular myths about the medieval period. ___ That is base...
I took that to be a reference to Buddhist philosophy - anicca being 'impermanence'. But I'm saying that it's not true to characterise Buddhism as natu...
Nope. (Explains the dire consequences of objectifying non-objectification.) //the point being, Buddhism, and the Buddha, are not nihilistic. Nihilism ...
Of course, all that is true. Very few practice any of those disciplines successfully. But it has become part of the dialogue. I think a lot of philoso...
Ah yes, I kept one of your immortal snippets from the old forum about just this question: You want that, it's all yours. I'm not even going to complai...
If you commit to the formal practice of sitting meditation, you can definitely learn things from that. That is why 'mindfulness' has become a big deal...
Certainly, the universe considered as the object of science need not be regarded as purposeful or even as 'acting'. Putting aside these motivations is...
More from Thanissaro's essay on Emptiness: There's another principle in Buddhist philosophy, that of 'prapanca', meaning 'conceptual proliferation'. I...
I think that is irrelevant to Wittgenstein’s point. He was not making that point to be inhumane to infants. He is reflecting on the nature of knowledg...
The idea that ‘Nirv??a is simply normal human life’ is only meaningful in a specific cultural context. If it were simply true, why would the originato...
There are many references to Greek philosophy in Heisenberg's later philosophical writings. The passage I quoted was from his lecture, The Debate betw...
Very characteristic of East Asian Buddhism, and not something you would necessarily find outside that context. In the early Buddhist texts, the distin...
One of the characteristics of Buddhism is just the emphasis on meditation and cultivation of the spiritual life. I think that has been generally lost ...
In popular literature, that is what 'mysticism' is. But it has a rather more specific definition in comparative religion, philosophy and theology. Tak...
An anecdote springs to mind. Many years ago, when I was working on my BA Hons thesis in comparative religion, I was in the University library, looking...
I did mention that Heisenberg quote above. I'm not convinced there are any 'smallest units of matter', as such. The entities that exist on that scale ...
Well, I can't see what kind of adaptive utility it provides. Can you? I often think that musical prodigies, in particular, are very difficult to accou...
That's why I keep going back to the point about classical philosophy and, I suppose, theology. I think they have perfectly consistent and sound method...
It's not obvious from your comments. No, but you subjectivize it. It is a matter of personal conviction. And I understand that - it's an inevitable co...
I think the most pregnant phrase in Heisenberg's quote is that sub-atomic particles don't exist in the same way as flowers, stones, and so on. Implici...
As I've said before, this stance is essentially positivism. You always react angrily against that, but look at the definition: positivism a philosophi...
Materialists represent one tendency or pole in the dialectic in those cultures. In the modern period, it took on a modern form. The French philosopher...
From the egological point of view, the idea of a 'superior being' is always interpreted as a claim, and a threat, or as a power-structure. No doubt re...
Your opinions are not supported by the texts. You will never find Socrates boasting of anything. It is deteminably communicable and transparently just...
Of course! One of the things I've regretted in my adult life, is the paucity of my education in the classics of ancient literature and philosophy. I w...
As I said before, I posted the link for those interested. There's no penalty for not being interested. I would add, though, that these works have the ...
There are, in various cultures, terms for higher knowledge - for example Jñ?na, Abhijna, Prajñ?p?ramit?, Vidya (from Indian philosophy); gnosis, noesi...
You may be bound to see it that way, but I don't concur. Just because something can't be quantified and measured, doesn't mean that it can't be known....
I still don't understand why it's a distinction that is so hard to make. And the sentence you just read - 'why is it like that?' - that is characteris...
I don't agree with the use of that word 'theistic' in this context. It opens up all kinds of arguments about 'who's God?' or at least, whose version o...
I read Steppenwolf decades ago, and only once, but as soon as I read the first sentence of your post, it just immediately came up. Sorry I haven’t rea...
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