Well, sure. But look at what the Churchlands are arguing - 'rationality is a product of the brain'. Think through the philosophical implications. I'm ...
But that's a platitude, in the circumstances. The topic is 'philosophy of mind' and your post opens with a statement about 'the application of neurosc...
Might be a different version of the same thing. Anyway, I think the idea that 'all religions are nonsense' is nonsense. Religion has been foundational...
There is a strong presumption in favour of libertarianism and hedonism in modern culture. Anything questioning of that is associated, as you say, with...
It exactly mirrors religious fundamentalism, but applied to science — ‘our dogma says that everything must be understandable in physical terms, so if ...
Think about what ‘an explanation of reasoning’ might look like. When you explain something, you give reason for why it is so; so how could any explana...
The Churchlands are reductionists par excellence. Let’s see....quick google Churchlands neural reductionism....oh to hell with it, see for yourself. B...
I think it reflects the way in which symbols were drawn from articles in everyday life, although the symbolic resonance between a hole made as a place...
I know one bit of trivia, which is the symbol 0 is taken from the hole in the middle seat of a dhow where the mast went. Kind of figures that it shoul...
As for God - nearly everyone means the celestial bogey-man, the chief cop, on the one hand, or executive in charge of suffering, on the other. Interes...
I was being ironic. My dear departed dad, whom I loved, was an Assoc. Prof in Medicine aged early 30’s, world-famous in his field. Whilst not exactly ...
I do understand there’s a tremendously strong social prohibition on questioning hedonism and sexual liberation, particularly in Australia, but also in...
What I have learned from philosophy is that most people (includes myself) live in a 'consensus reality'. Nobody really knows what anything is, but the...
Another factor to consider is the influence of 'the Scottish Enlightenment' on Charles Darwin's writings. Recall that Darwin laboured over his manuscr...
That is demonisation, which is just the kind of thing that those who you're accusing engage in. I find your analysis unconvincing and shallow. There a...
my story with philosophy - having wasted my high school years on electric guitar and acid, got into Uni on the strength of a quaint and long-discontin...
The late lamented Tom Wolfe wrote a great essay on this very question, back in 1997, but it's still a great read - Sorry, but your soul just Died. But...
The point I was making with that particular quote, was not that no pre-Christian cultures were capable of being humane. It was a comment on how the un...
As distinct from 'the myth of the noble savage'. Agree. This comes up very frequently on this site. I would say that in respect of ethical theory. we'...
well, that's like 'natural law' theory, isn't it? And you can't assume it's universal, as it doesn't seem to be in (for example) the PRC, where indivi...
That was my point also. All I'm saying is that it's easy to take for granted the concept of 'human rights' but it is very much the product of a Wester...
But the underlying worldview of Darwinian philosophy is inclined to attribute 'moral sense', like everything else, to a function of the struggle to su...
It is clearly associated with the Christian doctrine that Christ died for all mankind. Previous cultures had no such ideal, society was rigidly strati...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-eu-boris-johnson-deal-plan-deadline-ultimatum-latest-a9111066.html At least we'll know before Ha...
Right. If you and a rock fall out the window, you will hit the ground at the same time, all things being equal. However, you might regret it, while th...
Agree. I subscribe to a kind of naturalism with respect to religions - that they're the expressions of encounters and epiphanies from many different c...
I’m sure. The essay says that ‘everyone accepts’ that individuals are entitled to humane treatment - but I think it originates with Christian social p...
It was from a televised debate in Australia in 2012 with the now-jailed Cardinal George Pell. Very disappointing affair from both parties in my view. ...
Good essay. There's really only one kind of broad ethical theory that underpins all these questions, and it is utilitarianism. It is a good essay, and...
the link is bad.But if you're trying to suggest a Darwinian basis for values, then I'd listen to the sage advice of Richard Dawkins, who was asked abo...
From that article: These are completely different ideas, often confused. The first has to do with 'collapse of wave function' and is subject of Everet...
As I have pointed out, late in life Heisenberg revived the Aristotelian 'res potentia' to describe the nature of sub-atomic phenomena. He said they we...
"Provability" only in the narrow sense of being able to be validated with respect to empirical observation; in other words, shown in the third person....
Just for the record, the meme that ‘both sides of the climate debate are hysterical’ is straight out of the climate change denial playbook. There are ...
Perhaps that's an inevitable consequence of trying to depict such ideas in imaginative form. Many current Hollywood films are overflowing with such im...
Significant the 'non-belief' is regarded as a form of belief. I think that is the underlying issue in many of these debates. The reason being, that un...
The point is, 'subjectivism' is generally considered a very weak position in moral philosophy. Why? Because it reduces moral propositions to 'what I t...
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