Wayfarer

I write a fair bit on this forum, I create fairly detailed posts, often cite sources. I could try and respond to your questions above, but going on ou...

Yes, I've been reading snippets. There is a good collection of online texts of his you can find through this paper on the cultural impacts of relativi...

It seems straightforward to me, that the sense of living a purposeful existence ought to be an antidote to anomie, depression, and so on. So, if it do...

But you previously said that: ? But woe betide anyone who does ;-) There is a debate in religious studies regarding whether there are any 'unmediated ...

We have many points of agreement but that we're coming at the issue from different perspectives - you through bio-sciences, me through spirituality. S...

No, I don't see it that way at all. What has been lost is precisely a sense of related-ness to the cosmos, and also a sense of purpose and meaning. Th...

I think that perhaps the question of "why?" wasn’t even really articulated in such a bald form until the modern period. I don’t think culture was capa...

But then, it’s just hopelessness. Not even worth commenting about. No critical distance there, just simple nihilism.

However, Krauss was severely criticised for equivocating the meaning of 'nothing' in his book which purported to show that 'the universe comes from no...

‘Beings are not just objects’ ~ Wayfarer

It’s not about ‘conservatism’. Many conservatives are deeply hostile to Trump, and Trump doesn’t represent conservative values or policies. It’s a hos...

Right. Seems a polite term for ‘bullshitting’ but definitely on the mark.

Actually ‘gaslighting’ is an idiomatic expression that I’m not familiar with apart from it’s use in the Steely Dan song, ‘Gaslighting Abbie’ and even ...

They govern how fast you would fall if you fell out of the window, but not what you’d think when you were going down. :razz:

Deutsch is the cargo cult leader for the digital age.

‘Donald Trump said the public uproar over his administration’s policy was a distraction by Democrats to hide the crimes of Hillary Clinton and the FBI...

So having had his biggest reversal yet, Trump organises a stadium full of supporters who will applaud and cheer hysterically whatever he says. So that...

I don’t know - that’s part of the point. It’s a sense of there being some great and really vital thing to discover that one has inklings of but still ...

This point, which Apokrisis and I also discussed in another thread, is related to the cosmological argument. It is the fact that there is a causal cha...

Sure - if you think about 'God' as on the same level of existence as the kinds of things that science investigates, then I would certainly agree that ...

The reference to 'creation' stacks the deck already, as 'creation' already implies 'creator'. Furthermore no matter the ingenuity of the argument, peo...

The point I was making is that to rationalise everything about 'free will' and human choice, which are huge topics in their own right, in terms of the...

David Brooks' OP today: https://nyti.ms/2lgOscM Worth reading in full.

That anything that 'explains everything' explains nothing.

The problem is, to depict such choices in terms 'what benefits survival' is reductionist. All it amounts to, is a form of utilitarian ethics - that we...

The belief is that animals and devas (divine beings) can become bodhisattvas - I think the former is because in Buddhist lore, the Buddha-to-be incarn...

Respect for liiving creatures is certainly fundamental in Buddhism, although, interestingly, only human beings are able to become Buddha. Anyway- in t...

That's one of the interesting questions about the role of evolution in culture. As it is now our 'theory of everything', then it's easy to fall into t...

Actually, there's a very deep philosophical issue here. Although such terms as 'soul' now sound antiquated, I have learned from my reading that the so...

https://nyti.ms/2MBpTUn Regarding borders and undocumented immigration - there is no easy answer to such problems, and they're only going to get worse...

More on the Inspector General's report, and reaction to it: Bolds added. https://nyti.ms/2JNMA65

It really doesn't, you know. The theory of evolution doesn't account for the existence of DNA.

Well, there is actually research, from a psychiatrist by the name of Ian Stevenson, who held a privately-endowed chair at the University of Virginia, ...

I think ti’s more the case that philosophy ought to make us question our sense of normallity and what we generally assume and take for granted. You ca...

This is a difficult point and I'm not claiming that I am correct in what follows. But one of the principles that I have learned from Vedanta is expres...

I think you’re right. That is why I say that the fact that Peirce was not atheist is philosophically significant. Sure you can appropriate his semioti...

There’s your problem in a nutshell. His own advisors have been pleading with him not say anything about it. He ignores them, and they leave. Anyway, R...

NY Times. In other words, James Comey is criticised in the report, in relation to the decisions that he made concerning the 'Clinton email server' mat...

Do you know why James Comey was criticized in the IG’s report? You know the report says nothing at all about there being any kind of conspiracy to int...

That it’s no big deal. That it is a private opinion. That ‘the right’ will clutch at straws while the building is burning down.

And the next headline is Trump imposing major tariffs on Chinese imports. Never mind that the GOP’s stated policy has been free trade and the abolitio...

Hey I’m totally in your camp. I was just surprised that you were surprised by the kinds of comments you were talking about.

How much time have you spent on Internet forums? I often reflect on the broader implications of the meaning of 'empirical evidence'. What does it amou...

There’s no meaningful distinction between ‘propounding’ and ‘defending’. That’s what it must mean, for your argument to have any cogency. It’s the onl...

You’re welcome Arne. And also, belated welcome to the Forum. I’m enjoying your posts.

I think we’re all in furious agreement here, Arne. Many scientists and philosophers would also concur. I think the gist of your argument is really dir...

Trump uses a non-protected smartphone as a matter of routine when engaged in conversations about classified matters, and refuses to take advice on not...

I agree that animals aren't reflexively self-conscious to the same degree that humans are. But I still say that a dog is a subject of experience. Actu...

My entry was simply based on the post that I was commenting on. I wouldn't disagree, but it is a very broad definition which raises further questions....

That is only a partial definition. Really, defining or coming to an understanding of the meaning of fundamental terms like 'being' and 'existence' are...