Wayfarer

There is evidence from NDE's of consciousness seeming to persist even when the brain itself has no measurable activity. That is the subject of a numbe...

I don’t that is correct, either. it might imply a metaphysic but it is defined in distinction to metaphysics.

And instead are answered by.....?

Nah. That’s science pure and simple.

The Catholic doctrine which I think is representative of Christian belief generally is that 'each human soul is individual and immortal, immediately c...

That's a good way of putting it - the distinction between 'cause' and 'reason', especially. I think overall that in Aristotelian thinking, 'cause' and...

Right! Very important point and thank you for it. I had a thread on the old Forum, about 'a unity which is not an entity', which explored a similar id...

But the point is, if the mind can be understood solely as the output of the evolved brain, then why is it necessary to regard it in terms other than t...

It is nevertheless the case that the predominant conception of the nature of reality in a secular-scientific culture is that it is something ultimatel...

Surely Spinoza here is referring to the immortality of the soul? I think this is the distinction between appearance and reality, common to many a meta...

‘Heresy’ is derived from a Greek term meaning ‘to hold an opinion’. Actually MItchell is correct, in the early Church there was no tolerance for indiv...

It's not all or nothing. One might sense the limits to knowledge, but still know how to do a lot of stuff. I think the real issue here is, knowing wha...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/DrawingHands.jpg

I have studied two major issues in the formation of religion in the West. The first was the battle to define orthodoxy against gnosticism in the early...

That is always said with the apparent conviction that none of the religious literature of the Judeo-Christian tradition actually constitutes evidence....

To switch traditions, my interpretation of 'Blessed are those who suffer, for they will be comforted' is that those who realise the intrinsically trag...

Try Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki, first published in about 1969 but still a classic. And To Meet the Real Dragon, Gudo Wafu Nishijima - m...

Hence the emphasis on the principle of ‘anatta’ in Pali Buddhism.

By the time you've phrased the question, the answer has already moved on.

Good point, and well said. You have to duke it out in the marketplace of ideas. There’s no court of appeal, no adjuticator - that’s part of the game. ...

Agree, there are many more elements that could be required to define what 'being a human' means. Definitions are sometimes difficult, especially when ...

What struck me as being wrong with it, was that Christian missionaries actually do a lot of really helpful and important work to save many perishing a...

Glad you agree, but I just want to add one point, albeit a crucial one. Which is that, ultimately, I blame religious orthodoxy for this problem. And t...

The Cambrian Explosion. There’s an ID argument based on that, but I like to think of it in terms of the Pleroma - nature's abundance.

Thanks! I know where they fit in the tree but I recall that they are anatomically unlike anything else on Earth. (And I think it’s neat that they’re a...

Well, that is why I make the point of the nature of the difference between numbers and objects. Objects - the paradigmatic chairs and apples of philos...

Hoyle's book was detailed, and I thought at the time, plausible. I mean, Fred Hoyle had his eccentricities, but he wasn't a fringe scientist. The idea...

https://78.media.tumblr.com/b9202e1b158d969b2d0e35993e5f8d31/tumblr_mw4km7K8m51skte52o1_500.jpg It's Christmas, but still seems relevant......

Hey I hadn’t thought of that, but thanks. Although I must add I went off octopus after the first Alien :-)

Having opened this can of worms, I will now endeavour to respond. The kind of attitude I am talking about, I encountered on the Dawkins forum when it ...

It was mentioned in Fred Hoyle and Chandrawickramasingha's book The Intelligent Universe, which is my sole source of info on the idea, aside from a we...

I've been reading a really interesting essay by Marcel, following a reference to him on the Forum - Gabriel Marcel and the Existence of God: (Y) Asser...

I did edit that phrase of mine you quoted, because it was nonsensical - I had meant to take issue with your statement that 'reason is dependent on lan...

It can. I have learned a lot from these forums. I learn what I can get away with, but I also learn from criticism and have had to modify my ideas. One...

I've glanced at Ehrman. More interested in Elaine Pagels, Richard Smoley, and neo-gnosticism, myself.

That's what I was getting at. OK, I'll spell it out, I'm talking about Inter Alia, in particular. Since joining the Forum, he or she has devoted nearl...

Indeed I am, like him a lot. I found a copy of his Lost Christianity earlier this year, although it is so far in my 'to read' pile. But very much the ...

Agree with the OP. Whitehead, Religion in the Making. I understand metaphysics to be primarily concerned with realising an identity that is not subjec...

There is no more point arguing against anti-religious prejudice than there is against religious prejudice.

(Y) (Although in practice, and on Forums, what metaphysics usually does is result in interminable and irresolvable debate.)

that quote is given incorrectly. It is ‘I am that I am’ Ex 3:14

Another interesting point - George LeMaitre, who published the original paper that became known as the ‘Big Bang’ theory (and that name was a pejorati...

What you're not seeing is the broader cultural issue. Your OP is basically 'ain't life grand? How could anyone be unhappy, considering? ' And, as I sa...

Well, I recommend some more reading then. Perhaps just the two reviews I quoted would suffice.

Krauss' book was positioned as a naturalistic argument against religion. One would hope that such an attempt would be better informed.

Well, Krauss wrote a book about cats that bark, so you can hardly blame him. On a more serious note, the whole flaw with Krauss’ book, which is called...

Well, because the whole point of the definition of what something essentially is, can accomodate difference - the fact that some individuals might ind...

There’s your problem. You actually write as if you understand the meaning, or the basis, of rationality, as if you have a theory which accounts for it...

I did study Spinoza as an undergraduate, but that is many years ago now. I found the Ethics very hard to assimilate due to its rigourous style. But I ...