Wayfarer

I’m sure the point a materialist would make is that perspectives are also part of the illusion that the brain generates; ‘a perspective’ as such can’t...

Another point - all kinds of conditions can occur in brains, but illusions can only occur in cognitive systems. Illusions are mistaken judgements. I c...

The issue that QM made inescapable was that reality could not be that well-defined; when you get down to the nitty-gritty, the uncertainty principle c...

Except for in this case, it wouldn't have been an honest response. That is already a well-trodden path, in the form of 'logical atomism', one of the m...

What do you mean by "I mean"? Do you really "mean" something, or is that just a kind of neurological reflex, that is causing you to say that?

It means what it says. Your brain - the most complex single known natural phenomenon in the entire universe - consumes a large proportion of your body...

'Reality itself' eh? Philosophy as a discipline is based on questioning our innate sense of the reality of common experience. There is a fundamental s...

Could you elaborate on the use of "care" in this context? I get that they make a difference, or are bounds, or whatever, but I don't see how that adds...

As I’ve said that Dennett’s project is preposterous, then I had better explain it. The preposterousness of Dennett’s philosophical project is not hard...

But it starts from an idea. A building is a possibility that is realized physically.

On whose part?

I am of the view that Dennett's work is so preposterously mistaken that it ought not to warrant serious consideration. But that's also why I've said, ...

Thomas Nagel is Praised by Creationists Where Thomas Nagel Went Wrong (I do wonder if it's the only recorded accusation of being 'a teleologist'.) Fro...

All the things you've 'pointed out to me' over the years, amount to your explaining your point of view. We agree on some things, and disagree on many ...

I actually meant, by revealed truth, documents including The Bible. The ‘domain of discourse’ is about more than ‘feelings’, as it also describes alle...

That does leave something out, namely, the idea of there being a revealed truth. I mean, aside from what is felt about it, there is a domain of discou...

emanator, I would have thought, i.e. 'existence' emanates from this, not vice versa.

Checked, no problem here. Must be at the other end. ;-) (not *your* end...)

Or, orbiting teapots, or the flying spaghetti monster, or.... To discuss it under the heading 'philosophy of religion'? Perhaps it's really 'the uncon...

I reckon that seals it for once and for all. Wasn't even that difficult.

I can't honestly claim to know that details. It's the subject that Edward Feser is expert in. The nearest I could find is this: The modern concept of ...

Here, let's say 'A means: how to bake banana bread'. Ingredients 2 to 3 very ripe bananas, peeled. 1/3 cup melted butter. 1 teaspoon baking soda. Pinc...

Most of what you've argued in this thread is that the law of identity means that the meaning of 'the same' is not actually 'the same'; or that A doesn...

But it’s just not true., The nature or existence of purpose, design, intention - none of these are scientific questions at al. Certainly naturalism pu...

Well, beg to differ. I've worked an eight-hour day all my life (although currently I'm between contracts). There are times when I don't seem connected...

Ordinary life can be the theatre of practice, but it takes work.

'That' meaning...?

The key is ‘the way of negation’. That is something known in both Christian and Buddhist philosophy. It sounds very complicated when you try and artic...

Not an easy distinction to explain, I will admit.

I wasn’t meaning to patronize, but not a lot of people get that there can be ‘non-empirical beings’. I think the idea that the world is a gratuitous c...

There was a passage I found on an Aquinas-related site which I thought laid it out pretty well - it’s here. Worth reading carefully, I think - it real...

No, he doesn't say the opposite at all. In The God Delusion, he presents an elaborate argument along the lines that 'life only had to start once' and ...

Only to turn it upside down. The distinction being made here is between 'being' and 'existing'. You might say of 'the first principle', that it IS, bu...

Many, over the years. But that's *not* ad hominem, 'attacking the person' - it says, Dennett is a great person (which I'm sure he is) but NOT because ...

Because you’re saying, I don’t have any argument or reasoned criticism, but just a ‘condemnation’, when I make an effort to present reasons for my vie...

I've created a separate thread on this topic as it is far from the OP.

If you would like to argue specifics, rather than just throw lazy ad homs, I would be more than happy to participate.

I stand by all of them. Again, my criticism of Dawkins, Dennett, and their ilk is purely on the grounds of their scientific materialism for which they...

Your ‘ideal world’ would inevitably be a totalitarian autocracy. Why? Because it’s based on one person’s ideal, and assumes that all would agree; ther...

Oh yeah I do remember that exchange now you mention it. I had assumed all the little tweaks and features, like ‘internal replies’, would have meant cu...

I think your take on Aristotle is far too concretised, as I have said. In Aristotle, there are degrees of reality - things can be more or less real. T...

Doesn't this say that there is a photon prior to it being measured? That is exactly what is at issue in all of this. Whereas the Aristotelian view tha...

There's an article by Robert M. Wallace, Hegel's God, although some of it is pretty murky, in my opinion. But it is introduced with the statement that...

I always thought it was a simple cock-up. They couldn’t maintain the code, which had been very heavily customised over many years, so when it broke an...

If you read the OP that this thread starts off with, it does highlight that aspect of his character. But the problem I then have is distinguishing thi...

I would think that the solution proposed in that paper would obviate the requirement for Everett’s theory, but you’re right, we shouldn’t let Schrödin...

it’s a philosophical issue not strictly speaking a question of physics. That’s what makes it both relevant and interesting. And it is being proposed s...

The problem is the word ‘objective’. That word didn’t come into use until around the 18th century. But the Ideas of Plato were not simply in individua...

You mean, this question: Because it is impossible to demonstrate that there is anything answering to the description of ‘spirit’ that is ‘imminently b...

Have a look at this article which discusses Aristotelian ‘potentia’ in relation to physics. (Ironic, considering. Even mentions acorns.)