Wayfarer

'“It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven...

I have no doubt there are many plausible ideas but I happen to think that the question is not a scientific one.

Sure! It's just a matter of finding The Right Stuff! Give me the atomic table, and lab, and I'll show you how simple it is. So likely as to be almost ...

If you're asking for an explanation of why karma occurs or how it works, Buddhism doesn't provide one. As far as Buddhism is concerned, it's an irredu...

It's germane, given the topic. Any number of insoluble problems might be solved "one day". The idea that this is something that science might solve "o...

science does not know the cause of life.

In that case, you might say why you're *not* idealist.

yeah, this is the internet. I should always remember that. :-*

actually - and this is an internet forum and nothing said here constitutes formal advice - it's possible that your sadistic urges come from something ...

The only possible helpful wish, from a karmic perspective, is to get free of that. My advice would be: whatever it takes.

I think the problem is, you're thinking like a gambler or a businessman. You want a good bet, something you know is going to work. That in itself is a...

Well, my serious answer is that I think karma makes perfect sense, but I don't think you can look to science to validate it. But if you accept that it...

Any attempt to scientifically prove the existence of karma would surely sound like pseudo-science. And believing in pseudo-science is definitely bad k...

The word 'karma' is derived from the Sanskirt root 'kr-' originally meaning 'hand' but with the connotation of 'deed' or 'action'. Hindus have long be...

It's a different topic of course, but the dark arts are strictly forbidden in the Vinaya. And that's not a trivial matter, because the Hindu priestly ...

Excuse me sir, I think you have been directed to the incorrect forum. This here is The Philosophy Forum. I'm sure the forum you're looking for is conc...

There is niggling, destructive scepticism - the kind of schoolyard 'prove it!' game that is intrinsically juvenile - but there's also a genuine questi...

However it seems quite possible that many people may be subject to delusions. That sure is evident from many of the contributions made here. So the po...

I think the other point that needs to be made is to consider Descartes' motives for this argument. Descartes was the first subject taught in the philo...

The argument doesn't quite put it that way - Descartes says: There's no mention of waking and dreaming states, simply the observation that things appe...

You can make the distinction on the basis of the difference between two states, i.e. the dream state and the waking state. And you can make that disti...

The problem I see is that it is still feasible that the waking state, the state of presumed normality, is still a consistent illusion. It would be log...

Hey don't do that BC! I wasn't responsible for picking the locale of my in-laws, they just happen to live between Wisconsin and Chicago. But it's all ...

imminent birth first grandchild, a girl, due any day. We're over in (I'm told it's called) Ukrainian Village where son owns condo. And we're doing the...

I'm not a Harris fan, he's a dogmatic materialist. Have a read of this blog post - yes it is an anti-atheist site but raises important questions. Budd...

No reason.

Flying to Chicago Wed 13, arrive same day, crossing the dateline.

That's the idea, I think. Luck be my lady, tonight.

Henri Bergson's major popular work was called 'Creative Evolution', and was published at the beginning of the last century. At the time, Bergson was a...

Sim Life.

To get back to the point where this particular dialogue began, several days back: to which the response came: Well, my point was, first, that the mean...

I had composed a long reply to your above question, and am willing to post it if you are interested. It's only that you gave the impression of not bei...

Then, we can all be invited to the Nobel Ceremony, and we'll finally meet in person.

Well, if you want to understand religious renunciation in terms misguided biological impulses, I doubt that I will be able to say anything to that, ap...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhLmlYpbc5M Vale Walter Becker! (The tie-wearing guitar player for those who don't know him.)

Not defend, or object, but interpret. It's all about not getting caught up in abstractions and then attaching emotions to them. There is a Buddhist co...

From where I sit, I think there have hardly been any major Trump fiascos since the Charlottesville fiasco. And that, I take to be the doing of General...

It's not a game, and it also may not even be 'theism'. What has happened is that a great deal of traditional philosophy was swept up under the umbrell...

Notice 'about the only two....' - left myself some wriggle room....

My feeing about Peirce is that he was, firstly, multi-faceted - certainly neither simple, nor simplistic. So I imagine that he would say something lik...

Hey Pacem, didn't notice your post until now. Agree with you. I bet you and are probably about the only two people on this Forum to whom the names you...

...from the outside, so to speak. Rather like a metaphor for the feeling of falling in love, by one who hasn't actually done so. Freud elaborated it a...

I just wanted to acknowledge that I kind of blew this criticism off when it was made, but have since decided it was actually pretty fair. (Y)

'Monism' is any philosophical theory that proposes that there is one substance. Be mindful that 'substance' has a very different meaning in philosophy...

I commend your persistence, if is quite a difficult paper to read, I found. As I said, I am also struggling with what he's saying, as much as I would ...

Nope. Techne is 'made by human hands.' A stone axe is techne, a spider web not.

*

well, that's not a bad interpretation of what Hoffman says, but you need to realise that he also says 'atoms and molecules' are just as much icons as ...

I have done. I'm no devotee of Russell, but I always had a liking for him. Actually I got into university on the strength of what was then called an '...