Wayfarer

Actually, Buddhists have a name for that view. It's called 'total bullshit'. It's a very common affliction amongst decadent Westerners. You're just to...

I can't reply to that without appearing discourteous, but suffice to say, I don't believe there's anything to discuss.

I don't think you would. Buddhists certainly recognize freedom of choice but they also undertake to observe the dharma.

I think that is a very simplistic and problematical gloss of what Kant said. To actually explain what is called 'Kant's Copernican revolution in philo...

That reminds me of a saying by a very well-known scientist, who whilst not conventionally religioius, believed that: (Anyone know the provenance of th...

Well, it is believed that Buddhist (or possibly Hindu) mathematicians first came up with the idea of zero, without which, of course, decimal notation ...

None of the 'proofs of God' were originally intended as arguments to convert unbelievers. And none of their proponents, who were generally theologians...

That's not at all what I meant, although it's significant that what I said is intepreted in terms of 'parapsychology' and the like. It's more about: I...

Actually, on a more serious note, the problem is that some religious ideas are taboo in modern academic discourse. My belief about that is, that it's ...

Yes, there's a mob of them on the street outside, trying to burn down a library. I should go and intervene.

Right. We have basically different interests - I'm commenting on the 'culture wars', 'science v religion', and so on, and you're commenting on the new...

Right. That's similar to my response to Apokrisis (the paragraph about 'where science is in the hierarchy of understanding), although perhaps not so c...

And where does philosophy fit into all that? Do you think philosophy of mind will ultimately be a matter for neuroscience and neurobiology? Is it just...

Can you arive at an understanding of them on the basis of the physical sciences? Are they physical? What you do mean by 'thinkable'?

An interesting application of this principle is found in Buddhist philosophy. As is well-known, Buddhism is said to be a 'middle way' - between the 'e...

Fair comment.

thank you again Pierre Normand, a fount of interesting references as always. :-)

Isn't that because consciousness of any kind is in some sense interpretive? I think the point of philosophical wisdom is to be aware of the sense in w...

It must be so convenient to be able to define any term in any way to suit any argument. Of course, it often requires sacrificing meaning. I want to cl...

My thoughts also - I think if clairvoyance occurs - if - then it's also possible that there are past-life memories. But according to physicalism, neit...

You might provide me with a dissertation on the distinction between clairvoyance and past-life memories, then.

Alternative ones being what? 'Some kind of clairvoyance' is the only one suggested. Oh yes, and 'chance'. Look, Stevenson's books are evidence, they i...

I don't believe it. I try to avoid beliefs, as far as possible. But it pushes your buttons because you can't fit what I say into your biosemiotic sche...

Here's a brief recap of some of the points concerning 'past-life memories' and karma: That was when I introduced the quotation from Stevenson's resear...

Well, you may not take Dennett seriously, but his latest book has been reviewed in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and The New Statesman and will ...

OUR only understanding. What WE think is the case. That is what is dogmatic - the presumption that you are representing 'our' views, and how 'we' thin...

I had some experiences as a child. It seems indubitable to me. I will try and answer your other questions: It seems obvious to me that if one's life e...

I understand that, but it is different from my own outlook. I am not materialist - I'm not meaning 'materialist' in the sense of 'pre-occupied with we...

It seems to me like I have some control over what I do, but it's by no means comprehensive or complete. I am also subject to appetites, wants, emotion...

My exceedingly vague notion of this idea is that it can be argued that the fundamental constants - those very small number of constants which are such...

The materialist view that the Buddha rejects is that at death and the breakup of the body, the elements return to their source, there are no further c...

Ian Stevenson is not the only researcher in that field, but, as you can probably understand, it is a very controversial subject to study, and Stevenso...

Documentary evidence was used in all of these cases to corroborate the anecdotal evidence, and Stevenson collected and documented many of such instanc...

I think many of the hypotheticals about 'what God would do', assume rather too much. If there is such a thing as 'omniscience', then how would our fin...

We're talking about 'conceptions of God', mainly entertained by those who believe there is no such being, and therefore no real understanding of the t...

FYI, the researcher concerned never said these accounts proved reincarnation; he simply said they suggest it. The article from which that passage was ...

So let me get this straight - you're saying that even if there is documentary evidence that there are causal relationships that can extend from one li...

I was going to say, steaming pile of manure, but I thought it might be rude. Meanwhile, on the Trump front - Monday's testimony from Comey and others ...

Hang on a minute. The debate was about whether there is or could be any evidence of karma, in the sense of some causal factors that have consequences ...

...such as that presented in the italicized quote above...

The point of your argument is not that predation, hazard and death occur, but that they're evil: What about it was 'evil', prior to Adam 'eating the f...

No, I don't agree with that at all. I think there's some means by which the cumulative effects of actons shape experiences far into the future, by som...

Not so, it is based on the Pali texts. The Buddha re-defined karma so it was no longer dependence on rites and rituals. I agree, Tibetan and other tra...

What makes you say this is bad? Isn't this simply the way any world is? How could a world exist without predation, hazard, and death? If something is ...

That is simple materialism. Buddhism has always accepted karma. The word was often translated, in the works of European translators, as 'the law of ca...

Forget about the name 'law of karma'. What if it were just 'the principle of action', namely, that intentional actions always have consequences. The a...

Same as anything whatever bad happening tells against God, right?

then what the dickens do you spend so much time hanging out on philosophy forums for then, woz?

Yeah, well once again, as per the other threads on theodicy, it seems regrettable that bad things happen. But they indubitably do. Having to deal with...

That's where I think it becomes fatalism. I think if it is used to rationalise misfortune, then indeed that is cruel. That was a common argument from ...