Wayfarer

It seems to me that what's called the 'fine-tuning' or 'anthropic' principle must have some relevance to this argument, which is the observation that ...

I understand what you're trying to say, but fail to see the point of it. BTW the quote above this one was from Augustino.

The moment when you understand that you are not an island, and your happiness depends on the happiness and fulfilment of others - that your sense of s...

There are resemblances, but the background is very different. Sartre was very much grounded in the 'death of God' whereas the Buddhist attitude is gro...

In other words - you're asking a legitimate question, but I think you're too quick to answer it, on the basis of what you think you know already. One ...

You write as if none of those old Eastern sages were aware of this, but I'm sure they were. Your posts are not informed on this matter, you're essenti...

That is what Ch'an and Zen Buddhism are based on. Why not have a read of some of Alan Watts' books, his Way of Zen is a good book in my opinion, and p...

Second the above. Plus, too much information. If you're going for universal enlightenment, don't try it all in one go.

"Oh no, he did it! He said the D word!" But, don't forget that Schopenhauer declared himself atheist, whilst also praising religious asceticism as the...

'Experience of the transcendent', union with the divine, theosis, samadhi.

Curiously, there is a contemporary Buddhist academic, by the name of David Loy, who says that Buddhism recognises this sense of 'lack' as the source o...

The obvious problem - well, seems obvious to me - is that the association of guns = freedom is burned in to the American consciousness. So 'taking awa...

you neglect to mention anti-scientistic strains of secular philosophy But that's 'the left' that do that, although they're as much 'anti-science' than...

A complete misreading, in my view, based on an inadequate conception of the nature of the goal. Secular philosophy transposes the physical universe in...

I think Voegelin is obviously a major author and someone I could not comment on without doing a lot more reading than I have time to do. What lead me ...

As always, in this matter, WoD's posts are a model of obfuscation posing as clarity. "Nothing matters, that's why it matters, don't you understand? Wh...

I agree with you, I was not for one minute trying to preach or convert, or to suggest a return to the past. My orientation has always been more toward...

Maybe what TGW is referring to is not humanism but liberal individualism which basically functions according to the creed 'nothing beyond self'. Chris...

Just read a saying by Leo Strauss, about whom I know very little, but I like this: 'Science is the successful part of modern philosophy, and philosoph...

Renaissance humanism - which is where 'humanism' began - was not what we would call a secularist philosophy. It was certainly not religiously orthodox...

Because there are many political elements of conservativism I don't agree with. I'm socially conservative in questions of marriage and family but I su...

Not so! 'Stress' is just a trendy translation of dukkha, another Buddhist term which doesn't have a one-word equivalent. But suffice to say that accor...

Consider in this context the meaning(s) of 'dharma'. That is a key term in Indian religion and philosophy. It is taken from a Sanskrit root dhr_ meani...

'In the nineteenth century Burke was praised by both conservatives and liberals. Subsequently, in the twentieth century, he became widely regarded as ...

Thanks OT they're all very good stories. We had a cyberlocker attack today. Some lady in a branch office lost a lot of correspondence and other files....

One of the words I have learned on philosophy forums is 'Eudaimonia' (also a word I can never spell without looking it up) but is said to denote 'huma...

Perhaps - but what I was referring to is the kind of routine accommodation of the fact that, no matter how secure you make your system, you have to as...

That's what 'robot-like' suggests. But the problem is, humans are not really capable of that; humans are meaning-seeking-beings. The idea that the Uni...

'In spite of' is a bit strong. I think you have to become more thoroughly detached than that. Kind of robotic. If that doesn't work, then expect troub...

According to this, is DNA analog or digital?

maybe human behavior in the internet can provide a good working model on how social norms in a new community develop. That is unfortunate but also tru...

I'm a tech writer. So basically I write instructions and system documentation of all kinds - end-user guides, implementation guides, policy and proced...

Going through this report I'm working off, the phrase that strikes me again and again is 'vulnerable to attack'. The whole thing is informed by 'vulne...

Hey, they're good points, I hadn't thought of it like that. Beats painting rocks. But still, considering the amount of expertise and knowledge that go...

I agree, I think the abolition of slavery - not that this is complete - is real progress and a genuine accomplishment of modernity.

I have a generally 'religious/spiritual' philosophy. (I don't like either word much, but it seems that it is what I have to use.) But my understanding...

like the Chesire cat's grin, perhaps.

We are stardust, We are golden We are billion year old carbon And we got to get ourselves Back to the garden ~ Joni Mitchell, 'Woodstock'

I think Dennett exemplifies everything that is the matter with what passes for philosophy nowadays, namely, that he uses the rhetorical and polemical ...

Pot calling kettle black.

Have a browse of the essays of Steve Talbott at the New Atlantis. He's not an advocate of semiotics as such, rather a kind of independent philosopher ...

Just as well we've come along to think about it! Otherwise what a terrible waste it would have been. Hey, thanks for clearing that up. I'll sleep bett...

I'm a Steely Dan tragic. Apart from that, mainly modern jazz, I have my web radio tuned into the Current Jazz channel on http://www.jazzradio.com. I g...

Totally with you there. It is related to the Greek 'nous' as being on the one hand, the individual intellect, but on the other, the intelligible princ...

I saw a sensational free jazz concert one evening (decades back), when a friend had a spare ticket. It was totally improvisational, not "jazz standard...

'if it feels good, do it' ~ Linda Lovelace

With an objective referent!

One can exclude atonal music simply by defining music as 'a sequence of rythmic sounds that are centred on key'. Certainly you might disagree, but the...

Surely it is a matter of opinion. So what would 'scrutiny' consist of?

It's not that far out an idea - 'being able to agree on a key signature' being an analogy for a common framework. If you don't even have a key signatu...