Wayfarer

I have pointed to this article before, and it's a lengthy read, but I recommend it: WHAT’S WRONG WITH OCKHAM? Reassessing the Role of Nominalism in th...

I read Gary Lachmann's bio of Steiner, in an attempt to understand him a little better. (I have an old friend whose whole family are Anthropophists an...

You're right, I put that a bit carelessly. I think nihilism is a strong tendency in today's thinking (as Nietszche correctly predicted). But I was ref...

I think of pleasure and and pain as sensations, happiness and sorrow as emotions. It was Nietszche who foresaw nihilism as a consequence of the death ...

'People with guns' can, and do, kill many more people, than guns without people, or people without guns. Anyone who says anything different has bought...

It was the criticism of the idea of a fixed or immutable self as something above and immune to change. In the context in which the Buddha taught, ther...

Pleasure and pain are sensations; so to consider the value of life in those terms is to consider it only in sensory terms. Nihilists generally argue t...

Here are some facts about 'domestic' gun deaths in the USA, vs death because of other causes including terrorism. I didn't really pose it as a theory,...

I will try again. But I know, this is a difficult subject, it has been central to the philosophical project I have been working on since I first start...

I had hoped to do that by way of philosophical argument, although I have obviously failed in this instance. But, thanks for your reply.

Isn't Lee Smolin saying that the directional nature of time is real, and the fact that according to physics, it appears to be reversible, is one of th...

Who said there is no magic??

Paging Apokrisis

It's pretty broken still, I hope they get it working. I did however manage to 'download all my posts as text', which, when pasted into MS Word, amount...

I am familiar with Sam Harris' ideas on this subject, which he has adapted from Buddhism. He often refers to Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, from whom he appar...

'Robert Heimberger, president of the Bavarian state crime office, said material found at the gunman's home suggested he was an avid player of violent ...

Fortunately, not the entire world shares the US' view of governance. or gun ownership.

He's been active on the other forum. Hey I like Maslow. I used to edit the Australian Transpersonal Psychology Association newsletter, decades ago (a ...

also because of alliteration :) I think the kinds of acts I'm referring to aren't Machivellian, because they don't serve any end. They're surely an ex...

Yeah maybe not a 'meme' in the technical sense (if there is one).

I don't mean 'normalized' in the sense of 'made acceptable'. What I mean is that, for those deranged minds that are pre-disposed to dreadful violence,...

Access to guns is surely a factor. I noticed that there have been some mass murder outbreaks in China in the last couple of years but always involving...

Actually today's news is that the Munich killer had a fixation with mass murders and the Norwegian Brevik in particular, which kind of confirms what I...

There is an inquest going on here in Sydney, into the Lindt Cafe Siege which ended in the deaths of two hostages and the gunman, Man Haron Monis. Duri...

OK, I agree the Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't exist, if that will make you happy.

It's a philosophy forum.

As far as the Islamist ideology is concerned, Western Civilization is the work of Satan, and needs to be destroyed. Make no mistake that from their pe...

Or not seeing the meaning is not the same as it having no meaning.

However: 'There is, monks, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unfabricated. If there were not that unborn, unbecome, unmade, unfabricated, there would not b...

It's not so simple. Do red and numbers exist for those who are blind and inummerate, respectively? I am inclined to say 'no'. Now I know the objection...

I have the feeling PF is going to die, unless someone steps in. My hunch about 'Vayge Media' is that they don't have a clue what they're doing or why ...

My guess is that the hosting fees haven't been paid, and the service provider has pulled the plug.

It's OK - he's coming home for Christmas, it's not that far off. But thanks!

My son works in Chicago. Looong way from me.

What I think is least impressive is that, again, Trump is caught in a blatant lie, and again, stares straight at the camera and denies it. No wonder h...

The authority in question was Pakistani, not Saudi. The Fatwa that was issued was extremely thorough and well-grounded in Islamic law, according to al...

Well I admit I'm a hopeless addict. I had already announced there in early June that I was done, finished, said all I was going to say....but what els...

Well, I think your putting words into Whalon's mouth, but it is a very difficult argument, so I'll leave it at that.

'Whalon', not 'Walhon'. Whether or not one believes in God, it is not a discussion about 'something'. And 'meekness' goes with the territory.

Terror in the God-shaped Hole by David Loy This is a powerful analysis of terrorism from a modern Buddhist perspective; focussing on the role that rel...

I was responding to the rhetorical question 'what about the existence of numbers?' What I mean by number, is number. But if I were to ask whether numb...

PF is down today. Can't even ping the server.

I imagine persuading the mujahadeen that they're actually going to end up in hell instead of a paradise full of virgins might have some impact. As for...

I have just remembered to visit this forum, after not having been here for a while. But the question you raise is very interesting. Do numbers exist? ...

'The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not.' John 1:5

But how do you manage without god(s)? Why the 'a' in 'a-theist'? I generally find your 'forum persona' very congenial, and your posts a model of clari...

I don't think it's possible to avoid the conclusion however that the success of Trump represents the dumbing-down of the electorate. He makes many fac...

In all likelihood what you call 'welsmertz' are simply habituated neural pathways. I think it's true that you have to re-wire your neural pathways. Th...

before you start damning American culture as if you speak for it and all Americans, you must know that the American constitution and very many America...