Janus

Yes, that was just what I had in mind. So, how is it then possible to interpret it metaphysically (semantically)?

:chin: I'd say that "where the science 'runs out' and the point where the metaphysical interpretations can begin" is precisely the point where scienti...

Of course it does. mediate vb 1. (intr; usually foll by between or in) to intervene (between parties or in a dispute) in order to bring about agreemen...

@"apokrisis" While I defer to your knowledge of science, I would point out that the question as to whether QM has metaphysical interpretations is not ...

I haven't been addressing, or even attempting to address the question of whether animals and humans alike are conscious in ways enabled by the capacit...

Thanks, great discussion, as usual!

Yes, but it's an epistemological problem AFAIK. So, I wasn't asking whether, if a statement has no possibility of empirical verification, we can know ...

Does a statement's not being subject to empirical verification entail that it cannot be true or false? Smells like positivist spirit! So in the spirit...

Below is what I quoted from you and responded to: So, it seemed you were claiming that declarations do set out how things are, perhaps you meant not d...

Recall, this was the original exchange: I was merely pointing out that declarations do not necessarily set out how things are, but more commonly set o...

You're not telling me anything about the cat's understanding, but about your perceptions of her behavior. Sure, we know animals recognize food and foo...

I was referring specifically to symbolic language, to linguistic competency. There is no point making bare assertions such as "unhelpful nonsense" wit...

I don't see what cats being on mats has to do with declarations. Declaratives maybe, I suppose. In any case you should know from many previous posts t...

I wasn't talking about what counts as a simple or what counts as anything else, so I don't know what you are referring to with that. I think it is mor...

The idea that our closest relatives or other "higher" forms of life might have the capacity, yet to be developed, for symbolic language, seems plausib...

I can't see the relevance of what you are saying here. There are many examples and kinds of animal signalling. Only humans, as far as is known, are ca...

I'll buy that!

Are you asking whether I understood what you were saying or whether I think what you said is plausible? I'd agree that it seems plausible to think tha...

That seems a little bold. Is it so easy to determine the limits of adaptability?

It's not technology which sustains life in the biological sense but air, food and water. Technology may sustain our lifestyles, but that is something ...

Nothing there is controversial except "other language using creatures"; I already asked you to identify which other animals you think use language. Ag...

I don't think this is true. If life was disconnected from what sustains it then it would not be sustained. Perhaps you mean that the discursive intell...

I just don't see this the way you do. In one sense anthropomorphism is inevitable because our understandings will always be human-shaped. In another s...

I disagree with this assessment. Animals without linguistic capabilities obviously do not think in linguistic terms, so presumably they think in senso...

Yes they can breed...surprised? Perhaps better to apply a prophylactic...

But that's no fun unless you come back occasionally and make snide comments from the ivory tower.

I have no idea what you are trying to say.

You seem to think I have disagreed with this. The only thing I have any issue with is the "humans". I think it should be "language capable beings". Ye...

Since suffering has no discernible intrinsic purpose, I take it you mean 'what purpose can we assign to suffering or make it serve'? Some people, such...

I find it hard to imagine how it would be possible to do nothing. It could be said that I tried for many years via meditation to achieve the state of ...

No, since I was talking about feeling alive, not noticing the fact that you are alive. I hardly ever feel bored, and when I do it certainly does not c...

Right, so that we can do what makes us feel more alive. Right, down from the trees, or up on two legs. In my case I came down about 2.5 metres on a la...

It's raining up here too. I have a fractured ankle and have been more or less stuck in the house for the last five weeks, so it doesn't make so much d...

You don't look so happy there; what's the matter?

If no one feels alive then life is wasted. and harvested organs won't help, so you're only kicking the can down the road. I don't need to present an a...

I was referring to shitting and specifically outhouses, not public toilets. I hate using them and avoid it as much as possible, but I have never neede...

True, shitting is essential to survival, but if instructions are required something is terribly amiss. Feeling alive in the sense I have in mind is no...

Reads like instructions for going to the outhouse.

What matters is what makes you alive, and not just material, but emotional, intellectual and spiritual sustenance. It is not enough to merely be alive...

Much earlier in this thread (I think it was this thread) I purported to draw a distinction between being certain and feeling certain, My thinking was ...

I hope you don't mind me interjecting here. The way I read it @"fdrake" seemed to be suggesting that there might be a true interpretation among all th...

I was aware of the 'cast-iron-plant' persona, and tendency to inhabits dark lobbies, of the Aspidistra, but the rest is novel. some interesting though...

You can equally ask if it's accurate that it's true. It seems that all those terms; true, accurate, representative, right, "a good interpretation" all...

Right, thanks, I haven't ever heard of it...until now. For me the Aspidistra is an attractive understory plant; I'm not that big on it as an indoor pl...

:ok: Thanks for clarifying; it's a very long time since I read 1984 and to be honest even having being reminded, I don't remember the aspidistras...

The disasters happen when they get too big for indoors and people put them outside in their pots near the house and forget about them. They transform ...

I used to incorporate Aspidistra in some of my garden designs...they used to be readily available from wholesale nurseries. Now the "Cast Iron Plant" ...

I don't see the idea of post-truth as ambiguous, but rather I see it as incoherent. Nietzsche somewhere said that thinking what enhances the richness ...

I think this is probably right, but it also seems to be the case that there are "official" expert spokespeople in the mainstream media, at least. It s...

These are interesting questions. My initial thought is that in relation to almost everything we call knowledge and information people do not have acce...