Janus

To frame it simply naive realism thinks that the eyes are windows onto a world; we look out through them and see exactly what is out there. Indirect r...

We can know all kinds of basic things, like whether it is raining or not, for example. We know things because we see them. I know I am looking at a tr...

Would that not be more an epistemological question? Why must we make any metaphysical assumptions at all? Surely we can just accept the world as it ap...

No I tend more towards direct realism than indirect. That said I also think their differences are largely on account of linguistic framing.

I'm attracted to narratives of enchantment, science being in my view the most potent narrative of enchantment there is. So, I don't see as science dis...

Well we agree there when it comes to questioning which of our resources is most likely to lead us to understanding the nature of things. Why must some...

It seems to be a deeply imbedded psychological impulse in some. Metaphysicians, to quote Nietzsche: "They muddy the waters to make them seem deep".

I'm not sure now whether you are referring to what I would characterize as relational realism as weak, or whether you mean naive realism is weak. I wo...

Are you referring to naive realism which, as it is commonly characterized, thinks that the things of the world are just exactly as we perceive them to...

I don't understand why you say this is a "weak realism". Are perceptual organs and the experiences they enable not as real as that which they sense an...

Right, I haven't said or implied that our intuitions are universal and changing. They are conditioned by culture and tradition. My point was just that...

Yes, but that's just another will you can't will. The stronger will will win.

So, something you can't explain then?

Why not?

How can questions be confused? Perhaps you meant confusing? Did you not understand them? The questions are designed to find out if your position is co...

A very poor response that assumes I don't understand what indirect realists propose, which of course I do. I want to know what you think in your own w...

Do neuroscientists observe brain processes as they are according to you? If our experiences are real then why should we say we are not experiencing re...

That's not an answer. I understand the difference between direct realism and indirect realism well enough.

So our brain processes and hence our experiences are parts of reality then?

I don't mind if you respond and of course it's up to you...but I cannot imagine any argument that God's opinion matters more than human opinion or eve...

So our brain processes are not real according to you...not a part of reality? Experiences are not real events?

If you say you can make free choices then I will ask whether you believe it is reasonable to think your choices are preceded by neural activity that l...

That's a really good question. The only answer I can offer to support a claim that such demonstration has not only been impossible in the past, just a...

What we experience is part of what actually happens, no? Even our imagining of stuff actually happens, although what we imagine might not. What other ...

So, you don't think it is obviously impossible to demonstrate that a speculative metaphysical claim (purportedly) based on reliable intuition is just ...

Would you say that what we see is a part of reality? Would reality "as it is" for you equate to what exists unseen or beyond or beneath what is seen?

Note that i haven't said that the discovery of universal metaphysical truths via intellectual intuition is obviously impossible, but that it is obviou...

Are you suggesting that it is (only?) through religion, and not through philosophy that we can come to terms with suffering?

If there are moral facts, how do we determine what they are? People can obviously disagree about which principles are moral facts. On the one hand the...

Right, given that we already find ourselves thrown into a world of potential suffering, then actually encountering suffering may be considered to be t...

I'm not making claims about humanity but about most people.All I can think if you really believe many people think it is good to be miserable is that ...

I think the idea that misery is bad is universal, or almost universal. Do you really believe anyone thinks it is good to be miserable? I doubt there a...

We think there is a way the world ought to be because it is far from being the way we would like it to be, so I don't see how God comes into it. If th...

If God is fine with human misery then he is not good according to the human conception of goodness. Misery cannot but be bad according to that concept...

Human concepts are the basis of rationality. Positing a purported goodness that is not good according to our understanding of goodness or a purported ...

I don't understand why you would think that something that rejects human rationality is a solution to any problem and especially in the context of phi...

Okay the way you frame it I tend to think the Universe contains time, which means there was no time prior to the existence of the Universe. In other w...

Yes, I agree. But I note that you also said in a response to another poster: I don't agree with this for two reasons. An all-powerful all-loving all-k...

I would agree with you that it is a very human default tendency to rationalize in order to manufacture support for what we want to believe. But isn't ...

Doesn't sound plausible given that the God of the bible is anything but kind. What reason do you have for thinking the kindness of animals and humans ...

In the sophisticated mainstream theological accounts of God I have encountered, he is still considered to be all-good, all-knowing and all-powerful an...

From fellow feeling, empathy, compassion, love. It can be observed in many other animals, it's not unique to humans. Where do you think it comes from?

No argument just synonyms. People can be spurred to action by another's words. If you want to deny that you are either stupid or dishonest.

What do you mean "the universe is self-observed"? Do you think observation occurs in the absence of observers? You say the universe contains time, whi...

There is one justification I can think of for considering it to be so, at least when the victim is a woman, given that rape (defined as penile penetra...

Yes, but they have every reason to believe that the currently accepted canon of scientific knowledge is based on actual observation, experiment and ho...

Sure. We are talking about goodness in relation to treatment of others, we are not talking about being good at sports, or art or science or whatever, ...

Do you mean kindness?

Where does what come from?

No, the reality of a suffering world is incompatible with the usual conception of a tri-omni God.