Janus

I think that is for the most part the most common Christian view; but there are alternative interpretations. Have you heard of 'the Cosmic Christ' for...

That's true, but I think Christ's perfection is understood to be a special case that is due to his divinity. Some Christians do not believe that Chris...

Isn't it a matter of degree, though, and not an 'all or nothing' thing? It seem obvious to me that different people are more or less self-interested o...

Sure, you can only exercise what you understand to be good intentions to the best of your understanding and ability. There is no final definitive form...

To say that something is a "transformation" of " the original thing out there", or that it is "caused" by it is to make an assertion that it has a "me...

No, intention to do good justifies the means. But bear in mind I would say an action cannot be considered to be the expression of a good intention if ...

I don't think it is right to say that when one lies, for example, to sexual predators or exploiters in order to protect innocents from harm, that one ...

OK, you say to assert that gold having been found in those hills is the truth condition for "gold was found in those hills" is "no answer at all" or n...

I should have posed a narrower question: what would it mean, in the context of antirealism, to say that gold really was found in the hills? Realism, a...

What's the difference between realism and anti-realism then?

Does it? Or does it not just require that we accept that there is such a thing as gold, and that the word is correctly used when it refers to that sub...

Are you referring to the distinction between inauthentic (indulgent) and authentic self-expression? Regarding that I say that our works (and our lives...

i assume u r refer/g 2 anal-style phil, & not phil-as-luv-of-wisdom?

As I said whether or not defending yourself is right depends on what principles you hold. Personally, I think it would be better if people universally...

On a serious note I'm not sorry to see Harris or Sand go, but in a way I think it would have been better if people had simply learned not to respond. ...

Yes sand is very unpleasant when it gets in your Janus. >:)

What if TS were me under an alternative account? It's not impossible. I could have created another account under a different email to let my alter ego...

Ha, corrected! I sometimes neglect to leave the required space between the full stop and the emoticon; in which case it fails to appear...>:O whoops!!...

Whether it is morally permissible to kill an assailant in self-defence may well be arguable. It would obviously depend on the context created by your ...

That proposition would have a determinate (in principle only, of course) truth value iff metaphysical determinism is the case, and not otherwise. If t...

I don't feel any disrespect from you Agustino and I likewise enjoy reading your comments and discussing with you; I think we are quite close on many t...

As I understand it authentic (as opposed to indulgent) self-expression just is inspiration; Part of the discipline of any art form consists in learnin...

Yes, I tend to favour that interpretation, too.

Repeated response deleted.

I don't think there are any "mechanics" involved: we have a sense of being part of something greater simply by virtue of being in a world. That 'being...

I have to agree with Rich and say that art is about self-expression. I write, for example, in order to know what I think, and paint in order to know w...

Yes, but my claim is not that the church does not recommend non-violence per se, but that it does not recommend non-violent resistance to evil. The la...

I think there is an equivocation on the meaning of "recognition-transcendent" at work here. Of course we recognize the world, but from that it does no...

Of course you wouldn't be able to talk about the external world if you couldn't recognize it. What's the point of pointing that out?

Goals and meaning are all in relation to things,doing things with things and speaking about things and their activities ('things' in the very broadest...

It's not really dualism, though. You have the word, the thing, and the 'referring' relation between the two. It's triadic. Hegel is explicit about thi...

It's hard to think of any coherent sense in which (at least noun) words could be said not to refer to things.

No, my point is that the Catholic Church has not institutionalized and practiced non-violence. I don't count, and am not concerned with, the "recommen...

has linked a chapter from the catechism that he recommends in relation to this. As soon as I find time I'll read it and respond. Meanwhile, can you th...

The Catholic church has perpetrated horrendous violence, and the mainstream churches, at the very least, have capitulated to warmongering governments....

It was you said: It should have been:'This makes it seem like existence does, in fact, help or harm someone by enabling them to be harmed or helped.' ...

Yes, and I'm not recommending it; negligence, as worthy of condemnation as it indeed is, does not necessarily harm the child. Existence enables someon...

Exactly!

Well, actually you are not necessarily harming a child by not making them wear a seat belt, so I can't see your point with that analogy. Be that as it...

Existence per se does not harm anyone; it merely provides the conditions, so to speak, for help or harm along with anything else to be.

I agree, the church preserves the tradition; and develops it as well. This may not always lead to distortions, but much of ecclesiastical "development...

If you accept Jesus' proscription against violent resistance to evil, then it is not justified even in the case of self-defence. There really is no ho...

The problem I see, though, is that it is still up to you to decide who is an authentic "mentor" or "director". Surely one relies upon one's own spirit...

Maybe he was trying to emulate Socrates-as-gadfly.

No, John Harris is a quite well-known philosopher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harris_(bioethicist) ;)

So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturn...

I agree with all of that.

It seems contradictory to say that something is defined "in-itself" and that it has no independent existence. You say good and evil have no existence ...

But it's the "non-commitment" part that is worthy of criticism, not the "syncretism" part, no? The question then is as to what one should be committed...

I have to say I'm with on this. Truth may or may not triumph, because it is only truly potent insofar as it is found in, and founded upon, personal ex...