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Janus

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It says something about reality as you judge it to be. Others may not judge reality to be as you do, and reality may not be as anyone judges it to be,...
May 29, 2023 at 02:20
Some would argue that it is not at all possible to remove us from our conceptions. be that as it may, I see two justifications for using "rocks": Firs...
May 29, 2023 at 01:33
Why must there be a cause of material existence? Thinking of the universe as being of finite age and consisting in temporal successions of causes and ...
May 29, 2023 at 01:09
The idea that information is ontologically fundamental, not to mention non-physical, is very far from being a consensus view among contemporary physic...
May 28, 2023 at 23:19
That's right, but from a human perspective a table is a table, and a cup is a cup. A table is a table even if there are no cups on it and a cup is a c...
May 28, 2023 at 22:53
It refers to whatever it is, apart from the human, that gives rise to observed rocks. Exactly like this:
May 28, 2023 at 22:48
If there mist be a first cause, which is by no means established. I see no reason why it could not be a material cause. With the idea of an immaterial...
May 28, 2023 at 22:41
I'd love to be able to disagree with you about that.
May 28, 2023 at 22:36
You can pick the cup up and take it away from the table, though. That said, nothing is ever completely separate from its environment.
May 28, 2023 at 06:49
I think everything you have said there is consistent with what I have said, in that I have acknowledged from the start that visualizing something is g...
May 28, 2023 at 05:15
I agree that to imagine something is to imagine it existing. Of course, it doesn't follow that the imagined thing necessarily actually exists. So, whe...
May 28, 2023 at 04:36
You make a good point, and perhaps "imagining" is not the right word; certainly not if the term is equated with "visualizing". So, there's a differenc...
May 28, 2023 at 03:38
I can't imagine a particular rock without imagining it in terms of perceptible attributes, but I can imagine that a rock could exist without anyone pe...
May 28, 2023 at 03:03
If the material forms are evolving, then how do the "immaterial forms" evolve prior to them in order to give rise to the former's evolution, and why w...
May 28, 2023 at 03:00
It's not an infinite regress of fixed forms, but rather an evolution of forms.
May 28, 2023 at 02:10
By "somewhere else" which I originally presented in quotation marks I was referring to "some transcendent realm". Previous oaks are not, in this sense...
May 28, 2023 at 01:35
I can't even begin to imagine a rock having a perspective, but I can imagine a rock existing without there being any conscious observer of it. Of cour...
May 28, 2023 at 01:02
So that passage quoted from Magee, which I have no argument with, puts paid to Kastrup's notion of mind at large, and even to Schopenhauer's notion of...
May 28, 2023 at 00:16
Does that mean it is nothing but an amorphous mass of nothing? :lol: I can see absolutely no reason to think that individuation relies on conscious ob...
May 28, 2023 at 00:00
But I know that my perception of the tree is not the tree, right? My perceptions are constituted by phenomena: sights, sounds, tactile sensations and ...
May 27, 2023 at 23:48
Meaning what?
May 27, 2023 at 23:30
I already acknowledged that Aristotle's hylomorphism was prescient, so I don't know what point you think I missed. I do disagree with "metaphysical fo...
May 27, 2023 at 23:24
Me too.
May 27, 2023 at 04:11
Yes, I also find the question of the difference or sameness of noumenon with thing-in-itself can be somewhat confusing. I think of the noumena as bein...
May 27, 2023 at 03:50
Yes, I'm familiar with that parable and it is very pertinent. We all seem to enjoy thrashing out these issues, maybe by way of diversion. I don't see ...
May 27, 2023 at 03:11
That says nothing about having to entertain any particular metaphysics in order to practice. Of course if you are drawn to a particular tradition with...
May 27, 2023 at 02:05
I think the idea of noumena is derived from the pretty much universal belief that the objects of perception are independently existent, coupled with t...
May 27, 2023 at 01:53
That passage is not from Hadot. In any case, I don't think one's metaphysical views have any bearing on one's spiritual practice; on one's ability to ...
May 27, 2023 at 00:39
Thank you 180 :cool:
May 26, 2023 at 23:14
Looks quite interesting, but I cannot access the book. Anyway, it's probably a good thing given my list of books to read is already of ridiculous prop...
May 26, 2023 at 23:04
Well of course they were a kind of precursor, since as I already said above, Aristotle thought the form of the oak to be immanent within the acorn, an...
May 26, 2023 at 22:57
As I remember it (it's a while since I read the book) Pierre Hadot in Philosophy as a Way of Life understands the various ancient Greek philosophical ...
May 26, 2023 at 22:48
Taking the example of the acorn: I would say the form of the oak is inherent within, immanent to, the acorn, and I think Aristotle thought the same. Y...
May 26, 2023 at 22:34
I accept the other sense, but all I am asking for is textual evidence for the above sense as being more, something ontologically fundamental and at th...
May 26, 2023 at 02:08
The issue I have is that our understanding of mind comes from our human experience of "minding", or to put it another way our understanding of conscio...
May 26, 2023 at 02:02
I'll take that as an admission that you cannot cite anything which supports the claim that form is first and foremost abstract or "immaterial".
May 26, 2023 at 00:53
Again, you are making unwarranted assumptions about me. I am willing to accept anything that seems plausible to me, that is sufficiently enough suppor...
May 26, 2023 at 00:39
This is the crux of the issue for me. I am unconvinced by Schopenhauer's (and Kastrup's derivative) claims that we know the "in-itself" on the basis o...
May 26, 2023 at 00:37
Right, it is merely a logical or conceptual distinction, and according to its own lights cannot ever be anything more than that. And yet the distincti...
May 25, 2023 at 02:14
I'm not asking you to interpret, or take out of context, but merely to quote any passage(s) where Aristotle speaks about abstract pattern or design.
May 25, 2023 at 02:03
Can you cite a passage from Aristotle where he speaks about abstract pattern or design? Thanks, I'll check that reference. Thanks for giving me a rund...
May 24, 2023 at 22:46
It is a logical or phenomenological distinction.
May 24, 2023 at 22:36
So, you agree there is a mind-independent world, you just don't agree that it is physical? I have no argument with that since the definition of 'physi...
May 24, 2023 at 05:30
I agree Aristotle makes a distinction between potential and actual. but I don't read him as thinking of potential as 'Insubstantial form" but as "prim...
May 23, 2023 at 23:08
Right, we all follow our instincts or intuitions and in some cases our intellects if what to do is a concern at all for us. Personally I remain unconv...
May 23, 2023 at 05:40
You are being very kind and understanding to those short, ugly, vicious morons. But seriously, I agree; much of the viciousness and stupidity is cultu...
May 23, 2023 at 05:35
You seem to be putting the cart before the horse; how could we be doing "what we are supposed to" if that should be according to a cosmic purpose no o...
May 23, 2023 at 05:29
Many different cosmic purposes have been imagined; they are as diverse as the cultures that have imagined them; they each tell different stories. Say ...
May 23, 2023 at 05:18
Not good enough! I've met short ugly morons in happy marriages - and not always with short ugly morons. — Vera Mont Right, but that short ugly morons ...
May 23, 2023 at 02:13
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May 23, 2023 at 02:03