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Janus

['Member']Joined: October 28, 2015 at 22:06Last active: February 25, 2026 at 20:3115 discussions17965 comments
Location: Right here or right there, depending on your perspective.

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Spinoza, Nietzsche

Discussions (15)

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:up: I also stand by my preference for the DR view, and I totally get your interest in exploring the nuances of the various arguments even though I no...
February 18, 2026 at 22:09
I have always found this whole debate somewhat ridiculous. It has always seemed to me to be nothing more than arguing about terminology. We can say, w...
February 18, 2026 at 21:52
You are each talking about different notions of free will. The libertarian notion admits of no determinants which are not strict restraints on freedom...
February 17, 2026 at 22:10
For me eliminative physicalism says that ultimately the constitutive reality is the physical causal with the semantic being an emergent phenomenon of ...
February 16, 2026 at 02:33
I agree that Buddhism offers only a soteriology and not any coherent, consistent or explanatory metaphysics, and the idea that it does offer the latte...
February 16, 2026 at 02:26
Right, the conclusion follows from the premises in that it must be, at least implicitly, saying the same thing. So, I would say it is a matter of sema...
February 14, 2026 at 23:43
It's clear in that quotation that he's not denying the reality of agency. consciousness and meaning? but by all means continue with your self-righteou...
February 14, 2026 at 23:22
I take the normativity of reason to be relative to its form, not its content. Valid reasoning may lead to unsound or even meaningless conclusions if t...
February 14, 2026 at 22:40
Division or distinction? Unlike Descartes i am not claiming a division. Are you saying there is no such distinction?
February 14, 2026 at 19:05
What makes you think it is a Cartesian division rather than just the acknowledgement that there are different spheres of activity and inquiry in human...
February 14, 2026 at 01:36
I basically agree with what you say about science, but there are two points that came to mind. First, I see science as an extension of ordinary, every...
February 14, 2026 at 00:50
To say that no phenomenon is a real phenomenon until it is observed is not the same as to say that we bring things into existence by observing them. W...
February 14, 2026 at 00:08
You make it sound as though there could be an alternative.
February 13, 2026 at 20:13
:up:
February 13, 2026 at 02:42
I think it's the best we can do. For me the very idea of a "full account of morality" is the wrong way to think about it, given that we are always dea...
February 13, 2026 at 02:08
Sure, but for me the essence of ethical thought and action is about fellow feeling and good intentions. We are not perfect, obviously we can and do ma...
February 13, 2026 at 00:55
On the other hand, the idea that reality could be other than it appears to be is absurd unless what is meant by "how the world appears" allows that wh...
February 13, 2026 at 00:52
How about "Treat others as you, to the best of your understanding, think they would wish to be treated"?
February 12, 2026 at 23:13
I don't know what you are driving at with "subjectivity over objectivity". I don't know why I'm here.
February 12, 2026 at 22:50
You said."who says reality has to make sense?". I was pointing out that anything that would count as a reality for us must make sense. The point was c...
February 12, 2026 at 22:41
Anything we can identify as being real has to make sense. Of course that doesn't rule out the possibility that there are aspects of nature that we can...
February 12, 2026 at 01:14
I agree that as far as we can tell humans compared to animals have the added ability to reflect in symbolic linguistic terms. I agree that humans bein...
February 11, 2026 at 22:40
I don't equate justice with revenge, but I get that the idea that wrondgdoers can get away with their wrongdoing and escape justice by dying is not pa...
February 11, 2026 at 22:00
I somehow missed this earlier. I'll give my thoughts on each premise and conclusion. P1: Saying that reasoning is normative suggests that it is social...
February 11, 2026 at 21:46
You clearly missed the point. I was responding to the underlined, not making a comparison between humans and animals, except insofar as it seems more ...
February 10, 2026 at 22:52
Animals are initiators of actions?it seems wrong to impute moral responsibility to them. If you are talking about mere responsibility, as in 'lightnin...
February 10, 2026 at 22:47
It should be possible to make sense of any clear and consistent argument. The claim seems to be that because physicalism cannot make sense of intentio...
February 09, 2026 at 07:30
Maybe there is nothing to understand. If no one can lay it out, we might conclude that there is no argument?that is what I've been leading up to. You ...
February 09, 2026 at 00:12
It might help if you lay out what you think the argument is. You say this: But that is a mere assertion. What reason do you think the argument is offe...
February 08, 2026 at 23:57
What exactly are you looking for Tom. Do you think intentionailty cannot be explained in naturalistic terms? Or are you thinking that it is the origin...
February 08, 2026 at 23:33
Yes, I suppose that is true for some?for those who need certainty. My point is that God and other spiritual and/ or esoteric notions might provide a s...
February 07, 2026 at 23:08
If people claim that physics can explain everything, then they are obviously wrong. I haven't heard many, or even any, claims to that effect on this s...
February 07, 2026 at 22:37
I don't think that is a fair assessment of either physicalism or naturalism. It may apply to certain stripes, but beyond that, no. For example there a...
February 07, 2026 at 22:11
Naturalism or physicalism?
February 06, 2026 at 23:03
In an earlier response I outlined what the world being intelligible means to me. It means simply that an organism can navigate an unarguably complex e...
February 06, 2026 at 22:56
Right, but it seems undeniable that each entity is unique and that there will never be another the same. In our thinking about the one, I think we sho...
February 05, 2026 at 21:04
If there is no continuity of memory, then there is no continuity of "interesting threads". On the other hand what if, as Kastrup believes, nothing is ...
February 04, 2026 at 20:21
In my book for the environment to count as intelligible all that is required is that percipients can successfully orient themselves in it such as to a...
February 03, 2026 at 04:09
I agree. I think the idea of the enlightened one is just a case of the usual human myth-making. In any case no one but the actual enlightened would kn...
February 03, 2026 at 03:34
Cheers, yes the idea of liberating all beings is aspirational. And given how few (if any?) do ever seem to be liberated, and the acknowledgement withi...
February 02, 2026 at 22:31
The idea of ending suffering for all beings seems to be in both traditions and also seems impossible to me. Buddhist cosmology posits a beginning-less...
February 02, 2026 at 21:46
Right, I think it is true that for any biological lifeform physical suffering is inevitable. I read the prescription of non-attachment as recommending...
February 02, 2026 at 21:34
So, according to the passage quoted, the first kind of suffering is due to pain?no problem interpreting that?suffering can even be defined as pain. Th...
February 02, 2026 at 20:50
Earth may not be the "normal" frame (although it certainly is for us). The fact remains, however that, if the theory is correct, the twin who traveled...
February 02, 2026 at 20:35
You are just repeating what I had already said...that the thought that mind and body could be completely independent of one another is absurd...while ...
February 01, 2026 at 21:50
I think that's probably right, but I didn't want to assume so, because I really haven't looked into it much. So, it might take a year of our time for ...
February 01, 2026 at 00:10
Good point (how did I miss that?), but the video data from them would presumably be slowed down too relative to us. So the question then is whether th...
January 31, 2026 at 23:41
Their physical processes cannot be observed from my frame until they return. Then I would see that their physical processes had been much slower than ...
January 31, 2026 at 23:13
Unless I am mistaken, the theory says that if you traveled at the speed of light to some distant star and then returned, those on Earth would have age...
January 31, 2026 at 22:15
It seems obvious to me?it means suffering due to negative thought complexes or patterns. This notion of transmigration could be consistent with the id...
January 31, 2026 at 21:59