Michael

I want the UK to remain in the EU only because I believe that the country will be better off for it. If, however, the country will be worse off if Par...

Which part? That it's too important to be put in the hands of the uninformed? Or that Parliament can make reasoned decisions with expert advice?

More like Abandonment Day.

This and this are prime examples of why the idealistic notion that the country should be unquestionably governed by popular opinion is absurd. Lots of...

So? Why is it bad to betray these people? Does the "badness" of this betrayal outweigh the actual consequences of leaving? No, I have a pragmatic comm...

I only went to a really cheap $7 a night place. Can't remember the name, but I'm guessing you're going to want something a little more comfortable tha...

It's not disingenuous to state a fact. And I don't see what's "bad" about it. Rather I'd say that it's bad to leave. The pound and the stock market ar...

Firstly, me wanting the government to ignore the vote doesn't undermine democracy. Only if the government actually ignores the vote would democracy be...

What do you think I've been doing? I know. But you haven't (primarily) taken issue with my claim that it's better to stay than to leave. You've taken ...

There's nothing illogical or hypocritical in accepting that a thing is a useful but imperfect system and that sometimes it's better to use something e...

So you have an idealistic commitment to the principles of democracy. As I've already said, I don't. I wouldn't favour democracy at the expense of what...

And to accept as valid is to accept as legally binding? As I've already said, this isn't true. Or is to accept as valid to accept that the government ...

What I don't understand, as I've repeatedly said, is what it means to "accept" a decision. I can accept that a decision has been made – and nothing I'...

So you are telling me what I should want? You denied this earlier. It's still not clear to me what you mean by "respect" and "accept" the decision. I ...

I don't understand what you mean by "respecting" the decision. If "you should respect the decision" doesn't mean "you ought to want the decision to be...

On what grounds? Is there some moral obligation to want the most popular decision implemented? This seems to be the unspoken premise that's driving th...

I think you're twisting the meaning there (or at least what I intended to mean). All I'm saying is that if the country would be better off in the EU t...

That depends on what counts as good justification. If the country and its people would be better off by staying in the EU then I think that an anti-de...

I'm sure it will be treated as such by the government. But I'd still want them to ignore a leave vote. That doesn't make me a fascist.

I can't accept that it's binding and authoritative because it isn't. That's a legal fact. So given that the government is not legally required to list...

This all seems to be a red herring. Look back at what was actually said. I'll repeat my post to jamalrob: I said that I'd hope the government chose to...

What does it mean to "accept" a result anyway? To be in favour of it? Why would I be in favour of leaving simply because most other people want to lea...

It's exactly about what I want. That's the only thing I've been discussing. I said that I'd hope the government chose to stay even if most people want...

So what you're saying is that if most people want to leave then I ought to want the government to make it happen, even though I want to leave? I don't...

The point is that wanting to ignore a particular democratic decision doesn't make me a fascist.

I know experts might be wrong. What I'm questioning the assertion that if if I don't give carte blanche to a democratic decision then I'm a fascist.

I don't see how that answers the question.

Is it facist to favour the right decision over the popular decision? If the democratic vote favoured slavery, patriarchy, and homophobia, am I a fasci...

How so?

I'm a pragmatist, not an idealist. ;)

Of course not. I want us to stay.

I'm all for staying. From what I understand it's better for the economy.

That it's not binding? Nope. The government/Parliament have no legal obligation to follow through on the result.

The good news is that the referendum is only advisory and not legally binding. Hopefully even if we vote to leave Parliament opts to stay regardless. ...

I meant for the label to apply to one who claims not to know that God exists but nonetheless to believe that he does. They might say that they believe...

For those who might be interested, the man who coined the term "agnosticism" – Thomas Huxley – had this to say:

I'm not saying that they "don't fully believe it". I'm saying that they fully believe it out of faith rather than evidence. You'd be an agnostic reali...

Given that theism is defined as "the belief in the existence of deities" and given that agnosticism is defined as "the view that the truth values of c...

I liked the bit where the smoke monster from Lost turned up.

According to the BBC, their reasoning was "without enough 'due process', law-abiding Americans wrongly named on watch lists would be prevented from bu...

The US might end up with Trump as president. Game, set, match.

I consider the US to be a UK spinoff. You're the Joey to our Friends. Make of that what you will.

On .co.uk we're 3rd for "philosophy forum" and 4th for philosophy forum. On .com we're 5th and 6th. Ever so closer.

I'd prefer to say that there's a plague of 28 year olds. It's more biblical.

I turn 28 tomorrow.

Ladies are too delicate. Oppression is a man's job.

But we need to tax you to pay for the man-power required to take away your guns.

So you insist on keeping your guns so that you could stop your guns from being taken? How pointlessly circular. ;)

Shouldn't have rebelled against your rightful British rulers. We'd have issued those better laws.

Yes you did. You called them Americans. Which isn't even true, as some of them weren't American. ;)