I do struggle with endings, especially to short pieces, because I find it hard to know where to end and how much to leave to the imagination. It is st...
Ray seems to be emerging as a character in his own right on this thread. Maybe each of us reading on this thread could write 200 words focusing in on ...
I guess that it partly comes down to what people consider to be weird. Even within this site there are norms and some people are probably considered a...
The Pond We were beside the pond on a windy school trip to the Cotswolds wildlife park. It was June but I wished I had my parka. Ray had his radio, pl...
I am making a prompt up here. In your piece of flash fiction make your story using all the following words somewhere: policeman dictionary helpless dr...
I am pleased to see that this thread is growing well with people to write short pieces. So, for you and others who are interested here are a couple of...
Here is my attempt at the prompt I gave above. I hope it is not too gloomy and I am a bit gothic. The Dark Cloud Adam and I were sitting in 'The World...
I am glad to see that some people have created some great entries. Flash fiction can be a warming up exercise and a challenge to write in a short numb...
I guess that what you are talking about is scientific fundamentalism which can be as concrete as religious fundamentalism. It just leaves no scope for...
The resemblance between dreaming and idealism is interesting. It conjures up ideas of solipsim and the idea of 'Maya' and everyday 'reality' being an ...
Hello, I think that you are new to the forum, so I welcome you and hope that you find a lot of helpful discussion. What is good here is that there is ...
I actually meant Theravada Hinduism but there is a fair amount of overlap between Hinduism and Buddhism, which makes sense considering that Buddhism d...
Thanks, I had a quick read through of the article and it is very interesting so I will probably read it again more slowly. I definitely like the term ...
Do you really believe that idealism is true. I thought that you were a physicalist. I am definitely not a materialist. Generally, I think that the rel...
I think that@"180 Proof" wrote the winning entry because it did remind me of his previous entry. I did vote for it, not because I thought that he wrot...
To Agent Smith and Mr Daniel Dennett, You are still you and exist as consciousness, and not an illusion, while asleep, even if part of you goes into t...
I hope that you sleep well. I do struggle to get to sleep frequently. I will look up what Dennett thinks about sleep and get back to you. My own think...
Actually, if you remember, I did write a thread on the Holy Spirit really, because you wrote on it. The thread was about the idea of blasphemy against...
I don't think that taste, such as art taste is purely physical. The pieces of art are physical objects but this is interconnected with representation ...
But are you and your experience, whether as Agent Smith or the Madfool? It may be about naming of identity, to describe experience, or does the experi...
It comes down to how reality is viewed and what one means by illusion' in viewing consciousness in that way. Illusion is generally taken to mean that ...
Yes, it may be that it is a reflection of materialism and scientific thinking, but the issue is that the people who adhere to ideas such as consciousn...
I like the term anti-philosophy and it may be that he has not helped the art of philosophy. However, what may be worse is when people take the idea of...
The area of abstract concepts is where it gets so complex. As you say river, mountain and friend are more straightforward than ideas, although friend ...
One aspect which is interesting is the way that languages vary unlike mathematical ones, like numbers and the basic principles of mathematics. Of cour...
I haven't been a big fan of Dennett really but in the last few weeks of reading him I do think that his writings are extremely important, if for nothi...
The idea of consciousness as ' a last hideout for the sacred' is an interesting idea, because it may be that many would prefer a perspective in which ...
It may be worth noting the humility of an esteemed philosopher expressing some confusion, but at the same time, he is seeking to demystify the nature ...
It is by no means a simple matter to consider the nature of consciousness and its origins. One interesting remark which may lead many of us to feel le...
I have sometimes wondered about Dennett' understanding of what it means to be conscious. I have thought about his ideas in relation to the reductive a...
I was really thinking about this question with reference to Dennett's outlook, but it does include wider questions about the underlying processes of l...
Sorry if my answer wasn't helpful, but I don't know if heaven or hell could ever be permanent because it is questionable whether they could be without...
The question about pain and suffering in connection with religious ways of thinking is whether it is about physical or emotional pain. In some ways, p...
It is true that all religions are about suffering and evil as a starting point but there are many other aspects as well, including a whole basis for s...
What do you think that these people had in common? It also may be important to think about their differences too. In particular, the Buddha did not ne...
One major theme uniting the various figures, although I don't know anything about the one you describe in Jainism, is the specific role attributed to ...
I am not sure if this relates to your topic but some people believe that the current climate change and some other problems are the vengeance of God. ...
I think that you make some good decisions. It seems that there are so many myths and things which are contradictory. I know people who cling to the be...
It is hard to know to what extent pain leads to 'enlightenment' or being crushed. Many mystics took the view that suffering was important to the point...
I have found Dennett's 2017 writing good in some ways, but it is here that he does come up with the idea that consciousness is an illusion. This does ...
At the moment, one book which I am reading is 'Freedom: The End of the Human Condition', by Jeremy Griffith and he points to the problem of reductioni...
I think that there is a definite resemblance between Schopenhauer's idea of will and the idea of intentionality. I have begun reading his, 'The World ...
Some Eastern thinkers suggest that time had no beginning, but I am not sure if that is possible logically. It seems like trying to draw a circle but w...
One main thing is the importance of seeing how science offers models and only that. I come from the perspective of having worked in mental health care...
I'm glad that you appreciated Sgt Pepper album and it is so psychedelic. The album cover is important too, with all the people on it and Carl Jung is ...
It's interesting that you mentioned Steven Pinker as well as Dennett, because I have been reading some of a book by Pinker, called, 'The Stuff of Thou...
One aspect for which I think that qualia has specific bearing is understanding witness accounts and statements. I wondered about the nature of this be...
I am definitely in favour of science as ' a method of enquiry'. Also, I admit that I have dabbled in reading all sorts of ideas in the last few years,...
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