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Nikolas

['Member']Joined: May 20, 2017 at 05:28Last active: November 03, 2021 at 13:018 discussions197 comments

Discussions (8)

Fairness

April 19, 2021 at 22:48 27 comments Political Philosophy

Plato's Forms

February 15, 2021 at 02:33 35 comments General Philosophy

No Safe Spaces

January 31, 2021 at 22:50 108 comments General Philosophy

What is Faith?

November 07, 2020 at 01:14 62 comments Philosophy of Religion

Comments

In: Fairness  — view comment
public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy — Nikolas That pretty much nails the case against excellence in jour...
April 20, 2021 at 02:07
In: Fairness  — view comment
Journalism is dead. Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundati...
April 20, 2021 at 00:57
In: Democracy vs Socialism  — view comment
Some people cannot ponder ideals but insist on arguing their devolution into fragments. Equality as the ideal of the Preamble to the American Constitu...
April 18, 2021 at 03:57
In: Democracy vs Socialism  — view comment
What is an individual? Is it the same as a blind opinion defending what Man has become defined by collectives or is it a person's striving to become t...
April 17, 2021 at 19:42
In: Democracy vs Socialism  — view comment
Simone didn't want to sustain her life but rather to live it. She accomplished what a person can by consciously living their life. Is the following de...
April 17, 2021 at 02:24
In: Democracy vs Socialism  — view comment
"Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it We must continually suspend the work of the imagination in fillin...
April 16, 2021 at 21:27
In: Democracy vs Socialism  — view comment
OK, so greed and self interests assure that tyranny and the loss of liberty is the only way to restore order. That is typical in the world. However Si...
April 16, 2021 at 16:55
In: Democracy vs Socialism  — view comment
“Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each m...
April 16, 2021 at 00:26
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
"Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance." - Plato Relativism is nothing more than additional subjective opinions which change with exte...
April 02, 2021 at 00:38
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
If you are right it makes Simone's search and the purpose of her life along with those with the same need futile. I prefer to believe there is a small...
April 01, 2021 at 18:23
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
" Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance." ~ Plato Are there correct answers (opinions) for all meaningful questions? If Man is a tripa...
April 01, 2021 at 16:53
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
Simone Weil Weil lamented that education had become no more than "an instrument manipulated by teachers for manufacturing more teachers, who in their ...
March 31, 2021 at 13:41
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
The quote is attributed to Socrates but probably came from Plato's writings since Socrates never wrote anything down.. But since it is a translation k...
March 31, 2021 at 13:26
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
One thing is clear by observing society. None of the leaders, none of the leaders in politics, the arts, and education know the way out. They are cont...
March 31, 2021 at 01:34
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." Socrates Can you imagine saying this on the ship of fools? All these educated individuals expre...
March 30, 2021 at 22:06
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
But if you study the "Ship of Fools" with a little humility it becomes obvious that humanity as a whole does not know how to escape Plato's cave or th...
March 30, 2021 at 16:51
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
True, but can a person be awakened by a philosopher who knows the way? At the same time can phony philosophers do a great deal of harm? Can a person a...
March 30, 2021 at 01:15
In: What is a 'real' philosopher and what is the true essence of philosophy ?  — view comment
Jack, We are on the ship of fools and it is sinking. A real philosopher knows the way home. The ship is filled with philosophers expressing opinions w...
March 29, 2021 at 17:48
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Women can sometimes give a man an experience similar to the effects of Hemorrhoids. So if nothing else, women prove the relationship between truth and...
March 28, 2021 at 16:03
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
When you e suffering it isn't pleasurable. When you are experiencing pleasure you are not suffering: the duality of yin and yang. Yet there is a highe...
March 27, 2021 at 14:36
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Suffering is one side of the coin and pleasure is the other. What reconciles this duality as ONE? That is truth
March 27, 2021 at 13:54
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Buddhism says Suffering is truth. You say truth is pleasure. So what is truth?
March 27, 2021 at 00:14
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
The Four Noble Truths is the basis of Buddhism. The First Truth is that life consists of suffering, pain, and misery. Yet somehow you believe this fir...
March 26, 2021 at 22:49
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Let me first say that Simone Weil was a highly intelligent woman totally dedicted to the experience of truth. She practiced her philosophy. Susan Sont...
March 26, 2021 at 13:45
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
You will probably appreciate Jacob Needleman's book: Lost Christianity. He was an atheist with a great dislike for Christianity and Judaism. He had to...
March 26, 2021 at 00:51
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
You unfortunately had a bad experience with man made secularized religion. Trying to heal oneself is not self hatred but the recognition of human pote...
March 25, 2021 at 16:27
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
But what of these rare ones who have felt in the depth of their being that the needs of the heart are not satisfied by what the world offers: "...It i...
March 25, 2021 at 16:01
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
See how Jacob Needleman responds: Of course it had been stupid of me to express it in quite that way, but nevertheless the point was worth pondering: ...
March 25, 2021 at 15:48
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
You misunderstood the idea and it is not what I meant. It is psychologically dangerous just to give up pleasure without an aim for something better an...
March 25, 2021 at 13:23
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
I agree with you as far as the attraction to power and the prestige and its effect on human higher values. But IYO what is the source of higher values...
March 25, 2021 at 00:34
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Science can establish the objective truth of facts in the world. However it can't reveal the objective truth of values. The human condition prevents i...
March 24, 2021 at 18:25
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
You've alluded to several deep ideas but there are three that could initially help us to explain the relationship between the experience of the proces...
March 24, 2021 at 17:09
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Can we agree on the distinction between knowledge and opinion as described by Plato? "Plato drew a sharp distinction between knowledge, which is certa...
March 24, 2021 at 04:00
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Hitler was expressing an opinion. The seeker of truth must learn how to transcend his own opinions in the cause of truth. It is the pursuit of pleasur...
March 24, 2021 at 01:57
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Genocides are the truth of the human condition. When humanity is caught up with its own pleasure we are completely oblivious of what happened to the J...
March 23, 2021 at 23:09
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
There is an important distinction between pleasure and joy https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-journal-best-practices/201305/the-pleasure-trap...
March 23, 2021 at 22:52
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
There is nothing wrong with the pursuit of pleasure. It is the way of the world. I'm just suggesting that the world needs this minority willing to sac...
March 23, 2021 at 20:23
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Knowledge can serve the pursuit of truth but the pursuit of pleasure obstructs the pursuit of wisdom. What keeps the prisoners in Plato's cave attache...
March 23, 2021 at 20:15
In: Truth vs Pleasure  — view comment
Is that the pursuit of truth and wisdom or a pleasurable action or opinion? What is Philosophy? The term ‘philosophy’ was coined in ancient Greece by ...
March 23, 2021 at 19:44
In: Can you use math to describe philosophy?  — view comment
"God exists since mathematics is consistent, and the Devil exists since we cannot prove it" ~André Weil
March 23, 2021 at 03:24
In: Good and Bad  — view comment
Do you refer to objective good and evil as alluded to in Genesis 1 with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil 0r objective conceptions of good an...
March 22, 2021 at 20:28
In: On the transcendental ego  — view comment
There is mechanical associative thought and conscious thought. Dostoyevsky describes mechanical thought: “Oh, gentlemen, perhaps I really regard mysel...
March 22, 2021 at 16:14
In: Who is FDRAKE and why is this simpleton moderating a philosophy board  — view comment
Joe, You are right to question partial truths. The accepted term I guess is half truths. From Wiki The purpose and or consequence of a half-truth is t...
March 22, 2021 at 01:57
In: Does Anybody In The West Still Want To Be Free?  — view comment
American ideals offer the freedom to strive to become human Thomas Merton records being asked to review a biography of Weil (Simone Weil: A Fellowship...
March 21, 2021 at 16:32
In: Does Anybody In The West Still Want To Be Free?  — view comment
Quite true. Sustaining liberty in society requires the voluntary adoption of its citizens of essential obligations. If they don't, then it is up to th...
March 21, 2021 at 00:25
In: Does Anybody In The West Still Want To Be Free?  — view comment
John Adams in a speech to the military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending wit...
March 20, 2021 at 20:46
In: Why do people need religious beliefs and ideas?  — view comment
The structure of our universe is mathematical and logical. That is why I know if humanity survives, science and the essence of religion (facts and val...
March 20, 2021 at 19:00
In: Why do people need religious beliefs and ideas?  — view comment
I remember when I read Cosmic Consciousness I was struck by the idea that these experiences of cosmic consciousness happen around mid life. From an as...
March 19, 2021 at 23:57
In: The Meaning of Existence  — view comment
Hi there SmartIdiot While I agree that the meaning of our existence must be interpreted but what is the objective purpose of our universe? What if Man...
March 19, 2021 at 13:36
In: Why do people need religious beliefs and ideas?  — view comment
In all that you've read, I'd be interested to learn what is the one idea that reconciles all these opinions as ONE?
March 18, 2021 at 21:50
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