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baker

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Must must must. What is it with this must?? Presumably a philosopher, as a lover of wisdom, will act wisely with his time and resources and won't reha...
January 28, 2021 at 14:06
I suspect that commonality has to do with more than just some moral and epistemic egoists/narcissists discovering that they have something in common. ...
January 28, 2021 at 13:59
What do you mean? My grandmother was a Catholic her whole life, and then renounced it in her 70's. Apparently, some idea had become so prominent to he...
January 28, 2021 at 13:52
How does this refer to anything I said? Dismissing politics right off the bat! Yay!
January 28, 2021 at 13:50
Why on earth should that be a problem for someone who doesn't believe in objective morality?
January 28, 2021 at 13:32
My point is that if one doesn't believe in objective morality, then how can one hope to get along with others in the pursuit of some common goal (whic...
January 28, 2021 at 13:31
Presumably a philosopher is still a human and still in the process of learning, so to him, there are ideas that are new, even if someone else might ha...
January 28, 2021 at 13:28
In: The self  — view comment
At this point, I am moral-realism-adjacent. I think most people are moral realists, but are aware that it is taboo to actually declare oneself as such...
January 27, 2021 at 15:54
How can one do politics if one belives that?
January 27, 2021 at 15:42
What do you mean by that?
January 27, 2021 at 15:40
Presumably a philosopher will stay open to new ideas indefinitely, so that any conclusion will, at most, be just temporary.
January 27, 2021 at 15:12
Indeed, this is why a philosopher cannot be a politician, nor a politician a philosopher. A philosopher is supposed to "give all ideas a fair shake", ...
January 27, 2021 at 14:48
How can political discussion on an internet forum be productive and effective? Political discussion can be productive and effective in, for example, a...
January 27, 2021 at 14:44
Yes, absolutely. In European countries, things are not so either-or or black-and-white as in the US. Although there is a less or more visible trend to...
January 27, 2021 at 14:24
At best, it's just a useful heuristic for navigating social life more easily.
January 27, 2021 at 14:20
In order to understand capitalism, you need to put aside your socialist sensitivities. In capitalism, people are expendable. It's about living for an ...
January 27, 2021 at 14:17
Parents and teachers can come up with all sorts of justifications for beating kids up ...
January 27, 2021 at 14:09
You're the one making an argument in favor of antinatalism. That means you have to find justifications for why people should not have children, and yo...
January 27, 2021 at 12:24
You think wearing a minskirt and high heels is _not_ a case of _not_ being brainwashed??
January 27, 2021 at 12:22
The middle group, AKA the "fence sitters". A decidedly derogatory term. These people are a liability because they are undecided, so it's no wonder the...
January 26, 2021 at 11:42
Are you familiar with the anti-psychiatry movement? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-psychiatry
January 26, 2021 at 10:55
Well, you're the one making an argument in favor of antinatalism, so you have to find a way around people refusing to live monkish lifestyles.
January 26, 2021 at 10:42
In: The self  — view comment
When one grows up as the only non-Catholic among Catholics and is bullied by them, and tries to make sense of it by reading a lot of Catholic literatu...
January 25, 2021 at 20:26
How on earth is wearing a minskirt and high heels a case of _not_ being brainwashed??
January 25, 2021 at 20:12
Who hasn't?
January 25, 2021 at 20:11
Or because you're just not an artist? :p Oh, the drama, the horror! Don't you find it unsettling that unhappy people seem more interesting? Why is tha...
January 25, 2021 at 20:08
Tolkien's conception of the elves fits the bill. One hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an elf.
January 25, 2021 at 20:02
I think that in part, it's about the mystery of art: How is it that a thoroughly screwed up person can create works of art that people are so delighte...
January 25, 2021 at 19:23
What's the difference? The difference would be salient if either of them would feel oppressed by their outfit. Quite likely, neither of them do. Rebel...
January 25, 2021 at 18:31
Further from your link: /.../ Several other writers and scholars have challenged the evidential basis for Cohen's and others' views about Dodgson's se...
January 25, 2021 at 16:53
Would you say that in the process of giving up the bad habit, you always had control over your intentions and your intentions were exactly what you wa...
January 25, 2021 at 16:35
A more skeptical person would suspect that something isn't right here.
January 25, 2021 at 16:32
Hardly any word/concept has been so debated as "natural". Why should social forces that are at work in human society be somehow not natural? If, say, ...
January 25, 2021 at 16:30
Happy people fuck up the planet, and that's okay?
January 25, 2021 at 16:15
The mental action of desiring to help someone doesn't automatically lead to a particular verbal or bodily action. There is an element of choice inbetw...
January 25, 2021 at 16:14
No, the First Noble Truth says "There is suffering", not "Life is suffering". Then do reflect how come these, on average, happy (although unenlightene...
January 25, 2021 at 16:10
Why would such lives contain far more undeserved suffering than pleasure? Can you explain? You are seeking to make an argument in favor of antinatalis...
January 25, 2021 at 16:04
I agree. But I don't see how your attitude is conducive to inspiring others to change. What do you mean by "less energy"? For many people, such change...
January 25, 2021 at 15:49
Here's the sequence again: good intention: to help A bad/inappropriate action: take away A's phone bad outcome: A misses an important call Another one...
January 25, 2021 at 15:45
It's a dilemma if our aim is to judge, condemn, and punish others (or ourselves). For all practical intents and purposes, the primary use of a moral t...
January 25, 2021 at 15:29
Personally, I believe that there are three kinds of actions, depending on where/how in reference to the person they occur: mental, verbal, and bodily;...
January 25, 2021 at 14:48
What a splendid attitude to have, so conducive to making a positive change in the world and bringing about world peace!
January 25, 2021 at 14:35
Ah, dragons have high standards.
January 25, 2021 at 14:32
This is incomplete. The sequence should be: Good intentions, bad action, bad outcome, and wrong. Your intention to help is good. But there is a consid...
January 24, 2021 at 23:20
You conflate what it means to be the opposition in politics with opposition to truth.
January 24, 2021 at 23:11
In: The self  — view comment
Do you know how many ideas there are about what "the meaning of Buddhism at the basic level" is? As many as there are people willing to entertain them...
January 24, 2021 at 23:07
The Jains propose to have a solution for this. They aspire to live the lifestyle you describe and they seem to be happy with it.
January 24, 2021 at 22:53
No, it doesn't. Life Isn't Just Suffering Associating with run of the mill people (the average) is conducive to suffering, which is why one is told to...
January 24, 2021 at 22:48
By deciding what your purpose for reading those texts is, and then reading those texts with that purpose in mind. And making notes and reviewing them ...
January 24, 2021 at 22:38
Actually, early Buddhism teaches something similar (and it prescribes celibacy as a prerequisite for liberation from suffering). Or perhaps this is ba...
January 24, 2021 at 22:33