baker

Who says they are??

What does Nagarjuna's tetralemma have to do with the Noble Eightfold Path?

Could you sketch out how exactly, or point me to a source? It's not clear this would generally even be considered a belief, but rather, knowledge, com...

The right-wingers say that the "self-serving and devious" are the leftists. The leftists say that the "self-serving and devious" are the right-wingers...

I wasn't thinking about epistemic egoism in such socially dramatic terms. I was speaking in reference to your claim "I am advocating for some rigorous...

It's common sense to make this distinction. From what you've said so far, you're making it as well. Otherwise, you couldn't say things like "Faith is ...

We are, but the usefulness of this freedom is yet to be seen. It's right up there with "Everyone is free to buy themselves a private jet."

Because proposition no. 8 and its implications don't seem to be in line with a materialist/physicalist/realist point of view.

Who exactly are the "innocent masses" and the "self-serving and devious"? Different political options have different ideas about who those are.

Told by whom?? Where on earth do you get these ideas about Buddhism????

Well, do you want democracy or not? If the innocent masses should get to have a say, why shouldn't the expert psychologists and mass-manipulators have...

If the postmodern ideas would be restricted to country clubs and other special elite venues, there wouldn't be a problem. Postmodernism is a kind of l...

The description of those behaviors is culturally specific, though. Where I live, there are no "butch females" or "tomboys", but there are "girls that ...

It is precisely in relation to postmodernism that it is evident that higher education should have stayed reserved for those for whom it was originally...

My point is that being "open to not fully knowing" is a precarious position to be in, a liability that those who are still relatively healthy and weal...

I said earlier: I think being more self-aware makes one a loser, a weakling. Unless, of course, one already has a massive ego. Do you think a poor, ug...

And what good does it do them?

You seem to think that people are born innocent tabula rasas, and that they are helplessly, haplessly thrown into the jaws of propaganda that swallows...

Elites tend to be prone to decadence. Which is one more reason why run of the mill people should not get involved with philosophy.

No, it's a description.

But they don't see it that way. They believe they are being objective, neutral. (So do most people anyway.) Sure, but whose problem is that? The Chris...

"The rich lady can cut in front of me in the waiting line in the grocery store, I must let her do so, because I am inferior, and in this world, might ...

Have you ever tried to be "open to not fully knowing" when you're in a precarious situation with either your health or socioeconomically, or even both...

So there is an infinite number of points between any two points?

What you're describing is epistemic egoism. It's the ideal of epistemic autonomy. Given that we're not living in a vacuum, epistemic autonomy is not p...

Like I said earlier: Neither those above oneself nor those beneath oneself are open to being convinced by the arguments one gives. I think the existen...

Could be. My casual observations: -- Americans use "belief" more frequently in ideological contexts, -- "belief" is an extremely loaded term, -- middl...

"Unwarranted" on whose terms? "Belief despite evidence" according to whose idea of evidence? This is what happens when you throw out all notions of su...

Within the same socioeconomic class, there is still a power hierarchy, depending on socioeconomic context. Would, for example, your boss be persuaded ...

You seem to think that the Buddha and his followers are or should be Renaissance men (and that their outlook is or should be scientific materialism).

But only good people get to heaven, people who do no evil. Do you know any actual monotheistic doctrine that states that evil is due to free will? Tho...

_He_, the pro-lifer. Oh, the irony.

It seems to me that this is how (philosophically uneducated) people usually mean it. But this has nothing to do with rationality, but with the power h...

Sometimes, that's the case. Other times, denial, rationalization, compartmentalization are at work. Christian women are, officially, pro-life, but man...

Then they are not enemies to begin with, so your point is moot. And Western countries have never respected Russia to begin with. A country that active...

But only for as long as we're relatively healthy and wealthy.

It has nothing to do with "narrow-mindedness", but with focus. “Both formerly & now, it is only stress that I describe, and the cessation of stress.” ...

You're not serious.

You still didn't answer my question. Why do you think this has anything to do with not being taught critical thinking in school? If anything, I think ...

Really, Smith? This low you go?

In order to maintain the relatively high standard of living for some people, many other people have to live a relatively low standard. So that's not r...

Name 3 examples of such sages.

What is "human nature"? Who is the authority on deciding that?

Ought we look to others for moral guidance?

Please explain this further. How is such explicit awareness of what is already implicitly involved in sense-making an ethical advantage? How is it an ...

They do tend to come across as cold, aloof, uninterested, or at least what they say doesn't seem to have any real-world application. It's why we can r...

Yes, it tends to happen. I think we often tend to look to philosophers (and politicians, artists, etc.) for truth, for moral guidance, we tend to list...

Do postmodernists care? As long as they have tenure, they don't. /dissing pomo

In the Buddhist context, ignorance refers specifically to the ignorance of the Four Noble Truths.

Yes, it's called a sense of entitlement. After getting bitten, people don't confuse a rope for a snake. It's that before they got bitten for the first...