praxis

At the end of the day we’re all slaves to our conditioning and ideologies. If someone is clever enough to press our buttons they’ll press them, becaus...

My dog constantly wants to play, though I've known a dog that didn't have a playful bone in its body. I assume it got that way from human neglect.

I suppose that I could list all the traditions in life that I think are fine. It would be a long list. I'm pretty sure that I suggested it can be bad ...

I finally get it, thanks! I'm my own Ultimate Authority.

Maybe if it were possible for us to step back far enough we'd clearly see the Truth of Eternal Recurrence. Everyone's experienced déjà vu, after all. ...

I said it was a rumor, not that it was God's Truth.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/The_Selfish_Gene3.jpg/220px-The_Selfish_Gene3.jpg Hey @"Noble Dust" Is Dawkins my Ultimate Author...

That's just his genes talking. Rumor has it they tend to be selfish.

Some dogs are more playful than others. All dogs are playful?

I’m in the middle of a book which theorizes that hunter gatherer’s had to be forced into agriculture because it was a much less desirable lifestyle. P...

Generally, my idea of progress would be degrowth/sustainability and a shift in values towards well-being over materialism. Not a popular view, even wi...

I guess that I can only speak for myself but I’m not optimistic. Apparently, not even my ultimate authority (Pinker?) can convince me to believe in in...

The point that I was trying to make is that a religious community and traditionalism in general is constraining, both in openness to new ideas and in ...

I don’t particularly admire Pinker and wasn’t jumping to his defense. I just don’t remember his argument for progress being elevated to capital P Prog...

Having recently worked on speeding up some websites I know that embedded YouTube videos significantly increase load time because of all the added Java...

Ad homs can appeal to good character as well as bad. In any event, you seem to be endorsing bias against religion.

This isn’t claiming “inevitable betterment over time”. If you’ve somehow shown that it is making that claim in other posts I’ve missed it.

An ad hominem is a kind of explanation for the inconsistency I guess.

In the OP? I don’t see the claim.

I agree that a monk may be susceptible to recruitment into military service due to the conditions that you mention. Fundamentally though, a monk is de...

I don’t remember, does Pinker claim inevitable betterment over time? I seem to recall warnings about anti-enlightenment (I think that’s the term he us...

My assessment is primarily based on his explanation that the statement is “based largely upon personal experience” and the assumption that that experi...

Curious that I find that surprising. Maybe it’s because he stated that “religions are experts in causing harm” and historically you seem to look down ...

I'm not going to go back and try to figure out what depth you're disappointed with. If you have anything specific in mind let me know, or not.

I'm perfectly willing to go into more depth but I can't tell exactly where you want to go.

I'd be surprised if it weren't.

All the wrinkles and curiosities of the Muslim narrative are centered around an authority figure, an ultimate authority, no less. If there's an ultima...

I don’t think much depth is needed to point out progress, at least where religion is concerned. The separation of church and state for instance. Good ...

A Muslim has faith in their religious authorities. I suppose that you could say that I have tentative faith in people and things but nothing like reli...

It's the wrong way for believers or followers to think about it, certainly, because if they do it will tend to be less useful. When people realize tha...

Religion has always been handy for uniting people with common values and purpose in mass. That capacity is particularly useful in war. It was useful d...

Not at all, because in a sense we are always dying or never existed, and in the same way even God is always dying or has never existed. Everything cha...

Not sure how it covers the right to be free while infected with a, shall we say concerning, virus.

If the enlightenment freed people from the constraints of religion then wouldn’t they also have the capacity to think independently about the progress...

Yes and no. Yes that the existence of atheists can be used to strengthen religious identity by highlighting their otherness, but otherness can just as...

It can be seen as progressive in the sense that as civilization developed at some point (I think China was first) power was given based on merit rathe...

No, it’s the govament. Speaking of which, they just forced Americans to be prisoners in their own homes for over a year, wear masks etc, and all the 3...

Are you an Auster fan too?

I’ve exhausted my courtesy allotment, in other words. Fine, be that way. :lol:

Perhaps prohibition resulted in clearer heads.

I don’t know how to answer that because the problems or grievances you mention won’t be solved any time soon. In fact I think they’re likely to only d...

I’m no political analyst but one of DeSantis’ tactics seems to be redefining ‘elite’ to mean anyone, anyone with a pulse, who merely upholds the tyran...

When I look up “open borders” just now to reassure myself that I have a clue to its current meaning the results are what I assumed, unrestricted acces...

I think you missed the point. I seriously doubt you believe someone like Trump when they say that the border is currently open and this fear inspires ...

If you say so.

Your suspicions don't entirely correspond with my experience. Though I'm on the independent side I've always lacked self-confidence and as much as I'd...

It was just a matter of time before the Great Chain was unleashed. Should we want to be chained up?

My father was a staunch conservative and I've always thought that I would be more conservative with increased age, just as folk wisdom suggests. That ...

I was just reading DeSanctimonious's new book and this seemed to click into place. In it he claims with emphatic repetition how the woke progressive e...

How do you figure?