I’m in SW Virginia so I do use y’all. Fun fact: my town of Lynchburg is home to Liberty University a gigantic super conservative Christian college tha...
So we are discussing moral virtue. Though I don’t deny that if there is one Source of goodness and beauty and thus might be related. Creating a skille...
I think I’ve solved my quandary with y’all’s help. (Got to love when you can use the 2nd person plural). It seems to me that the way we are talking ab...
So are you saying we gain happiness/contentment/nobility/validation from virtue for its own sake really isn’t for its own sake? Instead it’s just anot...
That’s a really great thought. I remember dealing with this when praying Zen meditation and reaching content but detached states. I would hardly say t...
I liked both your descriptions. They definitely point to virtue being uncommon. Even if Virtue is too high of a standard to be fully attainable these ...
Actually I think that’s the real question. Once you establish a concrete understanding of Virtue/morality/ethics then it would be pretty easy to see h...
Absolutely! I am in a perpetual state of cognitive dissonance. There is one very important common ground between Plato and Zen though which is awarene...
Thanks for the breakdown of the article. As a Platonist I’m starting to believe all sorts of things that seem ridiculous at first glance. Carrol seems...
You’ve been a philosopher longer than I’ve been living then (I’m 35) 2000 for me, but as a philosophy major we touched on Plato and his forms and then...
I agree that’s there’s no deductive proof. I hardly expect to every persuade someone away from an opposing view. Rather I use arguments to increase my...
This is well said and I agree! There is an intrinsic worth to every human being. You say it need not neccesarily come from God. That’s okay, because y...
Thanks. I find it really comforting to seperate illumination/salvation/divine presence from intellectual beliefs about God. It seems that one’s mere b...
By evidence you must mean empirical support. But I ran across a logical proof of Plato’s of the immortality of the soul I found quite compelling. I ap...
It's tricky. Isn't what we say we experience almost always a combination of direct impressions and our conception of them? In this case it is a combin...
On the surface illumination and enlightenment are simmilar concepts. Both are insights into the real. Though amoung Buddhism there is considerable dif...
So if I fast and contemplate, I have a 1:7 chance of winning (the odds of the game beginning on a Sunday). Which is far better than the chance of winn...
That's a great article!! Thanks. I think it's funny that the SEP is so appologetic for premodern views of things. It has simmilar tone on an excellent...
This was well put. You mention animals eating one another is the result of sin? That's a curious thought. I want to revisit this later. Anything I sho...
I'm trying to figure out this concept of telos/purpose. Isn't the telos of everything (object and person) primarily to exist? It is better to exist th...
Plato himself, in the apology, provides an answer to human teaching/guidance: "tell us who their improver is. The laws. But that, my good sir, is not ...
I don't know if this was your point, but you taught me an interesting thing about censorship. It sounds great in theory and it's a tempting way to adv...
Hmmm... yes there is a big difference from fantasy and rehearsal. Common sense would say Plato's wrong to try to censor everything. Obviously violent ...
Since we're talking of virtue I found this Saturday Night Live sketch hilarious. https://youtu.be/xCFkTmI_9kE It's how we would feel about many of our...
Ehh.. it's fine. I enjoy the meandering topics. Strictly talking about Platonism isn't that riveting. Plato sure as heck never stays on topic in the d...
I think fantasy and media (everything from written and oral stories to movies and video games) are highly related. If you like fantasizing about fetis...
I'll cite Plato here (surprise, surprise) He's obsessed with censoring the poets in order to remove false notions and acceptance of vice from effectin...
Your thoughts are helpful as always thanks. We pretty much agree that morality comes from following one's inner guidance. I say that this guidance com...
I'll drop the fake plato dialogue, was fun for only a few lines :) I had one last question I'd love to be able to ask Socrates. What about men who cla...
I enjoyed your explanation and defense of first cause, it was rather eloquent. I simply lack the time to keep up with all these interesting threads, u...
Yeah, Plato's dialectic method and approach in general can be quite rigid. It's seeks an objective perspective for truth. He's part of the reason why ...
(Resuming dialogue form) MM: Yes, the common people have many misconceptions of virtue. Socrates: Let us endeavor to establish 3 pillars of virtue on ...
As an Iraq veteran I thank you for saying that. My father fought in Vietnam. It does seem that there are two different nations: those who believe in t...
Okay, yes that is straightforward enough. I'm unable to answer this until I figure out what I mean by ideas (in general), by God and if it is even pos...
You may need to explain more because you are assuming particular meanings to ideas and to God and perhaps meaning something different between idea and...
Hmm... so our lives are narratives? I think this is intuitively true. In common language we talk about taking paths or ones story all the time. Indivi...
By forfeit rationality do you mean following empathy and compassion over objective reason? In there is no divine guidance then perhaps your right. Aga...
I did some brief digging into Divine Command Theory. There's lots there. More to add to my reading list :) But I think asking for rational basis alone...
I ran into this exact same problem with Plato. Then Plato has the analogy of the eye which I posted on, but it relates here just as well. The eye is t...
Ahhh... clever The God that our reasonable, logical mind conceives of naturally falls short of infinity and absoluteness. Yet intuitively we sense (bu...
So the strongest definition I've stumbled into thanks to this forum is that Reality is that which is made real by the Source of all reality (the Monad...
You are right, but this is a counter intuitive truth. It would seem, on surface, that best way to promote morality is by force and by heavy progranda....
Plato's political theory is completely unworkable. I think Plato meant the Republic on both a literal political level and on allergory to the individu...
This is very true. Fear is a tool used heavily both by the Right and Left in politics. Thanks, I appreciated your defense far more than the redneck in...
That's pretty funny and very true. It's not fair to characterize gun owners and dumb rednecks. Fair point. But there is a big difference from being ab...
As long as self defense doesn't infringe on the rights of others to live and be free of violence. I do wonder what Locke would say about mass shooting...
Thanks that's interesting. I worry in today's world that giving untrained people (maybe with marksmanship but without tactical trainging) small arms i...
Comments