Tom Storm

I understand this point, but for me, 'meaningless scientism' or 'meaningful idealism' notwithstanding, it is still up to me to determine my values and...

1) Not so. My sister in-law currently has cancer - terminal - the oncologist has said a couple of times that mental attitude makes no difference to re...

Been thinking about this comment since you posted it. Bloody good question. And if some variation of idealism is true, I don't think it makes any diff...

Certainty is a bit like truth - it operates in different ways in different contexts and is hard to define. There is no property that all cases of cert...

It's an interesting area and I know there are strong opinions on this subject, but do you have any studies you can cite? I know experiences of trauma,...

Being conservative seems to be more of a disposition than a coherent set of beliefs. Neoliberal or 'right wing' (whatever that means today) may be som...

Thank you.

Given the absurd nature of many Bible stories, I wonder why people find the Trinity so hard to understand. A God who sacrifices himself to himself to ...

By transcends biological do you mean metacognitive capacities?

Well, a lot of folk have provided models for this (none of which I endorse) from Scientology to psychoanalysis. I think this line of thinking will alw...

Good summary but I wonder about this last bit. Is Hoffman all that clear about what the reality is in itself, outside of our 'desktop icons'? I though...

:wink: Problem solved.

Nice work. So when Jesus says things such as - 'Father forgive them for they know not what they do...' is he reasoning with himself?

Who said it was a jab at Janus ? Although that does have a nice alliterative ring to it.

Now, now... Not sure how you get I am not interested in philosophy from this question - which grew naturally out of a conversation earlier. Several pe...

I don't think J suggested it was simple. I took it as an acerbic and amusing observation.

:gasp:

Sally, Matthew, Mark, Rowena, Tony - there's five people I know well who live outside of a dog-eat-dog worldview. I know a few people who live in the ...

Wow. Nice reversal.

Are there not philosophers (I think @"joshs" may be one) who argue that the universe has no intrinsic qualities or characteristics and it is us who fi...

Why is there something rather than nothing is the common starting point of much Christian apologetics. Because for such folk this leads straight to th...

Yes. Science is not in the truth proclamation business (unlike, say religion) it holds tentative models based on the best available evidence at the ti...

Isn't this also close to indirect realism?

Could be. 'The unexamined life is not worth living' resonates with some and doesn't with others. If you don't share that impulse and you are not expos...

Are there useful points of comparison in this between Kuhn and Feyerabend?

You say the sweetest things...

Interesting. Water is H20 is Identity - same thing, different names George Washington is - insert the value statement of your choice - not about ident...

That's a tantalizing notion. What do you think lies at the heart of the distinction between the logical positivist's approach and Wittgenstein's? 'Sho...

So a sentence like, 'Jesus died for our sins' is presumably a sentence with no truth value.

I don't doubt it. But I've heard the same from people who have turned to Scientology, Mormonism, Pentecostalism, Buddhism, Yoga amongst others. Any be...

Blimey. Thanks.

Thanks for the clarifications here. So is Wittgenstein essentially subscribing to a correspondence theory of truth in this text?

I am agreeing with AC that we assume our values and categories apply to the universe at large.

No - I don't have time to go over the books and pull them out. If that's a problem for you feel free to ignore my comment. It's not my interpretation ...

Agree totally. So often we seem unaware that we contrive the definitions and rules and what's important to us and we assume this has cosmic ramificati...

How does this assist us?

This is reasonably well established, in as much as it is part of the official record left by historians such as Ian Kershaw in Nemisis and Joachim Fes...

Interesting argument. I didn't ask or answer any such questions in 4th grade. I think most of us live unexamined lives, derive value systems unsystema...

Sorry Moses, trying to fix a typo, I accidentally deleted my earlier response and have only restored some of it. I forget the rest. :wink:

Oops typo, meant to write totalizing not totalling. Fixed and accidentally deleted my response about subjective religious morality. Which included: Un...

And your answer is?

An old book says a thing. Why should anyone care what Genesis says?

Interesting you mention Stanley Fish, who is also famous for his observation (and essays) positing that Philosophy Doesn't Matter - the notion that ph...

The thing about the golden rule is not everyone grasps it. Yep, it's often quoted here by @"180 Proof" There are many variations. Another favourite: I...

:up: I don't think the golden rule is meant be viewed in such a concrete way. My understanding, and how it was taught to me, was always that you treat...

There's a much larger problem faced in determining if anyone is 'wrong' in any context. We know that Christian sects have been at war with each other ...

Well, that's a bit of good news despite the sadness around it. But 50% still means Trump can hold on. Boris was struggling to get 5%

I understood that perfectly. And the point is relevant to Trump whose lying still appears to suit the Republicans and their base, whereas the Tories n...

Was this because he was lying or was this because his lying no longer worked for the vested groups he represented?

It's good as far as it goes, but where does it go? I like the little Thompson I have read. But it seems to have limited applicability to most folk who...