Tom Storm

I think almost everyone has the capacity for atrocity. It simply takes the 'right' situation or triggers - war; holocausts; dictatorships, extremes of...

I wonder if our capacity for atrocities is simply the shadow side of our intellect. It's understood chimps murder. They also patrol their boundaries a...

I think that's a fair summary. I certainly struggle with the idea of people claiming to have some kind of innate knowledge of the numinous. And it see...

Nice work.

Indeed. Ethics are either a code of conduct set by a culture, based on values, traditions and evolving attitudes, or they are handed down by a transce...

I think you missed it.

Of course. Not everyone is a bitter cynic :wink: The question was to Joshs, who provided an answer which was not a patronizing bourgeois response. Peo...

Sure, the social order is set by what the culture determines as valuable. If a rights based view, or a religious morality predominates, the order is l...

I don't set goals.

I'm happy to condemn it. I didn't give you a full answer. I generally take an imperfect secular humanist view that actions which cause harm to human f...

Yes, what evidence do we have that god is a moral being - other than in the fan fiction (scripture), which by most accounts seems to suggest the oppos...

Yes, especially the role of Christian nationalism in Putin's actions. There are media stories now about how some Trump supporters are pro-Putin becaus...

Only Holmes joke I know is this: Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal and a bottle of wine they lay down for the ni...

Thanks, I will mull over this. I am slightly familiar with his work and with Focusing.

Indeed. I tend towards anti-foundational skepticism to use a rather grand term for my mostly quotidian outlook. I often find what Joshs writes absolut...

That's a nice line.

New Atheism came out of the post 9/11 era where the West to some extent rediscovered how dangerous theism can be. A market popped up - perhaps further...

I don't think it is a movement, it was a time and place publishing phenomenon mainly. It probably also includes Michel Onfray who wrote, 'The Atheist ...

Interesting. I wonder how. Apologies for misunderstanding.

The issue isn't always truth, it's intention and deception. The content of a sophist and a truth teller will often look much the same.

Poetry.

For me these would be a definition of mediocre philosophy and even worse science. Philosophy spends significant time and energy on working to clarify ...

People's personalities and cognitive abilities vary too. I suspect it's not just that some people take offence, or are less mirthful; they are wired d...

Satire is highbrow populism. That's passive-aggressive criticism, I'd say.

A very considered answer, thank you. Nicely put.

I like humour that is spontaneous and I can be pretty ribald myself, but I generally hate stand up comedy, 'funny movies' or anything overly contrived...

I like what you write here. Quick question however - When did humans last have a culture that did not contain its share of unreality and alienation? O...

Yes and no. The idea of god being dead, with all foundational values collapsing, is on the table in this discussion. And Weber's idea of disenchantmen...

Exactly and a good illustration of how theism offers no objective basis to morality. It simply allows a believer to cherry pick or intuit what they th...

I think this is a questionable trope. There's not a bigotry or human rights violation going that theism didn't enthusiastically enact or participate i...

The beginnings of life on earth are mostly irrelevant to my experience and I have a dislike of systems and theories. :smile: I am more concerned with ...

Obviously humans are creatures of empathy and caring which are a significant part of our nature - often limited or shaped by tribalism - in and out gr...

And visa versa, surely? You seem to be arguing in favor of a foundational or transcendental guarantor for 'goodness' which you might consider to be an...

But this warm puddle (or whatever theory one chooses) is not evolution. Abiogenesis is a separate matter. Abiogenesis may lead to evolution but evolut...

Interesting perspective. What are your thoughts on phenomenological approaches?

And here we have the essential question that seems to be at the heart of every second thread. :wink:

Darwin's theory (to my knowledge) has never attempted to explain life on earth. People using evolution as a creation story are wrong. Evolution explai...

New Atheism became a marketing term in publishing after it was coined and seemed to resonate, for good or ill. It doesn't refer to a movement. I never...

I understand this and agree. But perhaps one can also be dogmatic about not being dogmatic and end up sinking in a quicksand of mutually opposed world...

Say some more.

Not speaking for Banno, but for me culture (for all its problems) is built out of cooperation and the overarching goal is to include as many stakehold...

I can't disagree with this sentiment and it has, without the benefit of reading much Foucault, been my general approach. :up:

I always thought Cyberpunk was over exposed and that everything was footnotes to Blade Runner and William Gibson. It's really just the tropes of film ...

No real idea. But given that cause can't be established for certain what legs does 'determinism' have?

Good point. I wasn't thinking Kant or transcendentals. I meant we hold the concept as an assumption and get on with things. We presuppose it works (pr...

That's probably true. But I tend to work to minimize the inclination by not reinforcing hierarchies unless I can't avoid it. :wink:

Yes, I think you are right. It would be absurd to disregard 'causality' even if it hangs on custom or habit. I am not philosopher but I have generally...

Yes, you made that clear earlier. You might note I wrote 'humans are animals' not 'just' - this suggests your own hierarchical sensibilities on this m...

I can't say this works for me. I wonder if HB had this in mind. Humans are animals. No matter how sophisticated our thinking becomes we will be sophis...

Evolutionary? How so?