Not really. Many forms of idealism argue for a universal mind (essentially a primitive instinctive consciousness) which holds object permanence and pr...
Any idea what happened? I enjoyed his energetic contributions. His level of commitment was impressive, even when I didn't share those commitments. I d...
For me this kind of thinking is an unnecessary complication. I've often thought morality is fairly simple. Morality is created by humans to facilitate...
I think @"180 Proof" is referring to the ongoing Enlightenment project of human knowledge which has incrementally dismantled the notion of god/s and t...
I've known too many people who are, for want of a better term, 'happy' doing things they find pleasurable to agree with this in its entirety. I think ...
Propaganda is just spin or lies designed to influence an audience - it might be for politics or for a religion. It need not involve nationalism. It's ...
Not sure this is relevant but I generally accept that humans are clever animals who use language to help manage their environment. As a consequence, m...
I understand. Yep, they are often angry. I think the issue is that often atheists have come to their views the hard way and have often been shunned by...
As an atheist, I don't think that generally there is an argument being put forward. The atheist is simply someone who is unconvinced that god/s exist ...
It's an aphorism - it's not meant to be taken as a law of physics. Incidentally, I have often worked in psychiatric hospitals (on and off for decades)...
I know it's an idiom. I simply thought the idiom didn't sit right. People can be content or cheerful when you think they should be miserable. As oppos...
I agree with you. I am often astonished at the range of knowledge and verbal acuity here, along with concomitant astonishment at the levels of dogma a...
I'm content and I have no interest in monkish things. I am a minimalist and have no real interest material things (except that which I deem necessary ...
We agree on this. Generally when I speak with Christians on omnipotence they generally hold to the view that god is 'maximally omnipotent'. Which mean...
It's addressed by this; And if you think differently then it is just a question of us holding different presuppositions. We differ. Which means we can...
You may need to broaden your understand of how Christianity works in practice. I grew up in the Christian tradition and no one I knew, clergy included...
I manage psychosocial services in the area of mental health, suicide prevention and substance use - medication works for many people and it works well...
Some would say there are no pills for depression. As someone who works with people who are living with depression, both treated and untreated, what yo...
I think that's correct. As an atheist I take this view too. I would even include scripture as evidence. How one regards or rates this evidence is a di...
I think this is a fairly widely held view - the evidence is embodied in the experience. My reservations with this as a crass naturalist, is what count...
I guess there is a view held by some that most of what people do in life is just filling in time until you die. I've never quite understood what bored...
I've always thought that Dali's 'Young Virgin Auto-sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chasity' is a beguiling landscape, especially if you are sharing ...
Probably accurate. But could we reignite the many groups which already exist in these spaces? Have they been so corrupted that they are not salvageabl...
How do we determine when it is unethical? Is advertising in general ok? Don't have anything in hand, but in essence I think sophistry is a skillful ar...
It's an interesting question. Perhaps, since you initiated the OP, you can define sophistry - but if it is just a synonym for organized deception, I'm...
Ok The Nazi's are not really current - unless you are referring to the neos. Is sophistry the issue? Or are you really talking about choreographed lie...
Care to explain? Can you provide examples? I'm interested in how marketing seems to have superseded sophistry in taking false arguments and adding sci...
Another common view of the subject - the Marxist critique of 'helping professions' I used to hold this view myself. I think you need to work on this p...
I don't know anyone who wants to form a political group, union or strong social circle (what is that, by the way?) The sorts of people who do tend to ...
Possibly a digression - idealists - people like Bernando Kastrup - would not deny any of this and would maintain that matter is the illusion, not mind...
I think mainly because the first cause or cosmological argument is an easy one to understand and make and enthusiastic Protestant apologists in the En...
Doesn't seem self-evident to me but I know this is a commonly held view. I've seen many people - dozens - recover from depression using counselling an...
Another perspective. I rarely encounter people who only look on the bright side or avoid the darkness within - I would have thought this was almost a ...
As a subject, the start of everything doesn't interest me much. I tend to think notions of beginnings and ends are human attempts to apply order to th...
No worries - and thank you for that reminder. I believe you are sincerely trying to work things out like many here. I don't think there's much more fo...
Is it important to have a view on intelligence? I tend to think of some people as being adept or gifted in certain contexts. There's not much more I n...
Comments