Tom Storm

As I've already said, it could be considered 'bad' by those who thinks physicalism is wrong and limited. Most of the usual critiques made against athe...

Sounds like you don't like him and are looking for 'evidence' to have a go at his work. No?

I think this is the most reasonable conclusion.

D may be crusty but never makes claims about truth and seems open to hearing where he might be wrong, so go to it. Seems to me he never really goes be...

I'm not making a logical argument, I am simply making the observation that physicalism is contested in philosophical circles and by some on this site....

Cool. The issue is you can find philosophers to support whatever belief you have. Whose assessment of Dillahunty would be useful? He does liaise with ...

:100: It certainly reads this way.

My understanding of DIllahunty is that he was a Southern Baptist who became an atheist after exposing himself to the arguments of skeptics and secular...

That's definitely the question. I wonder - if all that is good emanates from god's nature then what is meant to be the case when a person does good? I...

Hurt's character doesn't make a final conclusion. The film shows us an ending and we are to interpret it.

No question.

He as actually a committed anarchist too.

Christian apologists have also tried to deal with the Euthyphro dilema. Here's Dr William Lane Craig (one of the more competent). Dr. Craig: For those...

Ok. Can't see how any of this gets you to:

Ok. I see no need or evidence for this. Why go here? They were your words not mine. Can you provide examples of intelligence in operation that can't b...

This just leads to an old argument about Platonic realms and the nature of consciousness. I know there is some sympathy here from one or two people fo...

Good example - more footnotes to Thatcherism. Discourse shifted from community to individuals and then the idea that an ideal individual was best conc...

The salient point is people disparage science and aren't interested in the subject - I find that interesting in a so called science obsessed society.

Russell memorably wrote that Hegel's work 'illustrates an important truth, namely that the worse your logic, the more interesting the circumstances to...

That is certainly a very common view. I think it misses something. I would argue that the average person knows and cares little for science and often ...

Are you saying that the role of philosophy is essentially descriptive? How do you assess Midgley's paper?

Perhaps. My take is that people look for scapegoats more than questioning fundamentals. Being able to comprehend what has gone wrong may well be out o...

I've always been suspicious of system builders and great edifices of 'knowledge' built out of playing cards.

That is a vey intriguing idea. Nice.

Is it the case that when society works it is because the underlying philosophy works? Perhaps we only notice philosophy when there's clear conflict.

Thanks for this and forgive my fumbling response. Midgley's essay is extremely accessible and thought provoking but does not fill me with hope. Much a...

Maybe.

The best way is the one that works best for you. People have different learning styles.

Not sure we can say that depression is more common now than in pervious eras. I suspect depression was always a strong feature of human life. Today pe...

We'd have no excuse not to get our act together....

I think I got to page 5 but I don't remember a thing....

I love Brahms, sorry I was just trying to be humorous there with the gland comment, given people's need to parse experiences into categories. Both sym...

That is a compelling and helpful answer, 180, thank you.

I hear you. I don't share the poem's sentiment particularly, it's just one of the more memorable poems about death.

That's very good.

Aubade I work all day, and get half-drunk at night. Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare. In time the curtain-edges will grow light. Till then I ...

I agree. In your view would it be possible for a person to be wise without engaging with philosophy?

I'm left a physicalist when I hear Brahms's First, an acosmist when I hear his Fourth. I think there's something about that E minor first movement tha...

I saw this when it came out. The effects back then had a huge impact and mainstream cinema still had surprises. Yes, the story is: an academic regress...

Well, the problem for me is that a god hypothesis may well claim perfect moral authority but it makes no practical difference to morality in life. I a...

That's ok. Not your fault. Ok - we (well, some) expect God to be the foundation for all morality. I'll sit with this but it doesn't seem to provide a ...

Yes it is, so you don't need address that. What about my key point? No one can know what God wants so morality is still dependent on argument. Theism ...

I totally understand this but the gods represent an unattainable notion of perfect moral authority even if true, because no one can demonstrate what t...

The same thing is true for religious morality which varies according to the denomination, church, preacher/Iman, and varies with the subjective prefer...

It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf. Walter Lippmann I suspect that experience is often mistaken for...

Yep. I certainly do understand that. But a morality founded on a faith or a deity has no more substance than a secular one. Either way, it is based on...

Isn't that just 20th Century footnotes to Nietzsche? I'm not sure if moral beliefs were any easier to discern before rationalism - pre-democratic, ver...

Joshs, Interesting! I'm not sure this actually changes what I said, it only adjusts the terminology and perhaps clarifies a point or two. But I wasn't...

It's one thing for a person to accept the proposition that a God exists. It's quite another to accept that he exists AND is not a mixed up motherfucke...

All the trees and mice I have known have been heavily into Ayn Rand.