Tom Storm

Sorry Banno I'm not great on cryptic one word answers. I can't think of much that doesn't have a physical basis to it. Can you be a bit more nuanced? ...

What is the alternative?

There's a lot of truth to this. I've never been a fan of individualism but I also dislike group think and collectivist policing. But how the hell do y...

That makes a lot of sense. But when that meaning, however inadequate, becomes the worldview of a culture and all institutions and values are built aro...

:up:

I've spent my life looking for the oomph factor. Let us know if you find it.

It seems impossible, right? I've heard Bloom interviewed on this claim. Before he died he said that in old age he slowed down to 500 pages an hour.

Hmm. I can't say I can definitively explain great talent but it seems to me that some forms of autism (for instance) come with exceptional gifts and I...

Pretty sure that's not how they work. They are separate maxims for separate situations trading in the same thematic material. He who hesitates is lost...

No I don't see the problem. They are both true or both false. These are not logical absolutes, they are folk sayings applied to individual situations.

I don't see how this is a problem. They are both true. It is the context or utility that determines the truth value of the maxim. For instance- cleani...

Yep. Generic wise sayings are like off the rack suits. Hit and miss and not to be examined too closely.

Yes, this is also similar to a routine by the well known stand up comedian Slavoj Zizek - he uses these contradictions to argue that wisdom is useless...

It's been a while - some of her writing has a rare power. As soon as any idea is a consolation the tendency to falsify it becomes strong: hence the tr...

:cheer: How does Tom Waits explain evil? "There ain't no Devil, there's just God when he's drunk."

The quote I have is: The pure concept, however, or infinity, as the abyss of nothingness in which all being sinks, must characterize the infinite pain...

Nietzsche was a trouble maker. He spoke in aphorisms and metaphors. He obviously did not think God had died and was, to some extent, borrowing that ph...

Nicely put. Thank You.

Nice. I like that.

Agree. I do know that people tend to focus on destinations or results at the expense of how they got there. Sometimes the journey is where the truth i...

:ok:

I have no talent for metaphysics, I'll take what you say as a comment.

Ok - so I am not saying it works for me alone. I have no idea who it works for. I tend to hold a soft-deflationary theory of truth. I need an example ...

No need to overcomplicate. People have different views. Mine has served me well.

Part of the problem with CS Lewis is he only gave us three options. A fourth one would be that Jesus was a character in some apocalyptical religious t...

I hear you but the truth of those statements requires more reason than this for me to accept it. Not keen on journey metaphors. You see, for some peop...

What about the notion that truth is worth pursuing for its own sake? If you are not a philosophical pragmatist does truth have to have a function?

I think this is critical. The post-Enlightenment's zest for and confidence in proofs and reasoning comes right out of Christianity. Much nihilism thes...

No and it's interesting that you jump to conclusions like this. Is your high horse conveniently tethered nearby? They were mentioned because they happ...

As I said - it is easy to see why Bentley Hart likes FN. But the question remains for all of DBH's amplifications of FN's basic premise. Is it accurat...

Yes, what I sometimes hear from JP and even Jung is that God is not real but s/he may as well be (and this is a crude summary) because humans have bee...

My Dad was born in 1923. What he saw is bad enough. Still living - no thanks to 2 years in a German (WW2) camp.

Thanks. I am well aware of Peterson's work and I always find it fascinating how just about the only atheist embraced by believers is Nietzsche. Genera...

Yes I know - which is why I mentioned the 20th Century.

Cool. Let us know if it's clear and accessible.

Be careful what you wish for... Yes, I brushed up on Dennett and got the main gist of his thesis via qualia and other tit bits. Fascinating. I guess h...

:up: Maybe we can discuss this at another time in the right place.

I have no way of knowing if DD is right or wrong. I am assuming he knows more about this stuff than most people alive. The only thing I know about Den...

There it was hiding in plain sight. Sorry.

Is this similar to a neo-pragmatism? I'm unclear what you mean by adaptivity - do you mean where it has usefulness in a range of situations?

I hear you but surely Darwinism has also 'evolved' and the understandings that come out of it are much more complex and nuanced than some critics may ...

With Nagel you get the sense he's poised just short of a religious conversion. Having a brief look at his work from an ignorant layman's perspective, ...

Ta. I'm not keen on the overuse of evolutionary biology to explain all things either.

Nicely phrased. Are you able to provide an example of such a re-thought conclusion?

Quite. One wonders where ontology is useful, apart from in philosophy circles.

That's a helpful nugget of info, thanks.

I think real life is strange and always have. Strange/absurd. Philosophy sometimes seems to me to be the quest to make it seem less so.

What we choose is more likely a reflection of the time we live in. It is a rare person outside of academe who has a coherent framework based on philos...

The God of the Bible is a Mafia thug.

Yes. I guess this probably comes with the cultural turf if he is a Bible believing Christian.