Tom Storm

That's be my guess too.

Jack - analysis/paralysis. It is not very complex. If someone is in despair (whatever you wish to call it) and feeling chronic emptiness, it is likely...

What you describe is depression and requires compassionate treatment.

The problem is in some countries a particularly primitive expression of religion is a massive influence on generating retrograde social policies and l...

Therapy is no different to any other human activity. You can get good and bad practitioners and models. Generally people need to shop around to find a...

Just that the conversations to my taste are often terribly stilted and stylized - compared to those I have in real life. People tend to exaggerate or ...

I've known a few politicians. This is lamentable. Really the primary job of a politician is not to give the game away. Looking strong is the easiest w...

Don't know. I am one of the uneducated so I'm a potential customer.

My point is that they yell about the minuscule amount they know and don't listen and learn. Hence the trouble we have all around the world of hostile ...

Errr... no. The general argument is not just contradiction it is content. Barker's quote, which has been around for decades before he was born, refers...

Yes, that is entirely true. I am dismayed by fundamentalism and blind faith and most of it is not religious. Richard Dawkins makes his points pretty w...

I can be a Methodist in certain situation or a Presbyterian in others, it depends on whether there is alcohol. Sorry.... I'm a child.

Thanks. I'm with you. I thought you were heading elsewhere. I guess which Muppet category depends upon context. They are all potentially simultaneousl...

Can you expand?

Yes, nice. Truth in the end is an umbrella word used to describe a very wide range of relationships. We don't know anything much about truth but we kn...

How do you demonstrate that?

That's a courageous thing to say. My own view is that people do not reflect often enough on two things. 1) on how much they really know about somethin...

This idea is much in the public discourse already. Even just those people who write interminable complaints about Disney and its vacuuming up and vand...

Most theologians, priests and preachers I have met hold this view. For some famous examples of Christian thinkers, in chronological order Paul Tillich...

I think many books have been done on this subject already. Das Kapital being one of the more famous examples. I think this this is one of the great re...

Don't forget that many forms of Christianity do not accept the idea of a devil or demons or any of the cartoon violence in Revelation. For many Christ...

It's generally the job of philosophers to be critical of their times and the ideas in current circulation. Society is so atomized these days that it m...

Ok. What are you saying then. It isn't clear to me.

I wouldn't take it for granted that this is a given. If you are getting to the essence of a person then this is frequently appreciated by them. Gettin...

I wasn't interested in that argument, just the steps you were taking. The steps people take are often more significant than their destination. All you...

Interesting claim. How would you demonstrate this?

It remains the case that there is no stronger a case for atheism than there is for theism. That isn't the point we are addressing. The point is; what ...

Of course. I am regularly wrong about most things.

I don't see the connection between there being no meaning or value and not having any personal meaning or values. The entire point of Camus is that if...

I like some of your points here. No doubt that a person with a reason for living will more likely endure even in a concentration camp. Therapist Dr Vi...

Unanswerable questions. Depends on the religion, the country, the culture, the individual.

Yeah. There is a thesis in this subject and we have yet to define terms. Modernism is long gone and was a hugely influential movement that ultimately ...

You really don't understand my point. I like your use of the word confabulation. Paul, you made a rather dubious observation that you believe because ...

No one denies this. Responsible scientists do not. The best answer to the question of abiogenesis is we don't yet know how it happened. But filling th...

Really? We were talking about epistemology and now you are talking about parenting. Where is the connection? Would you tell a child that their dream a...

A fairy.

Inaccurate use of the term cherry picking. I was simply restating the point you made and providing an assessment of it. The fact that you also have ot...

This kind of idea comes up all the time, doesn't it? Lots of things exist as linguistic concept already but that doesn't make them 'real', it makes th...

The list of books for which this might be true would be immense.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. What is the reason you are dismayed by this?

Perhaps we are to assume he was too busy being estranged from life, experiencing absurdity to truly see other people.

There are other problems inherent in defining groups only in opposition to another (in this case dominant) group.

I've explained it several times. Let's move on. :smile:

I've heard this quote for decades attributed to many people including Twain. “Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conce...

"The situation is hopeless. We must take the next step." - Pablo Casals - cellist

I think that is a decent insight. Your belief is not supported by a strong epistemology and amounts, if you don't mind me saying to: "I believe becaus...

I'm sorry I am not able to make this clear enough. My fault. What I'm trying to say is that God is an occult notion and Socrates (even if he never liv...

I hear you.

Minimising work is often a key driver of human behaviour - I suspect we are hard wired for shortcuts. This seems to be the wellspring of most technolo...

Fair enough. Fundamentalists are monomaniacs and it is generally beyond our capacity to address this, whether it be political fundamentalists or Jungi...