Tom Storm

Yes, that's my read too.

Yes, I knew people like this in the late 1970s (I was a kid). They were Christian socialists who located their ideas in teh pre-enlightenment period. ...

Indeed. :up:

Possibly. I think he takes the Gospels as a proto-radical Marxism.

I think the argument goes something like this. Care to criticise how it's laid out? Premise 1: Naturalism explains everything in terms of physical cau...

Sure, that’s why I think of it as a heuristic, with limitations. And let’s face it: any little maxim that tries to universalise is probably doomed, if...

You tell me.

No that’s a reductionist account, Hart arrives there via philosophical arguments not dogma. He is a Neoplatonist.

Do we know this? Isn’t the question of consciousness still a contested space? But yes on the normativity issue. Nice work. Yes, I think this touches o...

This is an entirely different subject. Again, I'm not much interested in how the argument might be used by some, nor in refutations of it. Hart would ...

Yes, he identifies as a neoplatonist. Interesting. Although Hart identifies as a socialist, he mocks MAGA and openly disparages evangelicals which he ...

Ha! This is exactly what I was saying about this to a friend yesterday. I always paraphrase it as, “If you believe in grammar, you’re a theist.”

Nice. I guess one could go onto argue that language already presupposes access to logical form, universals, truth, and intentionality. You can’t build...

Thanks. As I said, I’m not trying to debunk the argument. I’m trying to get a better account of it. What you’re doing is reading over my very elementa...

I have no expertise in metaphysics or ontology, but my sympathies have led me toward simple-minded anti-foundationalism. Exploring this is for another...

Say some more, I’m not sure I follow. But if you’re saying that the GR is culturally located, then that’s probably true. Although I suspect there are ...

I think the argument is meant to be something like this: P 1: Naturalism explains everything solely in terms of physical causes, laws of nature, and e...

Yes, that seems to be right. My sympathies these days are with the latter. Can you sketch out the argument being suggested that naturalism can't expla...

Certainly our experience of the world suggests patterns, but it’s unclear to me how these reflect the universe itself versus how we function as observ...

I think that’s the right point. The reality, however, is that ethics is complex, and the Golden Rule is a simplification or, perhaps a heuristic. I do...

No need to be sorry, some clever people have put forward this argument over the years. And it shows up on this site every now and then. Some still acc...

Yes, that’s the response I have often given to this common objection.

Prayer might be seen as living communion with God, while meditation is a reflective or preparatory exercise that may incline one to prayer, yet is not...

I’m interested in the same thing. I don’t think it’s correct for you to suggest that because I disagree, I’m interested in a wrong aspect of this disc...

That sounds like a kind of argument from authority. The authority in this instance is the insider, whose world the outsider could not possibly underst...

Are we anywhere near this yet? If you want household chores properly done, you hire someone to do them or do them yourself. Robot vacuums are pretty s...

Yes. One of the most powerful tools of the status quo and certain corporate interests is the idea that all is hopeless, all parties are the same. If p...

I think there are many people in religion and politics for whom rigid categories and binary thinking make sense. It’s how they see the world. For them...

Of course. But you overstate this. They might take issue with some or several things, not all things. I would have serious concerns with someone who i...

That’s obviously your strong opinion. But I don’t think doubt is the same thing as dishonesty or bad faith. Nor do I think it can be shown that certai...

I’m essentially with you on this. A lack of doubt is a red flag for me. People without doubt tend toward fundamentalism or zealotry. Certainty, and de...

It means: If you treat force as primary, the inner doer dissolves, revealing a grammatical habit mistaken for explanation. Can't you see that?

Or they promise limitations and deliver salvation. Depends on your point of view. :wink:

The only earphones I’ve ever owned are the little ones that sit inside your ear, like suppositories.

Hmm, almost anyone can make that point and then go on to assert virtually anything about a given matter with impunity. There are few things more tedio...

I think such matters boil down to intersubjective agreement. This is never unanimous, there are always dissenters, and the mores or systems we have, w...

Some might consider them related. :wink:

Yes, as I said earlier, the resurrection is subject to as many critical interpretations as Moby Dick. I suppose that suggests the matter isn’t really ...

Nicely worded. Thanks. The issue with these sorts of interpretations is that they remind me of differing readings of Moby Dick or any great novel. Wel...

Where do we find morality? I know there are laws.

Well, I did point out that there were “innumerable” other interpretations so not necessarily. Really? How so? One only has to look as the Christian tr...

I think the second quote is an articulation of the first. It would make sense for the religion of one's cultural background to capture something the o...

Oh dear... go well, Wayfarer, we'll miss you. :up::up:

I think many belief systems cheerfully overcome facts: that’s a function of belief systems, whether religious or not. I think this applies to football...

My own answer is to aim for balance and try to be aware of what is happening inside. I also think (and this is also a personal choice) that one's emot...

I'm sure he would, it just seemed to be a similar formulation with history standing in for science. I often wonder, in such cases, why Christianity ra...

Thank you. I'm not honest so much as limited in scope. Again, that may apply to some forms of atheism, but it is not a sufficiently consistent line of...

Forgive my quick response. Sounds like Allison holds to a variation of the Non-Overlapping Magisteria between history and faith. I think there are a l...

I’m interested in all religion; always have been. It's an easy subject to engage with given its ubiquity around the planet and it's influence on geopo...

Yes, fair point.