Tom Storm

I don't take credit for being a cheerful. I don't think we can take full credit for our emotional lives. Not really. Most people in Australia seem to ...

Thanks for the nuanced response.

Ok. In that case, no they often don't. I particularly appreciate the advice it provides me on how to select and treat my slaves. :wink:

I don't have philosophical background but you've concisely summarized a reaction I had to Rorty which I assumed might have been my lack of philosophic...

Sounds like a case of this:

Isn't this the self-help Ouroboros in action? The more unhappy people seem to be, the more the market peddles solutions. Well Jordan Peterson, a recen...

A common enough tool. Consider the West's decades of bombastic Cold War rhetoric and syphoning of funding out of the public sphere into military spend...

I have often wondered this myself. I tend to think that aesthetics and emotion are foundational to people's beliefs - explaining the ideas they are dr...

Can’t disagree with that.

The issue is that there is no objective basis for morality under religion; it always comes down to personal preferences or interpretation of what gods...

You raise some good points. I don't want to create the impression that I live in a Panglossian or Disneyesque place of happiness and tap dancing. But ...

Thanks Mark,

:up:

This is territory you understand very well. Maybe you can help me tweak my position here. Camus insists on seeing Sisyphus happy. Is this something ap...

I take nihilism to be a lack of intrinsic meaning or purpose - a lack of transcendent meaning. I will concede however that people view nihilism variou...

It’s not intrinsically meaningful.

Most of my days are filled with joy despite my position that life is inherently without meaning. Perhaps it's because I've had practice? I've been a n...

Yes. I often think it's useful to differentiate the idea of 'feeling meaninglessness' from the phenomenon of believing there is no transcendent meanin...

I don't see how this is 'not trying to do ethics' when you appear to be trying to develop a foundation for morality. Is 'moral guidance' a separate av...

Interesting you say this. I was wondering if this might be the path events take. I love Gimps of Putin... :lol:

Could be. But that wasn't my intended point. The idea of being free of dogma and doctrine was a separate point and benefit of nihilism - from my persp...

I worked for many years closely with people practicing in the Catholic Church. If you want an example of depressives, try there. Of all the folk I've ...

I'm not really sure what subject we are discussing any more. Probably my fault for rambling. Not all people. Many people. And I'm not sure about total...

I've read the novel twice: isn't the point of it an account of Manifest Destiny and the moral nihilism of the war of atrocities against First Nations ...

Again very thoughtful and well articulated. You may be right, however here's what I make of it. Written in haste. Hmm. Perhaps. But it seems to me gen...

I didn't say that was all there is to it. I would probably agree with (and not endorse) McCarthy's statement. But in the context of that baroque ode t...

Nice. The Searchers is considered one of the greatest golden era movies of all time by one of the greatest auteurs, John Ford. Scorsese worships this ...

Indeed. The myth of the level playing field is pervasive.

:up: Could be. I gave up smoking, then booze and now I'm kind of healthy but bored.... :death:

Not dismissed. Just hoping to sharpen your OP. You'll note your examples were of three different phenomena. 1) an artistic statement (not necessarily ...

It's only a novel. The quote matches the bleak, bereft setting of the book - circumstances where god seems to be missing. Mary Whitehouse was a fanati...

That's certainly a commonly held view. But frankly I appreciate greatly the things I got for 'free' or without work, so I'm not sure about this. It so...

I can't speak to your situation, but sometimes when people are seeking to change the world, what they would be better off doing is changing themselves...

Thanks for your perspective. Appreciated.

I'm not sure why you would post these two websites as representations of true and authentic religions. Remember I don't share your worldview, so I hav...

You're a Pope Francis fan? What is it about these two religions?

What are the true churches and what teachings do they preach?

Perhaps it's not so much a question of facts versus opinion but a matter of values and worldviews. And whether it is realistic for you to want people ...

I thought you might argue this. But he's obviously been working through religious perspectives for some time and his official conversion came shortly ...

Do you think we are in worse trouble today compared to previous eras? I sometimes think humans are addicted to crisis. We almost seem to need a belief...

:up: There's something even more curious. I know some professional string instrumentalists. They experience something completely different to me even ...

Wow. Impressive. I ran to catch a train once and it nearly killed me. I don't believe I have actually properly run since around 1981-82. Curiously, my...

A very thoughtful and nuanced response. This kind of frame seems circular. Perhaps, but I'm not certain if this is true or how common it is for anyone...

Ha! Not at all. I am genuinely interested in phenomenology and the snippets I have gleaned are tantalising and do suggest a way out of some of our dil...

Thanks. I do find this reply intriguing, particularly as someone outside of philosophy.It does sound (to a neophyte like me) as if the phenomenologica...

Thanks. Do you subscribe to a particular model of consciousness? Idealism?

A lot of folk seem to dislike Dennett's ideas - especially those with romantic, spiritual or religious inclinations. Do you think he is generally stra...

A very interesting reply. I've generally suspected that most, if not all philosophy or theory, is rationalisation after emotion. How would one demonst...

We seem to be in agreement. I guess I'm trying to understand what you want the focus of this thread to be about.

Is it not possible that our 'survival abilities' are a double edged sword? What makes us strong could also be what can takes us out. Are you saying th...