Tom Storm

Yes, you put it that way and there's a much more substantive, purposeful and, shall we say, 'objective' dimension to it.

Nice. I might co-opt this one. The role of judgement in this seems critical. I have been mulling over this for some time. In work I sometimes have to ...

:up: Do you want snot with that?

I had Belle's Hot Chicken last night, which coleslaw and fries. It's an Aussie attempt at Southern fried chicken and, based on my experience, just a s...

I like the idea of being able to crystallise moral thinking in the way you have done. I'm not sure about the 'do not do to the harmless' part of this ...

That's not quite right for most versions I am aware of. The problem with idealism is it requires some serious reading up on and can't be readily parse...

Yes, I think that's essentially my position. But philosophy is not about 'being content' and I recognise that intellectual restlessness will always ha...

Thanks, I'll look into this futher. It's challenging stuff.

Interesting. I see where you are coming from. Do you think it is possible to formulate any general principles that can be used to assess actions? Or i...

I'm a fairly abstemious person (I don't drink alcohol or eat sweets or desserts or drink soft drinks - sodas) this Christmas (in a couple of hours) I'...

We seem to be hard wired to worship authority figures, from deities to certain former presidents. This impulse seems to have a powerful hold but perha...

Humans are clever animals who use language to manage their environment - sense making (inventing narratives) is what we do. We still love our metanarr...

Sure, but everything humans do is natural by definition. From mass murder to painting pictures of Krishna. Given the hold transcendental narratives (r...

Or as skeptics like to remind us - New York is real. New York appears in Spiderman comics. This doesn't mean that Spiderman is real. :wink:

Agree. The problem with theism however is that it doesn't provide an objective moral system or set of values. As is evidenced even within the one reli...

Ok. I don't see it as being all that challenging. Risk is assessed to reduce or prevent harm - one such harm is spending money where it need not be sp...

I don't see how no transcendent meaning matters very much. Humans will always generate meaning and values and reasons for participating in life. The q...

Yep. We borrow a lot of welfare fraud prevention strategies from the UK. We have an equivalent to the NHS and the Jobseeker allowance. We run equivale...

Will yes, but isn't almost everything in public life down to political values and biases? I would think in essence risk assessment stems from the valu...

:up: I like it. A much more interesting frame. My ideal society would be orientated around a different value system to our own and the idea of persona...

The assumption would be that ours is. If by awareness we mean metacognition - which is generally the starting point from these sorts of discussions. M...

If that's the case 'more awareness' would seem to have no (or little) significance. We have been using awareness in different ways. When people talk o...

Ok. For me this sounds more like a matter of quantity rather than quality. I'm reasonably certain a lot of people will find this problematic. Is the m...

I'm assuming this is intended as a joke and it is kind of funny.

I don't think this is correct. Climate change is not a 'small percentage of bad stuff' it's a significant ontological concern. Who is talking about 'n...

I would care a lot, Javi. And I'm sure others here would too. You are a valued member here, my friend. :smile:

Indeed. On this we can agree.

OK. But then why does it matter? What's your demonstration of 'growing'?

So are you saying subject to human judgment humans are significant? :wink:

No idea. But all I can say is that any judgments about this are human and therefore limited and subject to a myriad of biases and presuppositions. My ...

Indeed. I have no specific confidence in any metaphysical models. I don't subscribe to philosophical naturalism or accounts of higher awareness. The b...

Given we are a social species and tribal apes, our survival and our strength has been collaboration and cooperation, so perhaps we could argue that em...

I have no idea. But this doesn't sound like a good argument in favor of something. Isn't this close to an appeal to ignorance? If we are throwing arou...

Why specifically the formulation of growing self-awareness? Is this Vedanta? Of all the cosmologies and philosophies available, why that particular ac...

Or, we have the gift of empathy and find ourselves 'assimilating' in as a sign of respect and love.

Huh? How did you establish that the universe (whatever that is) is some kind of entity and that self-awarenes applies to it?

Guilty as charged. I tend to prefer the appellation ‘unremarkable’.

Yes it is. Thanks. I was wondering about Schop's reading.

Not a criticism or poke in any way, but is there any reason you can posit for why the universe would need to become self-aware? What does 'self-awaren...

Nicely put. Which has non-philosophers like me wary of even trying to make sense of him (or any of the significantly complex thinkers, Heidegger, for ...

I met with the head of philosophy at my university back in 1988. I has been somewhat annoyed by the approach taken over the year, which was essentiall...

That's it. I used to love Crunchies too. But some boutique confectioners make their own version of this product and the honeycomb is thicker, heavier ...

Don't know. I think honeycomb is close enough to candy on its own.

Good point and has been the case. But often the letters and on line comments, emails, tweets and phone calls are overwhelming, also invitations to def...

Sponge candy? A terrible name. We tend to know it Rocky Road or honeycomb toffee. In the days when I ate confectionary I used to love it.

The writing I most enjoy has a poetry and musicality and playfulness that transcends or transforms the material - I am thinking of Nabokov, Edith Whar...

I can see the appeal in this and I find this frame interesting. I've heard this criticism of the Golden Rule frequently over the years and it makes se...

But that’s my point. All we have is guesses, no matter who you are. I mostly agree with your other points.

:up:

I've generally held the view that very often people don't really want what they want. By this I mean it is hard for many people to truly identify they...