Tom Storm

Interesting. I've never quite understood this one. Pascal's Wager does seem like an affectation to me. Firstly, I don't know how one can believe somet...

Did I say I am the boss and define all the terms? Or even anything close to that? But if that's your indirect way of saying it is not meant as an insu...

I think my positioning of those voters is not unreasonable and it was posed as a question. Do you deny that the idea of political stupidity exists? It...

The following is not a boundary, it's a sneering jibe. ====== There's some merit in this argument as I see it. But when someone says I am a Muslim or ...

Indeed - enactivism and embodied cognition. Regarding the nature of the self, the enactivist approach, as I understand it, implies a view of the self ...

To me it seems everyone has their reasons for beign attracted to certain ideas and models of reality or perception. It's not always easy to understand...

I like it!

So you are interested in questions about perception and reality in case the road or a building vanishes? Or in case animals in the jungle suddenly fai...

There must be a dozens of threads on similar questions about realism and perception. Setting aside the plausibility of the claim. The salient question...

Rocky and rolly.

I'm the kind of soil that likes to know if the seeds are for plants worth growing.

It's from Psalms - Psalm 37:11 (NIV) states: "But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity." I imagine the literature appropriate...

It wasn't Jesus. It may have been no guy at all. Or guys. Or someone called Frankus.

:up:

I think myths are generally appropriations and syncretism is how many religions develop. I have a soft spot for progressive Christianity but from my r...

Yep. Christianity is an intriguing myth made up of many appropriations. From the virgin birth story (borrowed from Ancient Egypt, Ra - the son of a vi...

for an Aussie this is not always easy to follow. Thanks.

How likely do you think it is that Newsom could get the nomination? Would this work for the Dems? Commentators seem to think there is no chance it wil...

My parents and family were caught up with the Nazi terror in Europe. There's little doubt that community and shared values were strong appeals of the ...

I don't see how that cliche applies to this example. And what does this have to do with our discussion? You have no knowledge of what I think of peopl...

What a sneering and insinuating response. Thanks. How is my putative favourable judgment of people who leave a faith (which you have not demonstrated)...

What I see is someone who indulges in regular put downs of others, who is persistently cynical about people's motivations, then somewhat hypocriticall...

Pragmatism?

:up:

Thanks. I hadn't heard it put quite like that.

Exactly. :up:

What are you thinking of here?

If true, is that relevant? Are you saying that people are only real Christians or Muslims if they have a extensive knowledge of the religion's doctrin...

I can't help it if you think it is condescending. It's not how I intend it since it goes both ways - the atheist and the theist are equals in preferen...

That's too abstract. Stick to the actual point. How do you determine who is a real Christian, exactly?

Forget Charles Lutwidge Dodgson :wink: You may wish to limit other people's beliefs systems based on stringent or absolutist definitions of a particul...

Trump's supporters or not, they are still people. Yet the way you speak about them is dehumanizing. Spare me the holier-than-thou bullshit, Baker.

Are you just playing games or are you really as abrasive as your response seems? I think the people they interviewed were clueless and just following ...

In the drug counselling world there are many who disagree with AA and its model. They don’t care for the old term alcoholism and generally this term i...

I always imagined that people have two sets of books in life. There’s what they claim and what they really do. What was Simon Blackburn’s quote - ever...

Agree. Agree.

I generally ignore the polemicists like Dawkins who is a type of fundamentalist. Like many atheists, I generally call myself an agnostic atheist. This...

A mere detail, Dear Boy... A billabong is a pond. I have had lots of kangaroo - it's like lean beef, but nicer. I've also had Witchetty grub, emu, cro...

Not at all. I'm not American. Think of politics and the increasing hysterical Right in England, Poland, Turkey, Hungary, Germany... And Australia just...

Romantic escapism. Everything is furiously overstated and stylised. The overwhelming preoccupation culture has had with gym bodies, weight loss, super...

Really? Think about how much of our technology is used to show off fairy-tale lifestyles, dream vacations, musical reveries and the cult of the body b...

I'm not sure I have met someone like that before. Who are you thinking of? How do you know what others are feeling if you are only watching from the o...

Ok. Plenty of things people take as facts are speculative. Metaphysics is speculative, and in contemporary discourse is generally ignored, even if it ...

I thought you guys just ate offal tied up in a bovine bowel.

I just answered that. What have I missed?

Hmm. Many people think we discovered math and didn't invent it. I personally don't have expertise to make an argument either way. Moral nihilism says ...

Philosophy is not for everyone. I never privileged it in my life. The only meaning of life we can have is the one we build for ourselves - even theist...

I know very few atheists who would argue this. But some might. Atheism can take various forms - hard to soft. Here's what American Atheists say. I hav...

:up: Good point. I was saying just this at a meeting today.

Indeed. Stupidity is eternal. So it seems is human nature. You bet. I'm partial to the Epicureans over the Stoics. I first got interested in Albert El...