• Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @DingoJones At what point does one accept that one has found truth? Can you name some of those truths?
    Doubt as a foundation is negative,and symptomatic of an unsure person. Hardly inspires confidence does it?
  • The Novelist or the academic?
    @Kenosha Kid The novelist is sneaky enough to pretend he is writing fiction and not preaching like the other two...
  • Debate Discussion: The Logic of Atheism
    @Foghorn Knowing 180 bring a dictionary,a censor for expletives/ad hom and some amphetamines to stay awake from all the repetition and boring writing style.
    More popcorn!?
  • Bannings
    @Kenosha Kid Time travel brother...
  • Bannings
    @unenlightened Yep! Marcus aurelias,seneca and nietzsche are not welcome here with their guru mentality.
    Nor plato...
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    @Foghorn.
    Just recently I feel the younger generation of western Muslims are becoming much less political than the previous one,so that's good news.
    Politics is a losing game for the ordinary folk.
    I declare no confidence in all governments round the world.
    Mr nutshell!!!
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    @Foghorn 100% agree. But I think the media is in bed with the politicians. And this is all about big business and moneyed interests.
    The govt and media loves to exaggerate dangers,as not only fear sells but fear is the method of control for all governments.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    @BitconnectCarlos
    Yes, there are extremist Zionists who I regard as a problem. There are extremists on both sides and they both work off each other - one side says or does something inflammatory and the worst part of the other side responds. I'm all in favor of de-escalation, the only question is are the politicians?
    I think this is the key factor. The politicians have vested interests in the continuing conflict.
    The people on the ground need to make their own existential decisions on how to live a peaceful life.
    Civilians are the peace process.
  • Debate Discussion: The Logic of Atheism
    Looking forward to this one!!!
  • Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @Manuel Questions are not foundational.
    Life is foundational.
    Yours is a philosophers disease. Such,that you can't even yet fathom or understand what I'm saying.
    Clue; what is the real motivation for skepticism and doubt on obvious facts?
  • Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @Manuel Philosophers are very fond of claiming they question assumptions.
    Well,question the assumption Philosophers are searching for truth rather than just bolstering their esteem.
  • Bannings
    @Michael I read many of his posts. I could understand them clearly. His style was just different.
    Many posters on here are vague and full of jargon. Very unclear.
    You do realise Shakespeare and nietzsche really fucked a lot with punctuation and style!?
  • Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @Olivier5 I would put it this way. Those who had doubts but reemerged to their innate confidence have overcome trauma,low self esteem.
    But there are those who have no trauma and no doubt and are fully confident. They don't need testing through doubt. Their confidence already expresses their trustworthiness.
    They look upon philosophers as either neurotic or going through trauma.
  • Is Intelligence A Property Of Reality?
    @Foghorn When language gets blurry trust one's Intuition. The only way out of this morass is the existence of divine intelligences! And the existence of matter.
    Divine artists and material canvases!
  • How do you think we should approach living with mentally lazy/weak people?
    @Tiberiusmoon The definitions of subjective above are both misleading for this discussion.
    Everything is subjective. Can you tell me anything that doesn't come from your mind when you speak? Note,I don't mean objects exist only in your mind,I mean your perception of an object is from your mind,always!
    If you think truth is some kind of democratic elephant modelling exercise then I will just say do you need six men to tell you you are not an elephant? Is your faith in your own perspective that weak?
  • Is Intelligence A Property Of Reality?
    @Foghorn Does it make sense to say intelligence without their being an agent?
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    And that is right. One can be right and still a hypocrite.
    The personality of the poster is Always a huge factor.
    Anything else is the myth of value-free reason.
    Carry on...
  • Are we “free” in a society?
    "Society" is a euphemism for ruling class elite values.
    A euphemism for the regulation of humans for the purpose of creating wealth for the elite.
    A euphemism for subtle slavery of the majority to the tiny minority.
    A billionaires manifesto!
  • Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @Olivier5 I agree that this is true for the majority of people. Further the "freudian" psychologist alfred adler suggested people's motivations come from an inferiority complex,thus the need to act out,to be needlessley proud and lie about our prowess.
    However,I have met folks that absolutely do not fit this observation. And those folks come from a place of confidence,not doubt and inferiority.
  • Idealism and Materialism, what are the important consequences of both.
    @The mad fool I have encountered all of them in some form,and they are all incoherent as espoused by their propagators.
  • Idealism and Materialism, what are the important consequences of both.
    @Mad fool Neither can be doubted.
    And mind is not res cogitans,but is also physical and extended.
  • Bannings
    @Jack Cummins The "mods" will claim his posts were of "low quality" according to their "logic"...
    Low quality meaning they don't like confident yet true assertions or a post which doesn't reference academia or a clichéd template of dialectic reasoning. Just elitism really.
    It's ironic because nietzsche would have been banned.
    And plato,kant,aristotle,hegel and many many others would have been banned by the woke crowd because of racism,misogyny,being right wing ,etc,etc.
  • Idealism and Materialism, what are the important consequences of both.
    @khaled Seems to me both camps miss the nuance between living and non living.
    The hard problem Is the result of this false dichotomy.
    Ditto,the excesses of idealism and materialism.
    Physicalism is the way to go. Everything is physical,not material or "ideal."
  • Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @counterpunch Your getting better!
    Your so much better when not preaching doom and gloom about the weather...
  • Bannings
    @Jack Cummins He struck me as a solid confident guy.
    The banning won't hurt him.
    One of the purposes of me writing this is so he can read and know he has supporters and people who appreciate his work.
    Never feel a failure because small minded bigots ban people.
    You are OK. Your style is not provocative or super poetic.
    Success is determined by attitude not "bannings" or opposition.
    Life is so much bigger than a forum!
  • Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @counterpunch I think stand up would be good.
    But practice...
  • Bannings
    @Jack Cummins That is an excellent point Jack.
    The best philosophers have a poetic style and are mavericks and unapologetic.
    Anand is that!
  • Bannings
    Anand is a breathe of fresh air. An excellent poster.
    I didn't agree with everything he wrote. And his style was a little too samey. But the man had some tremendous original insights. Didn't just quote or cut and paste,or appeal to authority, or use abstract logic...
    Insufferable posting style? Wow! The irony!
    Most philosophers write like shit. Ditto many posters here.
    This thread is like orwells two minutes of hate!!!
  • Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @counterpunch You actually have some good jokes.
    I like some of em. But a lot of dross in between.
    Your timing is off.
    And your getting your kunts mixed up...
  • Authority and freedom
    @skyblack But we are talking about psychological time,so it should be personalised. We are time,are we not?
    Better still,time is us.
  • The Novelist or the academic?
    I was going to post this on the Gaza thread (which i hadn't even read until today), you and @Foghorn might consider exploring the many expressions of violence and conflict, for purposes of educating the conflict mongers and the trolls. I don't think these halfwits are aware of the subtleties that can be explored and observed, in such a topic. Just a suggestion.
    This post from @skyblack makes me think of the difference between media representations of conflicts and the actual "lived experience" of living in a conflict.
    During the Syria conflict I kept abreast of the situation by talking to a Syrian friend who had family living in Damascus. Their story was very much different from the media nonsense that was broadcast. And it was focused in living conditions and how those Syrians felt about the situation.
    In a way a novel and better still a personal conversation about one's experience is better than all the political posturing and theorising about cultures people know nothing about in person. Too much book and media "knowledge" not enough experiential knowledge.
  • The Novelist or the academic?
    @Bartricks I'm a little surprised by your saying that. Dostoevsky is sometimes accused of being an anti-rationalist.
    Or maybe he is just showing the limits of rationality as opposed to innate desire/emotion.
  • The Novelist or the academic?
    @180 Proof "Folk psychology" AKA common sense is superior to academic studies in the main simply because science and philosophy reduce humans to matter or abstract concepts. Whilst a great novel presents humans as living beings.
    You can't beat lived experience bro.
    You prefer porn to a wife!!!
  • The Novelist or the academic?
    @Tom Storm I don't really class any writings as being necessarily about learning but about expressions of truth,or somewhat near accurate expressions of human experience.
    And this myth of rationality?! Everything is an expression of emotions. There exists no such thing as rationality devoid of emotion.
    Dickens novels,for instance oliver twist and hard times both express the hypocrisy,greed and cruelty of the upper class,whilst also showing the working class to be somewhat similiar as well. The solution for dickens is presented as genuine love and less thinking of people instrumentally or as objects to be counted and studied.
  • The Novelist or the academic?
    @Kenosha Kid Science and philosophy in academia are entirely mythos. Entirely models. Modern myths.
    The novelist presents narratives of lived experiences.
    The novelist can be questioned. The scientist wants you to shut up and calculate or follow. The philosopher wants you to accept his visions. To prove his vision is the one.
    This notion of why and how is bogus. Just like the fact value dichotomy. All artificial constructs.
  • Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @counterpunch I doubt you have questions.
    More like your a crusader for the myth of sustainability,with a penchant for clichéd humour.
  • Are Philosophical questions a lack of self-esteem?
    @counterpunch From my personal experience of philosophical folk.
    Also,from the texts and life's of
    Nietzeche,plato,Wittgenstein,aristotle,Kent,hegel.
    Hegel thought his work was the aim of history.
    That kind of arrogance only comes from paranoia and fear,AKA low self esteem. Their esteem comes from exaggeration,lambasting others and narcissism.