• Forum visual aides?
    Syād, a great idea OP.

    "A picture is worth a thousand words" is an adage in multiple languages meaning that complex and sometimes multiple ideas can be conveyed by a single still image, which conveys its meaning or essence more effectively than a mere verbal description. — Wikipedia

    Some writers extraordinaire can paint with words!
  • Listening to arguments rather than people
    Syād ...

    Good call OP. You don't really blame a computer, call it out, for storing, processing, for instance, Nazi ideology. We humans are, to some degree, in some sense, computers. Why should any person be criticized for his/her thoughts? Hence the need to prove some ideas as illogical instead of pulling somebody up as bad/evil/immoral.

    Having said that, prudentia is a different kettle of fish; truth or logic (rationality) ain't the only game in town is what I mean.
  • All that matters?
    As per a(n) Indian/Sri Lankan lady who did research on what matters to people (search TED talks),

    1. Love
    2. Health
    3. Happiness
    (in no particular order)

    Syād, a good measure of what matters to a person is how much suffering said person is willing to endure/inflict to acquire something. People have died/killed for God, for country, for love, etc. These then havta matter in some way or another, oui mes amies?
  • Foundational Questions of Physics & Metaphysics
    Syād, all this Sturm und Drang about QM reminds me of a problem faced by string theorists - there are multiple models that are all acceptable and there's no way at the moment to help us decide which one is best.

    If metaphysics is involved in hypothesis generation/testing/choice then all science is to that extent metaphysics and I don't see why QM is being singled out for inserting/reviving philosophy, metaphysics in particular, into/in science.
  • The purpose of suffering
    Syād, suffering is to mind as bath is to body (re self-mortification, flagellation, asceticism, etc.).

    Syād, suffering is linked to existential threats i.e. they inform the sufferer of danger, that his well-being is at risk.
  • What is Capitalism?
    Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein (just to name a few)…glorious indeed. — Deus

    :rofl:

    Syād,

    Everything is for sale if the price is right. — Lucio Tan

    :chin:
  • What is Capitalism?
    To get rich is glorious. — Deng Xiaoping
  • Could we be living in a simulation?
    ↪javi2541997


    :ok:
  • Could we be living in a simulation?
    Interesting. That's would mean there are different time versions of our real world. Then, the "real" world (who is simulating others) is the only one who is living in the correct time. If we think it deeply, probably you and me would be 150 years old in other reality — javi2541997

    Syād, this is a possibility we should look into, oui? Nostalgia is one reason why we would want to simulate an older version of The Matrix.
  • Could we be living in a simulation?
    The simulation depends on ourselves! The imagination of humans is extraordinary — javi2541997

    Syād, we could be simulating an older version of our world, one less-than-perfect.
  • Could we be living in a simulation?
    ↪javi2541997
    :up:

    Syād, simulation, sim-creator/God?
  • Could we be living in a simulation?
    [Syād] If the universe is a simulation, everything in it should be computable, like in a game world.

    Black holes are where God divided by zero. — Steven Wright
  • Logic and Disbelief
    Syād, fools & geniuses are indistinguishable which kinda means that he who promotes worship and he who opposes worship are both both (wise fool), oui monsieur?
  • Logic and Disbelief
    ↪Gnomon


    I was thinkin' more along the lines of ODDS is GODS. Miracles are highly improbable, not impossible (re the problem of induction), events and they're considered divine acts. In addition, the god of the gaps clearly demonstrates we worship ignorance.

    Probability is the math of ignorance — Wikipedia
  • What is the Idea of 'Post-truth' and its Philosophical Significance?
    ↪Jack Cummins


    There's a lot of ideas floating around in the ideaverse to start a discussion on. I for one will grab every opportunity to participate in your threads, if and when I can.
  • Logic of truth
    I'm pretty confident that 100,000 years ago people weren't going around saying "snow is white". — RussellA

    That would be a translation issue, oui monsieur? They just used different words to convey the meaning snow is white.

    Anyway, as I said in my last post, how do we determine "snow is white" is true? We first look at the individual words and see if they match the denoted objects and then if there's a correspondence, we conclude "snow is white" is true. That makes sense to me and I suppose that's how we break the vicious cycle.

    One poster coemmented that P is true IFF P is a definition, but a definition is basically a list of sufficient and necessary conditions which means my argument stands that this is a chicken-and-egg situation.
  • What is the Idea of 'Post-truth' and its Philosophical Significance?
    ↪Jack Cummins


    Bonam fortunam.
  • Ethics: Applied and Care
    Maybe if you back up your claim I will answer. If it is just your personal opinion based on nothing much more than personal experience I am not interested. — I like sushi

    Data is a collection of very personal individual experiences.

    I'm at least one data point, oui monsieur?
  • Logic of truth
    ↪RussellA
    You seem to know a helluva lot about the history of language.
  • Logic of truth
    ↪TonesInDeepFreeze


    :zip:
  • What is the Idea of 'Post-truth' and its Philosophical Significance?
    I agree with what you have said even though it is crossed out, like some borderline twighlight truth...

    I have got to somewhere, so I will look at the thread tonight if it hasn't vanished in a puff of smoke, like an imaginary 'post-truth'.     — Jack Cummins

    Stay safe Jack.
  • What is the Idea of 'Post-truth' and its Philosophical Significance?
    ↪Jack Cummins


    Perhaps, deep down in our subconscious, we all know what's gonna happen and all these attempts to forestall the inevitable is a mere formality we just perform to make ourselves feel better.
  • James Webb Telescope
    It's the perspective of most scientists, if you ask them. — magritte

    I see! :up:
  • James Webb Telescope
    ↪magritte


    That's an interesting perspective you have there. It's just a ride, enjoy it, if you can!
  • Ethics: Applied and Care
    Nah! They just tend to care about different things. — I like sushi

    Ok, explain then, what different things do men & women care about? Also, how does this difference impact ethics?
  • What is the Idea of 'Post-truth' and its Philosophical Significance?
    ↪Jack Cummins


    All I can say is there's a paradox: We all care for our children, willing to even lay down our lives for them and yet, we're least bothered about human-induced climate change which will kill 'em all. It just doesn't add up now does it Jack.

    This, I suppose, is exactly what philosophers have been trying to fix over the past 2.5k years - inconsistency in our thinking.
  • Ethics: Applied and Care
    Well, ignoring romance scams perpetrated by young women on old but rich men + those Russian girls on Tik Tok saying all they're looking for in a man is money + racist women + Mrs. Boynton (Appointment with Death, Hercule Poirot), I'll have to say that women are generally more caring than men. :snicker:
  • Ethics: Applied and Care
    That's a pretty central issue in my own considerations, too. The advantage of virtue ethics seems to be in the recognition that ethics is too complex to be captured in some finite set of rules; one has to trust one's judgement, and so one ought work to develop the capacity to judge. Hence cultivating virtue becomes the mark of a life well lived.

    Care ethics serves to bind virtue to context.

    So I don't see any opposition between care ethics and virtue ethics. But you seem to be juxtaposing them...

    And I don't see justification as a negative thing; isn't giving leisurely consideration to your actions post hoc a good idea, if it is done with an eye to improvement? Seems to me to be an essential part of the process of developing one's virtue... A feedback loop.

    Seems that the OP has some quite complex and intriguing consequences.     — Banno

    :up:
  • What is the Idea of 'Post-truth' and its Philosophical Significance?
    It's true that you can read and write sentences in English. — Banno

    Ok! You got me! :smile:
  • What is the Idea of 'Post-truth' and its Philosophical Significance?
    Soporific online forums...?

    Where one can convince oneself that there is no truth.

    Is that the fate of our dear friends, ↪Agent Smith and ↪Jack Cummins?     — Banno

    @Jack Cummins

    :lol: I'm sure you've heard of (hyperbolic) skepticism. Do we really know any truths? You might wanna refresh your memory on the the Doubting Thomas brigade. Start with Agrippa's trilemma. Truth(s)!? Pfft. :snicker:

    Post-truth is simply the 20th century avatar of (doubting) Thomas the Apostle, dear friend of Jesus who said ...

    Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

    The Second Coming is just around the corner, guys and gals (if any)!
  • Excessive thinking in modern society
    Excessive Thinking produces the same effect as a Zen Koan and Zen Koans are supposedly good for one's mental and, surprise, surprise, physical health (nirvana). I recommend a short cut to stretching minds to the limit, to breaking point: Paradoxes. Experience first hand what Excessive Thinking really means without Thinking ... Excessively.

    The point to whatever this is is to break the mind, into as many pieces as possible, wait for it to reassemble itself. What has it become? Lather, rinse, repeat until ... sabrá Mandrake!
  • Logic and Disbelief
    ↪180 Proof


    I would have to defer to your good judgment on this one! It looks like God is the square peg in the round hole of reality - just won't fit! Either we're too small or He's too big! Most/how unfortunate!
  • Ritual: Secular or otherwise
    Rituals can be

    1. Social. Many people perform the same set of what appears to be causally irrelevant actions before/during/after a particular task. Most such rituals tend to be directed towards the supernatural (gods/spirits/demons/etc.). However, those who perform such rituals (erroneously) believe that rituals do have causal import. Being as open-minded as possible, I'd say there's a grain of truth in this.

    2. Individual. Rituals sometimes can be peculiar to a person. These are like empty slots in one's psyche which you can fill up with metaphysical stuff, but on some/most occasions they're left vacant.

    As you can see, there's the ritual and there's the metaphysical doodads that give it a meaning of some kind. What would be really interesting is if a ritual, the specifics of it, correlates with the matching metaphysics.
  • Ethics: Applied and Care
    Hmm. A surprisingly accurate post. Well done. — Banno

    :grin: I try ...
  • Logic of truth
    The definition:

    The statement P is true IFF P.

    An example:

    "Snow is white" is true IFF Snow is white.


    Argument A

    1. Snow is white "Snow is white" is true.
    2. Snow is white.
    Ergo
    3. "Snow is white" is true. [1, 2 MP]

    Argument B

    1. "Snow is white" is true Snow is white.
    2. "Snow is white" is true.
    Ergo
    3. Snow is white. [1, 2 MP]

    ---

    Doesn't this lead to a chicken-and-egg situation?

    We can't know "Snow is white" is true unless we know Snow is white and/but we can't know Snow is white unless we know "Snow is white" is true.
  • Do the past and future exist?
    To approach the issue of what reality is/isn't on the basis of mind dependence/independence is, as you can see, a dead end. It seems impossible to tell which is true i.e. the truth is beyond our reach. We can argue though and we are doing exactly that. Personally, I'd propose a motion to change the definitions of real and unreal, to ones that we can actually use to decide questions on whether something is real or not.
  • Logic and Disbelief
    That doesn't clarify what you meant by "all gods are possibilities" ... possibilities of what? — 180 Proof

    Why? There are many definitions of God - from the OOO God to a malus Deus - and all of them jibe with or can be made to with what we know as reality. In short we can't rule out any of 'em as incompatible with our experiences. If you follow the theism-atheism feud, the back and forth between these two warring factions, you'll immediately see what I mean.
  • What is the Idea of 'Post-truth' and its Philosophical Significance?
    s liking for latin? Reminiscent of Nadsat, from an alternate dystopia. — Banno

    :smile: I'm learning Latin (phrases).
  • The Mold Theory of Person Gods
    In the Sci-Fi TV series Expanse, Earthlings who lived for generations on Mars, became adapted to its low gravity. Unfortunately, upon return to Earth gravity, that evolved change became a mal-adaptation. :gasp: — Gnomon

    Aye, that be the downside. Best then to use technology to help us live on different planets.
  • Logic and Disbelief
    What do you mean by "possibilities"? — 180 Proof

    By possibilities I mean those multiple hypotheses that square with data. For instance if I give you the sequence 2, 4, 8, ... the pattern could either be

    1) 2n, where n = 1, 2, 3
    2) 2, 4, 8, 14, 22, ...

    These two patterns are possibilities.
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