I also think that people gravitate towards arguments that support their preferences. These arguments can certainly be debated and explored. I think this is about all we have - a conversation that coalesces around personal experience, preferences and the values and beliefs which result from these. — Tom Storm

Is it psychologically uncomfortable for you to ponder that soon Trump could be president again? — L'éléphant

if one believes the current president might not be president next time, things happen. Simple. He could suddenly keel over, for example — L'éléphant

Naw, he's just a fleshy manifestation of the American Nightmare. — Vera Mont

All true emancipatory politics has to have a universal dimension in it. It doesn't mean you renounce your particularity, but you somehow read your particularity as a sign of what is wrong in our universality itself. — Slavoj Žižek

[T]ell me how misinformed I am. — schopenhauer1

Look, I know he is a philosophical hero of yours, so me maligning might hit a nerve with you. — schopenhauer1

Btw, the J6 Conspiracy criminal trial in Wash. DC will conclude with a guilty verdict on all 4 felony counts by the end of August 2024 or sooner. I'm guessing (soon to be) Felon-1 will not be the GOP candidate by the Fall (or even by July). — 180 Proof

Perhaps I misunderstand something, but Nietzsche seems at odds with himself. He seems to believe in the "overcoming" of oneself, and the embracing of Suffering in some aesthetic appeal to the Ubermensch who thrives on pain in the idea of manifesting one's own values (power) into the world. — schopenhauer1

Any idea what the "substance" meant in Spinoza? Could it be Aristotelian? Or something else? — Corvus

I understand Spinoza to be (mostly) an acosmist (for whom the cosmos exists though it is not real, only "divinity" (re: the logico-mathematical structure of the cosmos) is real ...) — 180 Proof

Living through a genocide happening before our eyes, with 10000+ children dead, and yet apologists think this time it’s an exception.

History will view them poorly — Mikie

Why didn't the ICJ demand a cease-fire? — RogueAI

How is it I could be a mind that cannot know what a mind really is? — Fire Ologist

Does it mean then, Spinoza was an atheist? — Corvus

Perhaps would it be the reason why he had been excommunicated from his religious authorities?

In that case, what is Spinoza's definition of God or reason for non-existing God?

How does he explain the physical world we live in, souls and the meaning of human life?

Could it be Spinoza? — Corvus

I am asking to what extent does the existence of 'God', or lack of existence have upon philosophical thinking. — Jack Cummins

Nothing about eternal return or the ubermensch rings true for me. — schopenhauer1

What do you want me to say?

Ideas for and against God, which involve philosophy and theology, are a starting point for thinking about the nature of 'reality' and as a basis for moral thinking. — Jack Cummins

The idea of nihilism ... — Jack Cummins

If god doesn't exist, then it's business as usual. Philosophical thinking thrives on argument. — jkop

Ethics do not depend upon a transcendent lawgiver but are based on the pragmatic need to live harmoniously with others. — Janus

, I am asking to what extent does the existence of 'God', or lack of existence have upon philosophical thinking. — Jack Cummins

... what does the idea of 'God' signify in itself?

However, in this thread discussion, what I am asking is about materialism as being compatible with atheism, or idealism with a belief in some kind of 'spiritual reality'? — Jack Cummins

Does the stripping back of ideas, and ideals, especially in terms of the philosophy of realism lead to the most objective understanding of the existential conundrums of human existence?

Where does materialism, idealism or philosophies of non dualism lead in the search to put such ideas together in the most synthetic and meaningful ways?

So, I would ask how does an underlying assumption of theism [or] atheism result in an underlying philosoph[ical] viewpoint for living, including ethics, and a wider understanding of the purpose and ends of human life? — Jack Cummins

I wonder to what extent if God does not exist, if as Dosteovosky asks, whether everything is permitted? — Jack Cummins

I still hope for a moderate candidate to arise from the quagmire in which we wallow. — jgill

I despise the far left — jgill

And I despise both Biden and Trump equally.

I practice harm minimisation in politics. Clearly some options are far worse than others, even if the less worse is still fundamentally flawed. — Tom Storm

I despise the two candidates. — jgill

So, there is no category of apriori facts?
— @Wayfarer

"A priori facts" as far as I can tell are generalizations derived from experience. They cannot be discovered in the first place without concrete experience — Janus

If a mind can know neither itself nor its thoughts, how can you call it a mind? — ucarr

Get out of my light. — Tom Storm

It has been said that all of today’s philosophy is built on Kant. I would add that all of postmodernist philosophy is built on [deliberately misreading] Nietzsche. — Joshs

There is an infinite amount of hope in the universe ... but not for us. — Franz Kafka

Nietzsche goes hand-in-hand with individual self-involvement, and so it resonates with the modern man's sensibilities. — schopenhauer1

I'm more Nietzschean (i.e. 'Dionysian' in approbation of the daily Sisyphusean grind) whereas Schopenhauer relies on music in a decidedly 'Apollonian' sense (i.e. to momentarily quell the (his) raging Will). — 180 Proof

And Canada might build a border wall. :) — jorndoe