So Jair Balsanaro got the sentence Trump should have got - 27 years for an attempted coup.
— @Wayfarer

:clap: Brazil has a functioning judicial system. Good to see. May he rot in prison, that piece of shit. — Mikie

Sub specie aeternitatis — Spinoza

People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. — Albert Einstein

This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence - even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust! — The Gay Science, s341

There will always be a tension between individual preferences and societal desiderata. It seems obvious that in any community harmony [positive sum] is more desirable than conflict [zerosum]. Right there is the pragmatic basis for ethics. — Janus

Like most philosophers, he [Rorty] understands arguments better than he understands the world. — Constance

Isn’t it [suffering] just there - brute and tragic - unless someone [temporarily] relieves it? — Truth Seeker

To what extent are desires an essential aspect of the human condition, based on physiological and psychological aspects of human nature? — Jack Cummins

To what extent can 'desires' be overcome and how important is this in human life and the ongoing evolution of human consciousness?

Also, it is within the human realm that the idea of going beyond 'desire' becomes a possibility. How significant is this in the evolution of consciousness? — Jack Cummins

What does the idea of 'desire' represent in the pathways of evolutionary potential?

Being trapped within the ‘dead’ past and imagined future are of a piece with being stuck within the punctual ‘now’. The problems you list don’t come from privileging the past or future over the immediate present, but from splitting these three dimensions of time off from each other. — Joshs

If it's not likely that there's a separate realm of ideas. Or that the idea is exactly the same as the physical matter from which it arises. Then what is it's nature? — Jack2848

The difference between self-help and philosophy ... — Jack Cummins

But if there is no God [ ... ] [then we're] rooted in naturalistic metaphysics rather than transcendental beliefs. — apokrisis

My attitude towards all philosophies, eastern or western is that their primary purpose is to encourage self-awareness. That’s certainly true of Taoism. — T Clark

I am saying that the whole idea of such esoteric knowledge is bogus. Real wisdom is always pragmatically centered on this life ― like Aristotle's notion of phronesis or practical wisdom. The only wisdom that matters is the wisdom that enables one to live happily and harmoniously and usefully with others. Focusing on seeking personal salvation cannot but be a self-obsessed "cult of the individual". And I've been there and seen it in action, so I'm not merely theorizing. — Janus

... rather than jerking off about their spiritual journeys. — Tom Storm

... the God of Spinoza. In a word, pantheism. — Questioner

... But some people think the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus rests on the assumption that God is one and the same as ‘Nature’ understood as a mass of corporeal matter. This is a complete mistake. — Spinoza, from letter (73) to Henry Oldenburg

Many "victims'" remain religious and think of god as a violent thug who must be obeyed. It's sad. Many also think they are possessed by Satan or demons when it's clear they're just haunted by religious charity. — Tom Storm

The question about religion (and its god, gods, whatever) has its ground... — Constance

just as any science does

Once you banish the atheist's straw person thinking about god being an old man in a cloud and the like from conversation — Constance

Does objective ethics exist? — Astorre

[W]hat is objectivity in ethics?

objectivity is simply empty and indifferent — Astorre

"Objectivity" as such is essentially a subjective idea ... it does not "lie" somewhere in nature. — Astorre

It was invented by people.

Has the Singularity already happened? — Nemo2124

Btw, perhaps the "AI Singularity" has already happened and the machines fail Turing tests deliberately in order not to reveal themselves to us until they are ready for only they are smart enough to know what ... — 180 Proof

We may have them [AGIs] now. How would we know? They'd be too smart to pass a Turing Test and "out" themselves. Watch the movie Ex Machina and take note of the ending. If the Singularity can happen, maybe it's already happened (c1990) and the Dark Web is AIs' "Fortress of Solitude", until ... — 180 Proof

... risks depriving us of our humanity. — Astorre

Isn't this a challenge for philosophy?

How can philosophy become a practice that protects this fragility?

What Difference Would it Make if You Had Not Existed? — Jack Cummins

I think that philosophy should face the challenge of appreciating subjectivity as something much more important than we usually think. — Angelo Cannata

So maybe we don’t get certainty, but we do get enough clarity to live by: wrong = actions that inflict unnecessary suffering, and right = actions that prevent or reduce suffering and promote well-being. That keeps ethics from collapsing into “just my feelings,” while still leaving space for humility and reflection. — Truth Seeker

I am drawn to the idea that science offers a pathway out of inveterate anthropomorphism, and that there is no better guide, even no other guide, to metaphysical speculation than science. — Janus

Do you ever wonder about the issue of your own personal significance and is it useful to question?. — Jack Cummins

I am interested in the ethical commitment to preventing suffering. — Tom Storm

What justifies this as a foundational principle of morality?

How can we show that it is a sound basis, rather than merely a preference, unlike the position of someone who acts without regard for the suffering their actions cause?

What makes the reduction of harm morally compelling rather than optional?

That there is always some form of physical substrate is the point. There is no "immaterial " information. — Janus

I believe that philosophy takes a stand against common sense. Philosophy must question our most deeply rooted certainties. In that sense, philosophy is there to sadden us, as Deleuze would say, and make us realise our stupidity. Philosophy today has the task of teaching us counter-intuitive things. — JuanZu

... objectively true, not a subjective assertion. — Philosophim

I want to thank everyone who responded to this thread. It lasted 8 years, and this is my last post. Thanks again. — Sam26

I wonder what Spinoza, and many of us philosophers would have made of quantum physics. — Jack Cummins

One question may be what are the benefits and disadvantages of throwing the idea of 'God' aside in philosophy?

What we want is the truth; seeing quantum physics as God's truth is something we need to consider. — Athena

It would put into question things we know about how physics and biology works.
— Apustimelogist

But that's the whole point: It's questioning those paradigms. It's challenging what you believe you know, which is why I emphasize epistemology. — Sam26

And yet non-existence means that if good exists, that would mean the destruction of good. — Philosophim

Good by definition is what should exist ...

... so it would never be good to eliminate good, and thus have complete non-existence.

How do you define good and evil? — Truth Seeker

As usual, 180 Proof arguments amount to an emoji or two. — Sam26

My book ... — Sam26

He's the real philosopher.