180 Proof - The Philosophy Forum

I don't doubt that I have them (i.e. cognitive functions) but instead question what they are and how they work. Clearly, "thoughts" (or experiences) are not only what they seem to us subjectively to be.

Does Entropy Exist?

Is belief in the Trinity magical thinking? — ucarr

No doubt.

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

↪Count Timothy von Icarus

A field of strawmen not worth setting ablaze. :smirk:

To be an atheist, but not a materialist, is completely reasonable

↪flannel jesus

:up:

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

↪Bob Ross

My position is that it's (more) reasonable to be "confident" only in those experiences and facts which we do not have compelling (more-than-subjective) grounds to question or doubt. Reducing ontology (what there is) to epistemology (my/our experiences) makes idealism absurd (i.e. a form of philosophical suicide).

Literary writing process

How do you write? — hypericin

This question works for both literary and philosophical 'pieces'. The way we think. [ ... ] Is it down to personality? Or what? — Amity

To start with, I suspect it comes down to each writer's practiced instincts for exploring ambiguity and for clarifying in spite of ambiguity, respectively.

Iris Murdoch's differentiation of philosophical texts and literary texts, and the different implications for reading them ... — 180 Proof

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m47A0AmqxQE

Does Entropy Exist?

The hell you speak of is a product of your own primal fear. It only exists in your mind, put there by liars. — universeness

:fire:

↪ucarr

At best your post is disingenuous since "the question" is merely rhetorical given my previously stated philosophical commitments. Again, ucarr, for 45 years now I haven't had any religious or supernatural beliefs whatsoever as I reject all species of magical thinking (such as yours :sparkle:).

Literary writing process

You're too damn cryptic — Vera Mont

:smirk:

Walking & Thinking

↪praxis

Excellent. :fire:

What is real?

In other words, that which is ineluctable, involuntary and/or immanent (encompassing) is real. All else are either (incidental) properties or (cognitive) illusions.

Literary writing process

↪Amity

I'm not 'meta' enough about TPF itself as a specimen of online social media.

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

↪Bob Ross

So what's your point, Bob?

Does Entropy Exist?

↪ucarr

I lost my religion (i.e. ritualized magical thinking) @15 and became godless. I'm even more godless now @60 after decades of readings in e.g. cultural anthropology, comparative religion, comparative philosophy, post-secondary engineering, natural sciences & cognitive science studies as well as surviving/thriving from many limit-experiences (epiphanies). I'm an everyday absurdist bluesman who has done his homework and paid his dues, ucarr, and have made my commitments to antitheism, irreligion, freethought & naturalism abundantly clear over thousands of posts on TPF and on my member profile. :death: :flower:

Are you willing to commit yourself, in the emphatic mode of your above words, to a written statement declaring that you permanently reject the personal presence of the Holy Spirit as a worthless and meaningless fiction?

I don't understand this question in light of the above.

↪universeness

:clap: :up:

My job, as a believer ... — ucarr

... does not trump your responsibilities as a thinker (especially here on TPF), at minimum, not to degenerate 'philosophical discussions' into proselytizing cant rationalized by vapid, dogmatic, apologia (or woo woo). :brow:

Does Entropy Exist?

Click on the link below and watch the short YouTube video.

Trinity ~~Logic~~ — ucarr

I clicked the link but I didn't bother watching. Twelve years of primary & seconary Jesuit education (four years of Latin, one year of Greek) and in particular study of the theological apologetics of Early Church Fathers, etc have left me confident that I understand the 'Doctrine of the Holy Trinity' well enough already. Also, I think I've made it abundantly clear, ucarr, I'm neither a religious believer nor a metapjysical supernaturalist, so why refer me to this video. I prefer not to have to regret losing five minutes which I can never get back again.

As for the rest of your post ... :roll:

↪universeness

:up:

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

↪wonderer1

:up: :up:

Culture is critical

Your mecha based technophilia, seems to trump your biophilia. :sad: — universeness

Perhap orga is only mecha's way of – raison d'être for – making more mecha. :smirk:

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

I think this is partly the idea behind apophatic theology at least. — Count Timothy von Icarus

:up:

The Insignificance of Moral Realism

This is very good. — Count Timothy von Icarus

Thanks.

But there is the epistemic challenge of "how do we come to know the good?"

I do not see a basis for "the epistemic challenge". Consider my more explanatory post linked at the top of the post to which you've responded

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

Otherwise, I don't know why ... — Bob Ross

Exactly.

Culture is critical

↪universeness

With or without AGI+, meat payloads are not – never have been or will be – mission critical. :smirk:

What creates suffering if god created the world ?

↪simplyG

So god created suffering in order to help – torture – us sufferers to strive to become "perfect"? Sounds like apologetic gibberish. :mask:

What creates suffering if god created the world ?

I wouldn’t go that far ... — simplyG

:roll:

What creates suffering if god created the world ?

↪simplyG

Yes, then you agree that the answer to thread's question is god creates suffering and therefore, that god is, in effect, indistinguishable from the devil (i.e. wholly unworthy of, or is immorsl to, worship). :pray: :naughty:

NB: Also, most living creatures are microbial parasites ((or symbionts), not "predators". The living were allegedly "created" to consume the living – cannibalesque coprophagy – to involuntarily afflict pain or injury on one another. "Creation" (aka "the best of all possible worlds") is a cosmic abattoir.

Culture is critical

To boldy go .......... — universeness

... where no Artilect has gone before. :nerd:

The stars "beckon" mankind the same way a diamond beckons a jewel thief or a bottle calls to a drunk. They don't want you; you want them. — Vera Mont

:smirk: :up:

What creates suffering if god created the world ?

Suffering is an ineluctable aspect of the world; if g/G created the world, then g/G created suffering (e.g. creatures devouring one another in order to sirvive, etc). "Thy will be done", no?

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

↪simplyG

Public evidence.

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

The real question should be not “is there a god” but do I have faith that there is no god. — simplyG

Or, better yet: Is anything we say or claim about "god" (any deity) that is demonstrably true and therefore consistent with the world (existence) as we know it?

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

↪Tom Storm

Same here. As far as I'm concerned, all worship is idolatry and worshippers – religious believers – are idolators.

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

↪Tom Storm

If you (somehow) knew that there is at least one god, do you think you would still be unable to believe in god?

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

We can't know there are no gods — Tom Storm

Why can't we know there are no gods? :chin:

"Why I don't believe in God" —Greta Christina

↪jorndoe

:100: :fire:

Does Entropy Exist?

I struggle to understand how you fail to see that The Trinity, centuries before QM, claimed the superposition of three entities, one of them flesh and blood. — ucarr

:yikes: wtf ...

Literary writing process

It all depends on how it's done I guess. — Vera Mont

Agreed.

Does Entropy Exist?

↪ucarr

I appreciate the reply; it's word-salad to me though. Like I said before: we're not physicists (and it shows); my philosophical bias is to reject as pseudo-philosophy (woo woo) 'metaphysical statements' which are inconsistant with, and do not account for, well-established physical theories. Anyway, ucarr, we're only going in circles at this point, so thanks for the discussion.

Literary writing process

What it means for an individual's sense of wellbeing if their beliefs are overturned. Personal, psychological and political. [ ... ] The short stories and fiction can raise philosophical questions in a more creative, perhaps acceptable way ... — Amity

I agree. We (TPF) benefit from both discussions and creative expressions.

I think it would work really well as an 'episode' in a novel of linked short stories.

:cool: Yes, I'd prefer a picaresque novel to a strictly progressive, bildungsroman-like form. Besides, I still have no plan for exactly where or how the characters go on.

The mythology is interesting, though I don't quite follow all of it. There is some wonderful description and imagery. — Vera Mont

:blush: Thanks. I inagine there are other versions or interpretations of "the mythology" which probably have implications for other events or folk beliefs elsewhere in the setting. I still haven't decided whether or not the Old Man is a reliable narrator.

I can definitely see this in a larger context - I suppose the novel would have to be about the adventures of the heroine and her mercenary, so this would be at the beginning.

If it's an anthology instead of a novel, then "the adventures" (or "episodes") need not follow a linear plotline in sequential order. Maybe (a tighter) "Good Stew" is a flashback of the heroine years later during a lull in one of her "adventures" (as a frame). I'd have to write a few more, I think, before the shape of an overall tale – metaplot? – will suggest its structure.

Is that nit-picking?

Sure, but that's okay. I prefer characters who are essentially passive (or absent) to be named but two conversing protagonists, especially ones who are also quite familiar with one another, to be unnamed unless one of them calls the other by name (e.g. for emphasis). A (Beckettian) quirk I'm guilty of in other stories of mine.

I've been rereading the Black Company because I think Cook does a good job at this, even though his story and setting are much less complex. — Count Timothy von Icarus

:up: I'm also a Glen Cook fan. If you've read him, what do you think of Joe Ambercrombie? His hardboiled, gritty fantasy seems like a blend of Black Company & Game of Thrones.

Does Entropy Exist?

↪universeness

:up: :up: