he’d actually be engaging in a wee bit of furious onanism. — Ilyosha

I think that’s what he’d advise you to do. It seems you’re in desperate need of letting off some steam.

Not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean words are not facts? Words, as soon as they are spoken, written or typed, no longer exist in one’s mind but become part of the shared reality. — CuddlyHedgehog

I think he means that people tend to privilege words and their definition way beyond their role as representative approximations of the things they seek to denote. Nothing important about the existence of a written word is real. Words are wholly dependant on the language community which claims to understand them. They have no independent, absolute or unambiguous meaning.

Not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean words are not facts? Words, as soon as they are spoken, written or typed, no longer exist in one’s mind but become part of the shared reality. — CuddlyHedgehog

I gave several examples, although I'm not satisfied I was clear enough. One of these days I'll start up a new discussion unless one of you do it first.

I classified it as metaphysics? Oh, my apologies. That should belong in Philosophy of Religion

I classified it as metaphysics? Oh, my apologies. That should belong in Philosophy of Religion — Abdul

No, I wasn't complaining about anything you did, I was just referring to a comment I had made in your discussion.

Another pet peeve.
People believe that just because you argue in favor of something that it is your sacred belief that it is true.

If I want to I can argue in favor of starving people to death if they don't work or against the idea of doing so.
I was taught that if you cannot defend an idea that you find appalling, then you are also unable to to defeat those who do defend it.

It is called seeing both sides of the argument, and there are quite a few that really need to take up the practice.

Students who come on the forum to try to get us to do their homework for them. — T Clark

maybe they are here because they trully want to learn.

They should start then by using proper grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.

There are some nasty people around here that like to insult you if you make mistakes.
I really don't care as long as it understandable, but the grammar NAZIs do tend to get a bit pissed of.

Well, capitalization is obviouslly important here. Or else you get banned. I have gotten a few warnings. So I just have to remember.

I could easily join the Grammar Gestapo or the Stasi of Sentence Structure. I try to refrain. While error prone myself, I like to look for errors in other people's work. I am guessing that English is not your first language, but your posts are perfectly understandable, your English is idiomatic, and your errors are the same kind of errors that native speakers make.

One of the interesting things about Tolkien's LOTR is that he told the story mostly with words that are modern versions of Anglo-Saxon. Even though English was impregnated by French, with a huge brood of French offspring, the core of English and its grammar are Old English (or Anglo-Saxon). It's been around 30 years since I analyzed LOTR, but it seems to me that about 75% of the words in LOTR were Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, Frisian, and the like. 20% were words derived from French,and 5% were "other" (not counting any of Tolkien's invented languages). The large share of AS words imparts a distinct flavor to the text, and is what makes LOTR very accessible to so many English readers.

Some contemporary science fiction writers whose work I enjoy greatly like to salt their modern English with extremely rare words which have very esoteric roots. They also use more complex sentence structure. There is every reason under many stars for space ship captains in the 25th century to use educated, complex English.

I like to look for errors in other people's work — Bitter Crank

Its a valid form of detecting falsehood, but im talking about the subject itself and not grammer or the likes. No, english isnt my first language, im norwegian. The biggest fear I had before posting anything here was that people would just call me stupid and in a way bully me into leaving. But so far, so good! :)

But I will admit that I have never studied philosophy and dont have the knowledge that the "veterans" in here have. But I want to learn and that is why I am here.

Good point about defending arguments.

Know thy enemy. :smile:

One of my pet peeves is when people join a discussion without reading the thread. At least skim through the material.

I've never taken a course in philosophy. Between this site and the old Philosophy Forum (now pretty much defunct) about 10 years worth, is where I've learned most of whatever I know about philosophy. I've read more theology than philosophy.

The biggest fear I had before posting anything here was that people would just call me stupid and in a way bully me into leaving. — Aleksander Kvam

Have patience. There's plenty of time to call you stupid and drive you away. (Joke). In truth though, one never knows when one is going to be pounced on, or who will do the honors. Sort of like life itself.

:)

I think all of us understand the dilema of a student who was afraid to further inquire about a subject, in fear of the rest of the students would mock him for it. So you risk humiliation in exchange for knowlegde and understanding.

Once you have learned that much, the rest is easy.

Take your time and think about what you want to say, then read what you wrote to make sure that they are the same thing.

Thanks! :)

Here are a few that raise the hair