Let's start this way: three terms: god, religion, theology. Pick one, and start your post with "God is," or "Religion is," or "Theology is." — tim wood
Quiddities, genus/species, special features, four causes? It seems strange that a crew of smart people couldn't have been more specific. — tim wood
. So I conclude that the essential meaning of "religion" is "tradition" : a link to the past. — Gnomon
there are many groups which disagree with the statement that religions are always a human creation — Samuel Lacrampe
Without any consensus, discussions tend to fall apart. — tim wood
With this I can agree. However I do not agree that it follows that we ought start with agreement as to our various definitions. Much off philosophy, essecialy Socratic method and linguistic analysis, shows this to be not just unnecessary but counterproductive.
A better approach would be to map out the differences... — Banno
Sure; but it doesn't stop the discussion. Take
God:
Is that which nothing greater can exist — Samuel Lacrampe
Ridding Anselm's notion of inconsistency is a work of ages... — Banno
I majored in comparative religion. In the first class we sort of ‘workshopped’ possible definitions of religion. We found, to my surprise, that we couldn’t arrive at one; that every proposed definition couldn’t accomodate some form of religion. — Wayfarer
faith", in the context of this discussion, is the belief supported by the probable or the reasonable, regarding religious claims. — Samuel Lacrampe
:up:What is faith?
— 180 Proof
Elephantine, indeed. A species of belief, to be sure; but not a species of truth. Mapping out the differences and similarities between faith and certainty might be interesting. — Banno
Indeed, the Tanakh says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent." ~1 Corinthians 1:19). — 180 Proof
Faith is nothing but magical thinking — 180 Proof
Yes. But I was talking about the physical motivation behind the felt human need for union with Mother, Father, Family, Tribe, and God. That urge to unite is "deathless" as long as it has roots in human nature. And Culture, including Religion, is the offspring of Human Nature, which is an outgrowth of Physical Nature, and so forth.Can't completely agree - while it is of course true that 'tradition' means 'to carry forward', but the idea of 'joining' or 'union', as in 'union with the divine' (or theosis or apotheosis) is not temporally-bound in any way. The tradition is seen in some sense as a vessel for preserving the gist of such teachings, but from their perspective, the subject is 'the deathless'. — Wayfarer
Every time we use empty names like these in a sentence they mean something in a relevant language-game but not in others. "Meaning is usage", no? Anyway, skim the wiki for empty name I again link here and you'll be hard pressed to object to my definition of "God" in a serious manner. The Rorschach-like semantic baggage of this (transcendental) signifier in particular nearly screams "Empty Name" . — 180 Proof
However I do not agree that it follows that we ought start with agreement as to our various definitions. Much of philosophy, especially Socratic method and linguistic analysis, shows this to be not just unnecessary but counterproductive. — Banno
What is faith? — 180 Proof
Really? is it not so that the substance of most if not all Socratic dialogues starts with some form of "What is..."? Then Socrates butchers the proffered answer, not so much to show that the answer doesn't hold, but that the thing itself is not-so-easy to define? That is, they all start with definition. — tim wood
Did you note in the OP reference to two kinds of definitions? One the always already agreed to and established, and the other contingently granted "for the sake of argument," that could turn out to be not the case? — tim wood
Of course we start with definitions all the time, else even communication fails. — tim wood
Socrates knows that he knows nothing; further, as demonstrated by his method, nor does anyone else, since they cannot provide definitions that will stand. — Banno
god, religion, theology — tim wood
God is a word with meaning. What meaning may be a good question, even one that, surprise, is being looked into here. — tim wood
Does reason in any sense dictate we terminate the discussion as nonsense because "God" is an empty name - — tim wood
d hope to spur us on to a more rigorous (i.e. logical-semantic or epistemological or even ontological) level than the usually pedestrian liturgical/mysterian apologia. — 180 Proof
one infinite source of all that is: eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, uncreated, uncaused, transcendent to, but also immanent in, all beings.
Though he still manages to believe that beauty=knowledge=virtue. That death is not important. That people do evil out of ignorance. (and if he knows nothing, how does he avoid this?) He certainly seemd to have epistemological beliefs; iow he has his process for demonstrating ideas are incorrect. He seemed to know the qualities that made up virtue; courage for example. He seemed to be a dualist, since our true self was our soul - not like the Christian soul but neverless not the body, but the internal thinking and deciding self - rather than what we own and status, etc.
Of course this is all reported by others, but then so is his quote about his knowing he knows nothing. — Coben
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