We're both given to sort of peacocking, I think. We both do it, the OP was doing it, and I've responded by doing it. But how would you sum up the OP in a few sentences? — csalisbury
-and I still think fixing academia requires restructuring academic incentive structures. But that is for the other thread. — csalisbury
This is the bible story that, even more than Job, popularises atheism — unenlightened
The very idea that there could be some principle adherence to which would be more important than one's own child's life is so repugnant on the face of it, that even in the bible, God has to relent once He has established His absolute authority. — unenlightened
Because, as God commandeth -- Thou shalt have no other gods before Me!With that one command, God puts Abraham in a tight spot - he has to treat that which he loves as that which he hates. After all, Abraham may have surely met someone whom he'd have loved to use his dagger on and relate that to what he's commanded to do, off his child with his dagger. God then is attempting to teach Abraham a moral lesson - treat the ones you hate same as the ones you love. — TheMadFool
Warning! Idiosyncracy. — TheMadFool
What does all this mean? In seven simple words, "morality requires you to surrender your ego." — TheMadFool
but that is obviously not what this story is about at all, — unenlightened
What I don't understand is why you want to make a new interpretation and persuade us that you are telling a better story. — unenlightened
It's not that I disagree with your seven simple words, but that is obviously not what this story is about at all, because if it was about that and everyone had got it wrong up 'til now, it would be a crap teaching story. There are stories that teach ego renunciation but not this one. — unenlightened
From my position, I would say that either you or Kierkegaard has misunderstood the nature of faith. Empirical evidence is irrelevant to faith. My belief in justice is not increased by the discovery that it occasionally prevails, or decreased by the observation that it commonly does not. — unenlightened
As to whether I have Kierkegaard right, I don't know, but I took his position that Abraham showed the perfect faith in God when he unquestionably agreed to sacrifice his son without objection. My point was that he didn't show faith as we understand it in a contemporary sense because Abraham had no reason to question God. — Hanover
But to your other comment, do you not have a rational basis (as opposed to an empirical one) for believing in the existence of justice or must faith also play a role? — Hanover
do you not have a rational basis (as opposed to an empirical one) for believing in the existence of justice or must faith also play a role? — Hanover
Are you on Highway 61, or route 66? — unenlightened
Human digits are formed in the womb by the selective death of embryonic cells in the limb ends. Incomplete cell death results in webbed hands/feet.
But the state of nature is what we have fallen from, as the story goes, — unenlightened
I don't know what human digits are. — TaySan
What I ought to do is not what has to be, or what I want, or what you want; rather it is "the space at the wheel's hub that makes it useful" as Lao Tzu put it. The no-thing of creativity. — unenlightened
Well on this thread I can perhaps present my position more clearly. The Academy resides on route 66 despite its monastic origins. So I grant your point for the reformation of the academy, simply noting how 'Jackal' that is. But down here on highway 61 where we get the killing done, and the dissolution of the monasteries and so on, there are no grades, and no tenure on offer. Say a true word or go straight to hell, as the Zen masters put it.
Science (as opposed to and distinct from the academy) only works if it is pursued religiously, and if it doesn't work, it's a steaming pile. So likewise, I am all for reforming the safeguarding policies of the Catholic church, but if the priests don't keep the faith, there is nothing left, and the congregation will drift away to some conspiracy theory that brings them comfort. — unenlightened
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