The point of idealism is that the things that exist are the things we are conscious of, isn't it? — Banno
What is an experience? Would it be fair to define experience as the information of the subject/object/person relative to the world? — Harry Hindu
Why should I doubt Minds, tables , bodies , quarks and chairs - after all, they are a more apparent "other" than "relational patterns". — Banno
To a chemist a chair is a conglomeration of molecules — Joshs
Not quite. — Wayfarer
I'm still puzzled by your idealism that is apparently the same as realism. — Banno
Is there a point of difference between us? — Banno
But that is not an explanatory principle. — Wayfarer
So much better than most folk hereabouts. — Banno
But Wayfarer has presented converse arguments such that those who espouse materialism are afraid less they be obliged to face the reality of a spiritual or transcendent world - they refuse to countenance such things out of fear of having their world overturned. And I think this is probably right, too, in many cases. — Banno
if I am not mistaken believes there is an afterlife — Janus
The debate between Idealism and Materialism may seem abstract and academic, far removed from everyday life, but on closer inspection the opposite is true. From the Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries onward, Materialism has steadily grown into the dominant worldview of Western civilization. As such, Materialism has exerted an enormous – and very harmful – influence in our culture. It is not for nothing that the word “materialism” is synonymous with greed and the exclusive focus on material possessions. The most important cultural consequence of scientific Materialism has undoubtedly been modern individualism, an extreme form of the dualistic belief in the reality of the separate ego.
The seemingly separate ego experiences itself as detached from – and at odds with – an indifferent outside world, in which it must struggle to maintain itself. Materialism naturally leads to belief in separation because this philosophy sees Consciousness as a by-product of the brain. In that case, Consciousness is by definition tied to an individual and mortal body, and thus different from individual to individual. In this way, Materialism is in large part responsible for the suffering that the dualistic belief in separation entails: egoism, greed, exploitation, feelings of inferiority, hatred, abuse, violence… These are all thoughts, feelings and behavioral patterns that originate in the conviction that I – as this person, with this body and this mind – am nothing more than this individual being, separate from the other people around me, separate from nature, separate from the Universe, separate from the Divine... — Peter Sas, Critique of Pure Interest (Blog)
I love the eternal Janus @Wayfarer saga. — Noble Dust
I'm glad we are providing you with some love in this often harsh world,,,or is it merely entertainment? — Janus
, just highlighting that if one really seriously believed in the importance of preparing for an afterlife, then one would live a very different life — Janus
The sense of a rule is its immediate, contextual use. To apply it is to create its sense. Before we choose to apply rules, we already find ourselves ‘thrown into’ a particular discursive world, as Heidegger put it. — Joshs
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