Comments

  • Anyone care to read Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason"?
    I think you are profoundly mistaken and barking up a profoundly unhelpful tree.

    "In Kant's philosophy, the term "ding-an-sich" refers to the thing-in-itself or the noumenon - an entity that exists independently of human perception and understanding. Kant argues that the human mind can only know and comprehend phenomena, or the way things appear to us through our senses, but we can never truly apprehend the noumenal realm.

    When it comes to God, Kant did not make explicit references to this concept in relation to the divine. Instead, he primarily addressed the limitations of human reason and our ability to know and understand God through theoretical knowledge. Kant maintained that the existence of God could not be proven or disproven by reason alone.

    (irrelevant paragraph removed)

    While Kant did not directly link the concept of ding-an-sich to God, one could argue that in the noumenal realm, where things exist independently of human perception, a transcendent being like God could potentially reside. However, it is important to note that this interpretation goes beyond Kant's direct writings and is subject to individual interpretation."

    source is DeepAI
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank


    We're talking about one particular state, which is geopolitically homogenous.AmadeusD

    Really hard to think you're not choosing to ignore some really critical points in your replies.
  • A Case for Moral Realism
    Most just go back to relying upon whatever instinct there was that caused the person to put events in A or B in the first place.Hanover

    I think this is what @Bob Ross is inadvertently relying on for his categories.

    If, for example, I arrive at a theory for why events are moral and then I apply that theory to a specific event X and the theory says X is moral, but I don't agree with it, then I refuse to call it moral and I go back and tinker with my theory so that Xs no longer are computed as moral.Hanover

    Do you think this is roughly the standard for Philosophical discussions of morality?

    I tend to bite the bullet and sit with the discomfort or reject the system and start again. Currently, that's happening a lot LOL
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    Trump is a convicted felon and wins the electionGRWelsh

    This will send the hard-leftists into a tail-spin. Felonies are racist.
  • Currently Reading
    Re-reading Great Expectations and about to crack open Ryle's Dilemmas (thx @Banno)
  • The Mind-Created World
    That explains a lot.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    It would be more helpful to answer the question. It is directly relevant to an assertion you made that seems unreasonable to the rest of us.

    The examples you gave aren't relevant. They are religions with various sects. We're talking about one particular state, which is geopolitically homogenous.
  • Possible solution to the personal identity problem
    I think Jason has actually spoken about that - how certain experiences change your mental states to such a degree there might be a change in identity. But, I think you're slightly misapprehending - its not changes, its a discontinuity - i.e, disestablishment->reestablishment that provides the 'death' on his account.
    I don't buy it either, ftr.

    Parfit has a reductionist account which concludes there is no persistent self, but what matters to morality is psychological continuity only. Hence, Jason's rather bleak and stringent account of death
  • The Great Controversy
    fair enough, and I am extremely appreciative of the humility there, even if it isn't warranted :P

    Right now we have run away ChristianityAthena

    This should be very, very fun....

    I look forward to a thoughtful response!
  • US Election 2024 (All general discussion)
    It's just so disappointing to have these unforced errorsHanover

    This is why it isn't reasonable to get such an arched back over these things. Everything is f'd. LOL

    I don't want to vote for Biden, but I'll crawl over broken glass to vote against Trump, and I'm not going to throw my vote away on a hopeless third party candidate.RogueAI

    I respect that position. I would waste my vote though, if I chose to.
  • Not reading Hegel.
    I’m on board. Dude is fantastic to listen to.
    No comments yet but I know this will be extremely rich listening
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    I shall not be taking you seriously going forward. :)
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    I very much consider Hamas as the actual government of GazaBitconnectCarlos

    Ah, see.. that's fair enough. I do not. That seems like a massaging of reality to support an emotional state, to me. But i'm sure my rejection of that appears a weak 'no true scotsman' appeal in the sense that "they're not a 'proper'" government being my at-base reasoning.

    a governmenBitconnectCarlos

    Unrecognized by any relevant body? Interesting. Goes to the above, i suppose, but given that only the PNA, and unequivocal rejection of Hamas, seems to be taken on by any relevant body or authority i find it an odd thing to rest on.

    Yes Israel will target houses and hospitals because Hamas will militarize houses and hospitals, but Israel will provide aid to innocent Palestinians.BitconnectCarlos

    This seems counter to them not doing this. But that's a digression - the sources of information are questionable at best given the interests on each side. I'm not committed to anything here. What I would say, is that I can do this:

    https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/damning-evidence-of-war-crimes-as-israeli-attacks-wipe-out-entire-families-in-gaza/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_war_crimes (the relevant section, obviously)

    https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/11/9/israels-war-crimes-in-gaza-are-by-design-not-default

    https://www.voanews.com/a/human-rights-watch-accuses-israel-of-war-crimes-criticizes-selective-outrage-of-allies/7436111.html

    https://www.globalr2p.org/publications/atrocities-present-past-and-future-escalating-crimes-and-consequences-in-israel-and-occupied-palestine/

    https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza

    https://amnesty.org.nz/evidence-war-crimes-gaza

    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/enough-evidence-of-war-crimes-in-gaza-says-israeli-american-holocaust-professor/3061948

    I'm not expecting you to even click any of these links. My point is not that anything in them is conclusive, or even reliable. My point is that I could do the same in reverse (as i'm sure you would do). Fact is, there is no obvious response to what's going on. It is equivocal in a general sense.

    Also, I'm sorry, but again, looking at the two death tolls

    "As of December 30, 2023 Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor estimated Gaza Strip deaths as 30,034 total and civilian deaths at 27,681 which would mean about 2,353 militant deaths."

    i just cannot make sense of your position at-base, so I have to go on to this more abstract discussion to come to interesting points, which i think are here. I cannot understand how it is possible to look at a 2:1 or worse ratio of civilian to combatant deaths and think that's anything less that a severe war crime.

    but targeting houses which contain weapons and hamas operatives is not a war crime.BitconnectCarlos

    Targeting civilians is a war crime. Being wrong is not.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    Hey mate - I'll go in reverse, as that seems to make sense..

    This is an armed conflict. Both sides attack. Hamas has launched thousands of rockets into Israel since 10/7.BitconnectCarlos

    This doesn't have anything to do with which individuals are liable to be attacked. But i understand the emotional behind that fact. It just isn't what i've asked about.

    Netanyahu is the head of state, Hamas is the governing organization of Gaza. Ismail Haniyeh is the leader.BitconnectCarlos

    You've glossed over what i've said. Hamas is an interloper, not an actual Government and Ismail is not an actual head-of-state. I did point this out...

    There are innocent Palestinians and there are guilty Palestinians. Some legitimate targets of war, others not. Israel does not indiscriminately target all PalestiniansBitconnectCarlos

    I find this wanting of fact. I do not see any clear-cut policy whereby this is actually happening. Particularly given the Israeli propensity to literally refer to Palestinians as animals and worthy of eradication..
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    This is probably the single occasion i have seen on this forum on which a very curt "piss off" is 100% justified. So, there we go.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    Genuine question, not loaded with anything more than exactly what it asks: Should I expect that this, lets say orthogonal mode of interaction from you generally? Would like to know how to approach you efficiently.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    agitpropPaine

    I don't engage with ridiculous nonsense. Sorry mate :)
  • A Case for Moral Realism
    I think an act is right or wrong, not subject to my subjective definitions or beliefs.Hanover

    (not related to any foregoing discussion) Do you have a basis? Or is it more an intuition that there must be some basis, unknown or indescribable?
  • US Election 2024 (All general discussion)
    No one is getting out of bed to vote for Joe, not even Joe.Hanover

    Octogenarian Politicking at it's finest LOL
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    Not trying to stir anything up, but surely this kind of thinking also exculpates all Palestinians who would not be represented by Hamas? I'm not pretending you don't see the distinction, but in the Israel case, Netanyahu is the actual head-of-state, not an interloper, which Hamas can be seen as.

    Surely, the proportionality question, comes, in some sense, down to who is actually liable to attack?
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    Sure. Trump spent huge amounts of time in his last months in office assembling success stories, so-called, but his legislative record was extremely thinWayfarer

    Interestingly, the vast majority of his legislative wins he never mentioned publicly (such as historically high funding of HBCUs and other minority community funding, signing millions of sq mi into natural reserves etc.. but, in a large sense, what you've said is entirelty true and adds (particularly), in light of the above, to my take you've quoted there. He's a total knob.
  • US Election 2024 (All general discussion)
    Absolutely not, no, while I also understand what you're getting at - Facts don't care about feelings, haha. But sources matter - and each decides their source is reliable, despite pretending tha t there's an absolute answer - it's all spin. It's all paraphrasing, interpolating and media horsecrap from top to bottom - eg, its extremely shaky ground to attribute inflation changes to Biden during this term. From 2020 onward, so many machinations of hte world would outstrip the ability of governmetn action to affect things like employment and inflation. You may disagree, but having watched from afar this seems inarguable. It's happened everywhere. But i'm sure there are plenty of articles claiming its Biden's doing (which is patent, inarguable nonsense).

    Additionally, Biden has been found to have fabricated his educational history in public, among other things. There is absolutely no basis to be pretending Biden is a clean-handsman. He made plenty of utterly absurd votes throughout his career, including opposing desegregation efforts that were working.

    https://www.mic.com/impact/the-moments-from-joe-bidens-political-career-that-have-aged-the-worst-22914332

    https://macleans.ca/politics/washington/taking-stock-of-those-47-years-of-joe-biden-that-trump-keeps-mentioning/

    https://www.aei.org/op-eds/the-10-worst-things-president-biden-did-in-2023/

    I may have to duck out, because you are clearly committed to a certain view, and while i respect that, I don't, overall, respect approaching politics in the way you are. It seems to be counterproductive, and at times outright ridiculous (not you; the approach). My take; that's all. I can conceive of choosing to lionise a politician. If, for whatever reason, you are convinced Biden is not, as a career politician, an absolute crank, I don't know what to say.

    Ftr, i think both are precluded from being reasonable candidates. They are both, for different reasons, completely inadequate to be in charge of anything reasonably important.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    That isn't how either side gets their emotions in place. And in either case, the other side can point to as many:

    This appears to be an unsympathetic source trying to be balanced.

    Also, My point was, and this is undeniable: It is incomprehensible to the other side. The mere fact that Biden has said such utter, and complete shit as accusing blacks who vote for Trump of not being black wouuld lead to this. I'm not saying their right, or across the issues.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    I think he's doing a quite exceptional job.Wayfarer

    And in this, consists a claim that is entirely incomprehensible to anyone who disagrees.

    Unsure it's smart for anyone to be determining entire life-long projects based on that type of thing (not aimed at you, Wayfarer - just a ocmment on why most of this discourse is laughable to me).
  • US Election 2024 (All general discussion)
    He's seen the same on the othe rside. Dishonest, manipulative, fraudulent, hell-bent on harming America and f**king with elections etc...
  • Anyone care to read Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason"?
    Not a problem - very much enjoying. Feel free to spam my inbox if you need somewhere to lay thoughts down, anytime. I will always attend.

    letting the transcendental side be merely of some relative interest, as in God, freedom and immortality and such, but not much else.Mww

    Having just got through (i.e between our earlier interaction today (my time, anyway) and now) Kant's breakdown of the three arguments for God (A583-ish, i think through A630-ish) have me in this sort of mindset, now. Though, It is still just as unsatisfying to me.
  • The Great Controversy
    Why not the people and the psychological and sociological causes of their behavior? As I see the mess in Israel and Palestine millions of people of just trying to live their lives and a handful of people have brought them to war.Athena

    Your final sentence can be true, regardless of my assertion - and I agree - but in reference to those who have "brought them to war": Because the crucial difference between analogous situations in which people are not committing theocratic war crimes, and this one, is that the ideology doesn't demand it in those others, whereas in this one, it does. That's why i noted its not an indictment of human nature. People react to their environments - granted. But people are only driven to the type of irrational acts of war, with the addition of a commanding ideology. WRT other Abrahamics, Judaism is famously amenable to update and has had many. Christianity, partially the same, but partially the Enlightenment has acted as a shield against runaway Christianity for the most part. We have nothing similar for Islam given it's self-imposed exile from Western thought.

    I don't think ideology is the point of power but male egosAthena

    You realise Judaism is based almost solely on the teachings and exemplars of patriarchs, right? I don't have much more than an eyeroll here, tbh. Such a tired way of assessing complex ideological threads. No offense meant, that's just my take.

    The Muslims who are in favor of war are the same as the Jews and Christians who like to believe they are doing to the will of God whenever they engage in war.Athena

    Except, the latter aren't actually doing that any longer, almost universally. Their ideology has been amenable to update and has removed the irrational, self-defeating policies of the 'Angry God' origins of their faith. They are not promised Paradise for killing innocents, and themselves.
  • Possible solution to the personal identity problem

    @Tom Storm

    If you check episode below ("Does Tuvix Deserve To Die?"Jason expounds on his position at about 46min forward regarding why he doesn't drink, on a Parfitean account of identity
    .
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    honest observations of what is going on.Christoffer

    Wild....
  • Anyone care to read Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason"?
    general view is that it's not synonmous, but that Kant was rather inconsistent with his usageWayfarer

    That is satisfying.

    'the object of nous' was explicitly not a sensible object, but the Idea, Form, or Principle of an object (that which makes the particular what it is).Wayfarer

    Certainly helps clarify the lineage Kant was working from - and why he just redefined it.

    But in the earlier philosophies, what was 'an object of thought' was not some unknown thing, but an Idea or Form which could only be grasped intellectually (or 'noetically') but which didn't exist on the plane of sensible (or sense-able) objects.Wayfarer

    Does this rely on that Platonic conception of the 'real' though? If so, I can see why Schop is considered wrong there, given that particular version of things doesn't really work for anything beyond Platonic discussion specifically (i.e Platonic forms tend to only be used as an exemplar or metaphor, rather than an example of anything actually being discussed - in my experience./reading).
  • A Case for Moral Realism
    do not deserveLeontiskos

    On what basis, universally applicable, are we basing deserts on? Would this also apply to precluding a desert from a one?
  • Anyone care to read Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason"?
    We end up with a causal relation between the thing and the thing-in-itself, a relation between the thing and us, without the need of a relation between the thing-in-itself and us. Everybody goes home happy.Mww

    This is what is expressly unsatisfying to me. But, I do think this is what the CPR is meant to be indicating. That we can't reason to satisfying explanations of our phenomena, despite the previous two millennia attempting it... that we are destined to be frustrated by efforts to understand what's really going on.
    Having made some headway in sorting out how to think about these things, this seems to be the 'cosmic joke' at the base of attempts to "get into" Kant.
  • What is a strong argument against the concievability of philosophical zombies?
    Oh, I see what you're getting at. Yep, for sure I agree there.
  • What is a strong argument against the concievability of philosophical zombies?
    Lying is definitely intentional. It's the difference between being misinformed (and passing that on) versus knowing you are misinforming the person you're passing the information on to, intended them to believe it to be true, or correct.
  • Agnostic atheism seems like an irrational label
    Absolutely. Certain moves almost seem like a wind-up LOL. But there we go - such is discussion of belief and knowledge :) Enjoying it, despite hte headaches.
  • Agnostic atheism seems like an irrational label
    Not so much. Most common entities without evidence for their existance are in the "I don't believe in it" category not the "well, it's possible" category of most.LuckyR

    I don't see how this is not the same thing, without expressing the same.
    Anyone who claims absolutely that unicorns are not possible, is kidding themselves.
    But that number is severely diminished in intellectually rigorous circles (such as here).LuckyR

    I am not convinced this is either true, or matters. Not considering something seriously isn't the same as positively affirm disbelief that it is possible.

    — OkAy, do you have evidence it is not there though?Lionino
    A good example. The jury is out. Out of hte building. No energy spent on the proposition. But affirmative disbelief is not there. It's merely not engaging.
  • Best Arguments for Physicalism
    The harmony is not the vibration. The strings will vibrate whether they are in harmony or not.
    The harmony or ratio of frequencies is what causes the vibration of the strings to function in a certain way.
    Fooloso4

    Sympathetic vibration tells me this isn't the whole story.

    Instruments have been designed in a way (John McLaughlin's 13-string guitar when playing with Shakti comes to mind) specifically so that a harmony in the strings played, causes the strings not played to vibrate sympathetically. I believe sitar behaves this wY too.
  • Agnostic atheism seems like an irrational label
    You're not saying the jury's out on the existance of gods, you're saying in the absence of evidence I don't believe in any gods.LuckyR

    Can you figure how these are different?

    IN the absence of evidence, not believing amounts to the jury still being out. But perhaps out of hte building, rather than still in the deliberation room. I can't see any practical difference.

    I think not accepting p and not accepting not-p is much more than a fine linLudwig V

    They are fundamentally different things. I think one of the sophistical tricks of (perhaps the religious?) some in this thread is to pretend that not accepting p is the same as accepting not-p.

    In the former, the subject may not know about p. In the former, the know, and reject it positively. Very, very different situations. The misuse of these words hurts my head, and the weak defenses of their misuses even more so.
  • Anyone care to read Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason"?
    The root of our discussion is here, from pg 12, with which I disagree:Mww

    I have not seen you disagree with this, really. You've helped me see where I was misusing words and concepts because I don't understand what I'm doing all that well (which i am extremely appreciative of. This isn't easy LOL) but I can't see that you've disagreed that Kant gives us an unavoidable causal relationship between thing-in-itself and our sensible intuitions. It appears your most recent response (prior to this) laid it out in explicit terms - that you agree with it?

    1. Thing-in-itself appears to us as an unknowable entity;
    2. ????;
    3. Something is presented to our sensuous organs;
    AmadeusD

    The "?????" I think, is the Noumenon of whatever object. At the time, I had entirely misunderstood what the Noumenon is meant to represent, and where it fits in the relationships of thing-in-itself, conception, and intuition. I am now under the impression that 1. The thing-in-itself, somehow, in some unknowable fashion, instigates appearance - but that the Noumenon is that which, in some sense, exists between the two in a sort of semi-focus, as compared to the total blank of the thing-in-itself.

    what do you think all that really says,Mww

    Well, I don't think anyone really knows - but its relevance here, is that Kant appears to very directly note that the thing-in-itself is in a causal relationship with our sensible intuitions. There is thing-in-itself, and the phenomenal appearance in intuition - and that there is, unavoidably, a causal relationship between the two - Otherwise, as noted, we are left with intuitions of nothing. Its just unsatisfying because we can never have any knowledge of that which 'causes' the appearance of any object of intuition.
    The over-all thesis of that section, i'm yet to parse.

    I'm about 90% of the way through this book, and i'd say i grok the overall thesis in a pale reflection, and about 15% of the actual content. Doing my best.

    While we cannot conceive of things entirely askance from any empirical intuition, these are merely representations belonging to the internal human system, hence have no concern with external causal conditions, which belong to Nature itself.Mww

    I agree - but this goes to the previous thing we're trying to come to terms on.
    That causal relationship is necessary, if unknowable and unconcerning to us in general. But if we have never been caused to undergo the experience of a phenomenon, we can't conceptualise it, i think.

    Edited in later, so apologies if missed: It seems really, really clear that most thinkers consider the thing-in-itself noumenal. Can you help me understand how this is the case, with Noumena/on being different from the thing-in-itself? It is just Kant being annoying and confusing"?