The question has two possible outcomes so we should initially assign a 50% probability to each outcome. — Devans99
I don't know what "the nothing" is, and it's not clear to me anyone does. — Ciceronianus the White
I suspect if a definition is hazarded by anyone, it will turn out to be fittingly obscure... — Ciceronianus the White
...or if not that a rather mundane expression of angst. — Ciceronianus the White
Well, my last remark notwithstanding, I think I raise legitimate questions and would be inclined to raise them as to any philosopher. But if this thread is to be limited to those who understand what Heidegger is saying, I'm not among them and will withdraw. — Ciceronianus the White
I have trouble thinking of feelings as a "self" though I find the idea that moods and feelings reflect our interaction with the rest of the world quite acceptable, even apparent. — Ciceronianus the White
Just how the feeling or mood of dread (or whatever he may want to call it) might reveal "the nothing" is a mystery to me, though claiming that it does would seem to me to assert that our interaction with reality reveals "something" which presumably isn't real. Unless, of course, it is, or is "real" enough. — Ciceronianus the White
But enough. I begin to feel the dread I always feel when encountering Heidegger's work which, though potent enough to me, is evidently insufficient to reveal "the nothing." — Ciceronianus the White
So "the nothing" (which we must remember itself nothings, according to H) is nothing (pun intended) but a feeling, a state of mind? Which is, one would think, something. — Ciceronianus the White
To say we don't matter, that we lack value and have to be saved from it by an otherworldly force of God, is a lie. We've never lacked value and have a certain status on account of ourselves, as living beings in the world (afterlives included). — TheWillowOfDarkness
But to treat philosophy as a way of life...is a much larger concern. What does that mean, treat it as a way of life? — Noble Dust
I think it means adopting philosophy as one's belief system, and choosing to live by it. Just like some people might adopt a religion, or a political view. But everyone does this. — Pattern-chaser
So, then how does one differentiate between what is true (supposedly, the process of academic philosophy), and believing in what is true (associating what is true with one's self)? — Posty McPostface
Should it develop, I am confident we can work it out. — Arne
Not only does the Phenomenology of Perception fill in the gap you have identified, it was written for that very purpose. I have not read it. It is on my reading list. If you would wish to read it together, I can move it to the top of my list. — Arne
Thanks. I'm not claiming anything original. An embodied approach to cognition would be pretty mainstream these days. — apokrisis
But then you can start filling back in the obvious degrees of mindfulness/world modelling represented by the distinctions between reflexive behaviour, automatic behaviour, attentive behaviour, self-aware behaviour. That's just the neurobiology of complexity. The modelling steadily becomes more sophisticated in terms of a relation between "a self" and "a world". — apokrisis
My general definition of consciousness or sentience would be being in a semiotic modelling relation with the world.
Rocks don’t model anything.
Microbes are a first glimmer of world modelling, but we would hardly say they see a world. They have some chemotaxic reflexes, but not some kind of integrated picture of an environment that changes from moment to moment in some modelled fashion demanding variety of behaviour.
And so we can move on up the chain to organisms with those kinds of complex world models. But being in a modelling relation would be a suitable dividing line. — apokrisis
It's normal for a real estate developer to have a lot of debt. — Agustino
Come on man, that's pocket change at that level... Talk about a couple billion dollars, and I might believe you. — Agustino
So unless the goal of the US was to get nothing here and give several things away, they failed. Simple as that. That doesn't mean the whole thing will be a failure. — Baden
Out of curiosity: Do you also have a problem with the history of the US meddling in the affairs of others around the globe? — Erik
I think the following video btw conveys Trump's childlike mentality — Baden
Heh, you don't have to go far for examples - no need for intergalactic travel - just look at us. Kantian or not, that's what we've been doing with each other, not to mention other animals. — SophistiCat
Just to give some idea of what an idealized version of this thread ought to look like, here's a syllabus from the University of Chicago. Intense! — Posty McPostface
I will check back latter and see if I can search those books through the website. — Posty McPostface
Because you've essentially accepted that The Right is absolved of agency, — Maw
I dislike Reddit immensely, but I call a spade a spade, and this idea that the Right has no agency in the ascendancy of Trump is immensely stupid and dangerous. — Maw
First, no where did I say or suggest that asking such questions: how did we lose, where did we go wrong etc. are invalid or wrong questions to ask. — Maw
Then it's not that you are not a member of the Far Left. It's just that you are an idiot. — Maw
You'd need a party to represent you to be able to have done anything wrong and you live in the wrong country for that. If you're under the illusion the US has a leftist party, then you need to travel abroad more. — Benkei
Well, you lost by never running, that's the point. There's never been a single far left presidential candidate. You weren't even anywhere close to the marathon.
Shit, even the Greens have more political clout than the wsws.org nutjobs who keep calling everyone else Pseudo-Left. — Akanthinos
The only point I'm attacking is the only point that was explicitly offered:the hypoxic conservative analysis that we "Got Trump" because of liberals, whether it's due through the Democratic Party, or the concept of "Social Justice Warriors", or left-wing intellectual elitism, etc. [...] this is an absurdity that requires - demands - countering and correcting. — Maw
And it is unequivocally not a critique in harmony with the Far Left. I know of no one on the Far Left who would claim that " the Democrats bear significant responsibility for his election", as if the Right is somehow absolved of agency. — Maw
As it happens, he has made my country worse. — tim wood
It's a defense of misdirection. In your case mindless incomprehension. — tim wood
II love how the party of "personal responsibility" will point fingers at nearly everyone but themselves as the reason for "How We Got Trump". Conservatives vigorously accuse 'Social Justice Warriors', the 'miasma' of Political Correctness, or the wild idea that labeling someone a Nazi or Fascist or Racist, will transform them into a Nazi/Fascist/Racist. — Maw
As a far left progressive, I'm not a big proponent of the centrists Democrats or Hillary Clinton, but I'd greatly prefer them to the Republicans, whose 40+ years modus operandi have, much more than the Democrats, is responsible for the nomination of Trump, his Presidential win, and the incomprehensible fact that he enjoys a 85%+ approval rating by self-described Republicans. — Maw
The question here, and it's merely speculative, is what does that extra intelligence look like? What can they do that we cannot? And the parallel question, what would better thinking for humans look like? — tim wood
t's 35 USD and I will make the companion available for free in ebook format to other members in a private PM. I'm not so worried that someone will come after me over making the ebook available on philosophy to other members. — Posty McPostface
Another reaction that pisses me off is the jump to a “mental health issue”, often insinuating that he should have sought “help” and if he had done so, he would still be alive. It’s nobody’s bloody business if someone else wants to be alive or not. It’s their decision and their decision alone. The reason may not necessarily be a troubling psychological issue. — Vinson
Suicide is a tabu subject because the strength to face another day often comes from a group-think "everyone else is doing it." — darthbarracuda
I feel as though, this is an area of confusion or uncertainty about the totality of what Wittgenstein had to offer to the philosophical community. — Posty McPostface
I don't know if other people view the two works as such, hence me posting this to clear that ambiguity. — Posty McPostface
Can anyone recommend a good companion to use for the tractatus? — Posty McPostface
Indeed it is. But I wonder why anyone would deny themselves the whole toolbox to choose from? Each person, for each problem (or problem type) might choose differently from the toolbox, but why would anyone deliberately restrict their own choice of tools? — Pattern-chaser
The problem with research into IQ is that people are mostly interested in using it as justification for drawing conclusions about differences in intelligence between races. — T Clark
Each one of us senses the world to revolve around us. The world and what we do in it is significant and has cosmic importance. My argument is that this significance is an illusion. — darthbarracuda
Anything we see as allegedly important and justifying of existence, anything that gives existence a "point" or "purpose", is illusory. Someone can say, "I want to live because I want to do XYZ" but if they die before then, nothing will have been lost. When you die, you don't so much lose something important so much as you lose the sense of something being important. — darthbarracuda
Something important is not ripped away from you - rather, you lose the sense of importance so that nothing is important anymore. — darthbarracuda
By “clearly written” I mean things like that the text should not casually use undefined terms or phrases, — tinman917
If not then what am I doing wrong? — tinman917
Do others find this as much of a problem as I do? If so how do they get round it. — tinman917
Whatever our experiences, we can make up a word for them, so there is nothing we cannot talk about. And yet no amount of talk can capture the experience, so there is always a chasm between talk and world. We can talk about anything, but it will only ever be talk. — unenlightened