Comments

  • Wittgenstein’s creative sublimation of Kant
    But can a “form of life” include a more generous scope for philosophical language that abstracts from experience (or "my world") to question itself?J

    Fascinating question. It would be odd indeed if a being having a generous scope regarding the use of language for the questioning of being lacked the scope of language necessary to formulating the question, let alone proposing some possible answers.
  • The whole is limitless
    Good to know about him because I have something extra to read.MoK

    Being and Time is his most noted work. I highly recommend.
  • The whole is limitless
    What do you mean by "limited" in this case?MoK

    No time, no whole.
  • The whole is limitless
    Similarly, perhaps the whole is limited by time.
    — Arne
    What do you mean?
    MoK

    By saying "perhaps the whole is limited by time" I mean perhaps the whole is limited by time. It is an idea that emerged shortly before I said it and I suspect I am not the first person to consider something to that effect. I have not thought it through to the point of making it a proposition. Thus the word "perhaps."
  • Anxiety - the art of Thinking
    But Heidegger was quite concerned with metaphysics and was a phenomenologist.MorningStar

    I am not saying Heidegger is correct. I am only clarifying how Heidegger distinguishes between fear and anxiety. Whether he is correct is a different question.

    Heidegger's primary concern is ontology rather than metaphysics. And phenomenological description was his preferred ontological approach. For Heidegger, either the nature of being as phenomenologically described strikes one as accurate or it does not. If it strikes one as accurate, then just keep moving. If it strikes one as inaccurate, then it is time to get hermeneutical. :-)
  • The whole is limitless
    Actually, I am very open to changing my mind if I am shown to be wrong. :wink:MoK

    I have no doubt.

    I was joking.
  • The whole is limitless
    I didn't say that your statement is on me. I mean, we both conclude that the whole is limitlessMoK

    I agree that the whole includes "all". I neither agree nor disagree that the whole is "limitless."

    I suspect "all" and "limitless" have different implications regarding ideas such as finite/infinite.

    Similarly, perhaps the whole is limited by time.
  • The whole is limitless
    I don't think that time ever comes.MoK

    how newtonian of you. :-)
  • The whole is limitless
    glad to see that you agree that the whole is limitless.MoK

    I state unequivocally that the whole cannot be limited by "thingness." How you interpret my statement is on you.
  • What makes nature comply to laws?
    that the question is ill-formedunenlightened

    I agree. My immediate response was that these are "laws of nature" and not "laws for nature." Whether anything is classified as a "law of nature" depends upon whether human beings conclude it will admit of no exceptions. And we have been wrong so many times that we are not even bound to our conclusions, let alone nature.
  • The whole is limitless
    Exactly. The flaw in the notion of a limited whole is our obsession with "thingness". By definition, a limit to the whole cannot be a "thing" or it would be included in the whole.

    If there is a whole, then it includes all. If it does not include all, then it is not the whole. Beyond that is philosophy as industry.
  • Nietzsche source
    discussion is about identity and resentment in particular and apparently there is no word in German that is precise enough to mean resentment.Chet Hawkins

    Indeed. And that is the primary reason Walter Kauffman initially used "re-sentiment" rather than resentment. But dong so came with its own set of issues so Kauffman eventually reverted to resentment.
  • What’s your description of Metaphysics?
    I remind myself from time to time that carving up philosophy into parts is intended to facilitate rather than impede an understanding of the whole

    Beyond that, philosophy as industry is the primary driving force behind the notion that it matters whether the subject matter is technically ontology, metaphysics, or epistemology.
  • Anxiety - the art of Thinking
    I do not think I would agree with this Heideggerian distinction between fear and anxiety.Metaphysician Undercover

    .

    My only intent is to clarify the basis for Heidegger's distinction, i.e.,whether the source of the phenomenon is within the world.

    And you are welcome.
  • The Eye Seeking the I
    why is it the things that by nature must necessarily be the closest to us, most intimately connected to us, the things that must be us, are the hardest things to see?Fire Ologist

    we are force-fed the realness of sense perceptions.
  • Anxiety - the art of Thinking
    The object of fear is the unknown, in a sense there is no object, and that produces the fear.Metaphysician Undercover

    .

    Not quite. Whether the object of fear is known is irrelevant to Heidegger's distinction between fear and anxiety. Instead, the source of the phenomenon (within the world or not within the world) determines whether the phenomenon is fear or anxiety.

    That in the face of which one has fear is always an entity within the world while that in face of which one has anxiety is not an entity within the world. See Being and Time at 230-231, (Macquarrie & Robinson).

    Simply put, "the forest and the trees" is not a good analogy for understanding Heidegger's distinction between fear and anxiety.
  • What’s your description of Metaphysics?
    Heidegger is easier to understand if one grasps that his primary concern is ontology rather than metaphysics no matter how much of a fiction one considers either or both to be.
  • What’s your description of Metaphysics?
    But really, even there, we are in the cave, using Fictional tools to excavating fiction.ENOAH

    Perhaps.

    Have you read Being and Time?
  • A true solution to Russell's paradox
    Russell gets too much credit for suggesting a set that cannot be.
  • The whole is limitless
    What I am trying to show is that there are two cases where what you consider as the whole is either limited or limitlessMoK

    And therein is your flaw. Considering the whole to be limited is simply a mistake in logic. And we already knew that.
  • What’s your description of Metaphysics?
    Remember, there is Reality; it's accessed by being, not knowing.ENOAH

    Interesting. Though I agree that knowledge is derivative of being, what is the basis upon which you imply "reality" is any less derivative of being than is knowledge?

    And even Plato did not go so far as to claim the shadows upon the wall were "fictions."
  • What makes nature comply to laws?
    our knowledge comes to a certain extent before the object, making our concept of „objects“ and the inference to future occurrences from past ones possiblePez

    This reminds of Heidegger's notion that being is that upon which beings are already understood. There is no being in the absence of at least a "vague and average" understanding of beings. So even if we grant for the sake of argument the irrefutability of Hume's logic, the rigor of logic is not the primary basis upon which we make our way about in the world. Instead, we make our way about the world from within our already existing "vague and average" understanding of the world. The number of actions submitted to the rigors of logic are few and far between.
  • What’s your description of Metaphysics?
    It requires no proof here that Language isn't the "thing" it only re-presents the "thing."ENOAH

    But why is language any less a "thing" than whatever "thing" it represents? Can we even talk about language if we do not consider language to be the "thing" about which we talk? Are you suggesting that thing-ness itself is the fiction?
  • I Don't Agree With All Philosophies
    I'm curious - you don't think reality is one of these - or do you have a presupposition about the nature of reality which informs the others?Tom Storm

    Interesting. I have long defined and consider philosophy to be an ongoing discussion over the nature of reality/being (ontology?). So in some sense and in so far as they are real, the nature of morality, the nature of knowledge, and the nature of art are encompassed within the "nature of reality." They are grist for the ontological mill.
  • Paradigm shifts in philosophy
    Descartes. And I reject the notion that what constitutes a paradigm shift in one area defines a paradigm shift for all areas. Philosophy of mind, ontology, epistemology, and metaphysics as well as the scientific method are deeply rooted in Cartesianism for better or worse.

    All paradigm shifts are philosophical. All paradigm shits are rooted in the way we look at the nature of being of particular areas of study. And it just does not get any more ontological than that.
  • The ultimate significance of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", and most of Friedrich Nietzsche's other books
    Yes I don't think his audience was the average man.ChatteringMonkey

    I agree. It is the exceptional man "who has organized the chaos of his passions, given style to his character, and become creative. Aware of life's terrors, he affirms life without resentment." -- Walter A. Kaufmann

    In: The Encyclopedia of of Philosophy, Vol. 5, Pages 504-514, Macmillan, New York. at page 511.
  • There is No Such Thing as Freedom
    First everyone was enslaved by the "ego or conscience", both which you left undefined.

    Now everyone is enslaved by "the will", which you have also left undefined.

    You are simply repeating the same claim using different terms.

    Where is your argument?
  • There is No Such Thing as Freedom
    The will rulesPiers

    Substituting "the will" for "ego or conscience" changes nothing.

    The self can be slave to "the will" ego or conscience, or the self can be master of "the will" ego or conscience. You have provided insufficient support for your claim that the former is necessarily the case.

    You keep making the same unsupported claim using different terms. Repeating the claim will not make it true nor does it persuade.

    Where is your argument?
  • Agnostic atheism seems like an irrational label
    But it is always interesting to ask whether a belief is held on rational grounds and if one wants to know whether that belief counts as knowledge, it is essential to ask that question.Ludwig V

    I agree. People do tend to treat their beliefs as if they were facts and no good comes of it. On the hand, I am resistant to the notion that established knowledge is supposed to be the only basis for action.
  • A question for Christians
    What is your question? You seem to be asking all sorts of questions but the title of the discussion refers to "a question."

    And are only Christians allowed to respond?

    Please advise at your earliest convenience.
  • Possible solution to the personal identity problem
    sort of like identical twins. they are exactly the same until they aren't.
  • The Great Controversy
    In place of this false unique — Isaac Kramnick

    You seem to be asking us to choose between a post modernist view of the self or a "false" view of the self.

    Is that not akin to seeking my opinion regarding which cookie is better, the good one on the right or the terrible tasting one on the left.

    Why would I choose the "false" view?
  • Agnostic atheism seems like an irrational label
    Belief is connected to knowledge through rationality.Hallucinogen

    The epistemological status of belief is relevant only to those who insist it must be.
  • The perfection of the gods
    I have no problem with anyone (including Plato) presuming the moral perfection of the Gods without argument, especially an idealist such as Plato. Why would he waste his time arguing the perfection of that which appears to us as if it were shadows upon a wall in a cave? Is there a difference between the "ideal" and the "perfect" when it comes to the Gods?
  • There is No Such Thing as Freedom
    Seems to me that free will is the ability which everybody has to choose
    how to serve their Master, whether ego or conscience.
    Piers

    The self can be slave to ego or conscience, or the self can be master of ego or conscience. You have provided insufficient support for your claim that the former is necessarily the case.
  • Currently Reading
    Kaufmann, Walter A.. Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist (Princeton Classics Book 3). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.

    in tandem with

    Nietzsche, Friedrich. Delphi Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche (Illustrated) (Series Five Book 24) Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.
  • History of Philosophy: Meaning vs. Power
    modern philosophy appears above all as the construction of a technical jargon reserved for specialistsDermot Griffin

    Richard Rorty suggested to the effect that modern philosophy is more about "skillful" conversation and less about "interesting" conversation.
  • Nietzsche source
    as Vaskane suggested, it is not a quote from Nietzsche. Instead, it is a scholar's "summarized" description of Nietzsche's overman/superman/ubermensch.

    "The overman is the type approximated by Goethe—the human being . . . who has organized the chaos of his passions, given style to his character, and become creative. Aware of life's terrors, he affirms life without resentment." -- Walter A. Kaufmann

    In: The Encyclopedia of of Philosophy, Vol. 5, Pages 504-514, Macmillan, New York. at page 511.