philosophy

I think this is a hot theme in this forum. I have chosen Bertrand Russell as a master of ceremonies for diverse reasons: 1. He is not suspected to be a religious person. He is a confessed atheist and no far to scientist positions. 2. Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy is a popular text...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R115QLRWYD52M8/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=9514592638

I found an interesting article, What do philosophers believe, available free of charge until Dec. 29. The authors surveyed professional philosophers (mostly in the analytic tradition) in order to determine their stances on a number of philosophical problems (again, mostly in the analytic...

Are the terms "atheism" and "theism" logically consistent or useful? I can understand the term "naturalism" as an assertion of laws of cause and effect that are consistent. Specifically this excludes supernatural influences. As far as I can tell, anything that would be described as a god would...

Okay guys this is my journal that I am working on for proving the existence on phenomena that has occurred, and how it is likely to have happened it is 35000 words and it is still growing and being edited. I am honestly probably not 20% done. <SNIP> Paper is here -...

Over the past few years, I have formulated my philosophy of life, a 13-page Google Doc that may be found by Googling "Philo Sofer" and clicking on the first link ("My Philosophy by Philo Sofer"). In the first half of the document, I present and defend the following positions: atheism, afterlife...

Dr. Gregory Sadler of Marist College recently discussed Ayn Rand's The Virtue of Selfishness in his Spring 2013 Ethics class and posted the video to YouTube: exxA_uegl-8 I remember that my professor in Philosophy 101 discussed Ayn Rand and that the textbook had an excerpt from the introduction...

Is Christianity a net positive for humanity, or a net negative? Christian conservative, Dinesh D'Souza will debate philosophy professor, Andrew Bernstein at UT Austin this Friday, February 8th, 7:00 to 9:00 pm (Central Time.) This debate will have a live audience and will be LiveStreamed on...

I'm really pushing it this time, posting this in the Sciency forum. Mods, I will take no offense should you move this to the proper sub-forum. Here's the idea: Imagine the worst possible scenario you can imagine. It's pretty bad, right? Perhaps an intensely grizzly torture, involving your...

I've been troubled for some time about how narrow the use of the term 'philosophy' is on this forum and elsewhere. I value philosophy a great deal, and I think there are a great many interesting and thought-provoking philosophers, both in the past and living today - I simply don't think that...

I am writing a blog entry that has something to do with linguistics, and would like a reality check from anyone who knows more about the subject than I do. It seems logical that there should exist languages associated with primitive cultures that have no means of expressing lofty ideas such as...

Was browsing the britannica online today and noted the following gent as the author at the bottom of the entry in atheism. I found myself intrigued but somewhat, for lack of a better term, disturbed by the article. Here is the piece I'm talking about... http://m.eb.com/topic/40634/atheism...

I’ve just started Thomas Metzinger’s ‘Being No-One’, having been guided there by Peter Watts’ intriguing description of agnosia and other odd states of mind in his SF novel ‘Blindsight’. I don’t intuitively agree with the conclusions stated in the blurb (I’m pretty convinced of the...

As I get older, and lose my physical self-esteem and confidence, as well as certain hormonal imperatives, I have come to the need of a simple guiding light type of philosophy: I asked myself, the other day: How many people would you say "hate your guts"? I came up with one; possibly two. My...

So, I have never had a good time with philosophy. The first real philosophical work that I tried to read was Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra when I was 16, and I gave up reading it very soon after I gave up trying to understand it. I stayed away from philosophy for a few years, preferring...

In his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes introduces his controversial theory of Bicameralism, which basically says the brain of early man functioned as two distinct halves - where one side would hallucinate auditory instruction, and the other...

Well, are you? Okay smart-alecks, poll is up now. :p

David Brooks has an interesting column today that may actually unite atheists and the religious in their condemnation. This is bound to be perceived as an attack on the "morality" police of the Right, and Robert Stacy McCain rises to the bait: But the decadent intelligentsia found something...

I recently heard someone say that religion has nothing to do with physic powers and psychics can be atheists. It got me thinking... A lot of psychics claim that their "powers" come from God and their Christian faith. There are others that credit another God or being for their "abilities". Most...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7739493.stm Leon

After some thought, I've come to the conclusion that the golden rule (or ethic of reciprocity) falls into the category of egoist ethics. Here's how: Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The last part is the most important: As you would have them do unto you. This...

Any recommendations? I'm particularly interested in the philosophy of science and always have been since doing a module on it with my physics course. And I dont want the usual silly philosophical arguments I see in most books on philosophy, ie, reality is an illusion everything is a dream so...

Breach of rule 4 removed. No cite given. Taken from: http://www.aether-is-one.com/intro.html

Simple question: What is "god"? I'm interested in seeing various people's (both believers and non-believers, etc) definitions of "god". And for you polytheists, you don't have to limit the discussion to a single deity. All views on this are welcome. Please discuss.

Let us assume there is a "god". Here are some obvious follow up questions: 1. Why assume one "god" as creator of the universe? 2. From whence came this "god"? 3. If "god" created everything, then did "god" create itself? Inquiring minds want to know. Of course, this all assumes that such a...

Is anyone aware of any 9/11 conspiracy theorising that grounds itself in poststructuralism? By “poststructuralism”, I’m broadly referring to anything that openly exhibits any of these characteristics: Pure epistemological relativism or epistemologically relativist anthropology: Objective truth...

[CENTER]Other People's Mothers The utilitarian horrors of Peter Singer by Peter Berkowitz The NewRepublicJANUARY 10, 2000, pp. 27-37 [LEFT]

Hello there. Long time lurker here, but I've always enjoyed reading the debates here and greatly admire the posters here. Which is why I'm asking here for some suggested books on Philosophy. I've started a college course on Philosophy, and I'm greatly enjoying it, and would like to start...

Put it here to gain more attention.I object that philosophy and religion share the same forum. True, some philosophy is religious but the latest trends are ALL but about religion. Philosophy should be either alone or tied with the science forum. Like this: "Religion" "Philosophy and Science"...

Philosophy, the Maligned If there is any field of study more maligned than philosophy, I do not know of it. Often derided as navel-gazing or nihilistic, it is dismissed as irrelevant before anything akin to a fair hearing. In fact, the open derision has become so prevalent, that is goes almost...