Philosophy Now Forum

thedoc - I agree that ' "bad" is a human judgement', however children made blind by having their eyes bored out by a parasitic worm is incontrovertibly bad. Furthermore it is religions such as Christianity that insist that "bad" is not a human judgement, but God's, so I feel you ...

The question of the OP seems to suggest that if God exists there should be no bad things happening, but this doesn't follow if you accept that God has granted humans free will, and now humans are free to do bad things. "Bad" is a subjective human judgment and does not apply to "natur...

AiR - I see the power, but unlike you I see the whole of its consequences, not just the pwetty parts. I see suffering on a colossal scale and in forms which could scarcely be attributed to the imagination of someone with the most revolting nature - thalidomide victims, children with their eyeballs b...

Indeed it is striking that religions forbid questioning because it is so easy to demonstrate their falsity. It just doesn't fit that you make this statement that seems to include all religions. The protestant religions were born out of questioning the established Catholic church and has remained pa...

Lesson 1 of any introductory guide to religion and philosophy is, since bad things exist there cannot be a god who is both all powerful and all good. If there is a a god who is all good then clearly there are limitations to his power, and if there is a god who is all powerful then clearly he is evi...

Lesson 1 of any introductory guide to religion and philosophy is, since bad things exist there cannot be a god who is both all powerful and all good. If there is a a god who is all good then clearly there are limitations to his power, and if there is a god who is all powerful then clearly he is evi...

Lesson 1 of any introductory guide to religion and philosophy is, since bad things exist there cannot be a god who is both all powerful and all good. If there is a a god who is all good then clearly there are limitations to his power, and if there is a god who is all powerful then clearly he is evil...

Nick_A - You can suppose what you like, but unless you can back it up with a reason for supposing it rather than any of the other infinite possible suppositions, the supposition is worthless. The "war" as you choose to call it, is not between "blind belief and blind denial", but ...

Blu, you can verify the relativity of consciousness in yourself. You can verify that sometimes you have self awareness while usually you don't. You can also verify that the level of inclusion you are experiencing varies during the day. Why must you depend on others to tell you what happens. Why not...

I could never understand why atheists would be open to mechanical animal evolution but completely closed to the transition of animal evolution into conscious evolution. I suspect it is because admitting qualities of consciousness greater than our own leads to the natural question of the highest qua...

Love does not live within the mind, but gives mind the ability to live and work its own miracles. "Citation needed". Love does, in fact, live within the mind, as common sense and neuropsychological science would suggest until proven otherwise. Intelligence is required to understand why lo...

The students wear uniforms How can that be anything but a discouragement to the individuality necessary for useful philosophical thought? Clothing and fashions qre just distractions from the discipline necessary for real intellectual activity. So - soldiers, policemen, judges, businessmen are the g...

tbieter wrote: The students wear uniforms

How can that be anything but a discouragement to the individuality necessary for useful philosophical thought?

I think that article dismisses too casually the problem of consciousness. It is generally supposed that consciousness arises from the brain, or at least from some physical system in the body, but nobody has come close to demonstrating the mechanism by which that happens. Until that is explained, any...