The Philosophy Discussion Forum

I do understand why the conversation is now focused on cats, with the intention of going back to socialism. But it's still funny. All this gymnastics when it all likely comes down to how the two groups like things to be. Socialism vs. Capitalism comes down to flavor of ice cream and you each think t...

I've given a "complete" argument against Determinism: it's self-refuting. The determinist has a problem, but that doesn't make determinism false at all. You have no explanation of free will and even what it would be worth if you had it. We don't even know what it means to you, yet. What i...

You’ve said free will is the “best explanation,” but you haven’t actually made that argument. Yes, I did, actually. It's the automatic default, and the only way people actually live. I did make that case. So it's clearly the explanation to be preferred, until something better comes along: in other ...

I think you have to look at Trump as a complex phenomenon and phenomena. He is a deeply psychological screen and I think he picks up on projections. His followers relate to him like a Noble and even frankly a King. They project all sorts of stuff onto him. He has been playing Cyrus for our Yiddish ...

The royal touch (also known as the king's touch) was a form of laying on of hands, whereby French and English monarchs touched their subjects, regardless of social classes, with the intent to cure them of various diseases and conditions.The thaumaturgic touch was most commonly applied to people suf...

Assume it, yes; "just" assume it, no. It's the most rational position, and the only one that works with reality, so based on "argument to the best explanation," we should go with it. You’ve said free will is the “best explanation,” but you haven’t actually made that argument. Wh...

The "Project 2025" playbook is mostly hidden from the public. Can you break it down into bullet points? What does it call for? The biggest point is an increase in Presidential power and a reduction of the balance of power in relation to the President. Here's a bullet point list: * Expand ...

What we "cannot see" is just the point. The Determinist thinks that because he "cannot see" free will, it cannot exist. But there are many real things that human beings "cannot see." One "cannot see" any abstract quality: one is deducing them, not "seein...

Of course. But the important question is "Where does the burden of proof lie?" That is, should we assume Determinism until free will is proved, or assume free will until Determinism is proved? So the prospect for a proof of Determinism doesn't look great, to say the least. And the burden ...

As I have stated so many times before, there is no such thing as human action; there is only human reaction, and those reactions are causes to humanity's outer world. I'm sorry...this is just too dumb a debate to be had. It's really stupid. If people cannot choose, then people cannot change their m...

Right. So here, and again within the context of The Culture Wars (and in my sense of The Transvaluation of Values) we must work to locate ‘the ideological operatives behind The Long Match Through the Institutions’. And we must consider Maoist tactics or, if you can go this far, Maoist praxis . (Obv...

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2026 2:58 pm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RKEjfIDEys

Now what? Does the US have any cards in our deck? Has Trump toppled the US empire by picking the wrong fight?

Never assume that a leader is an idiot, when the idiocy leads to things the people in power want to have happen.

There is a pressing need to remake the Kurosawa catalog with non-Japanese actors. Well, in a way this has been done with quite a few of his films. Seven Samurai – The Magnificent Seven (1960 & 2016) Yojimbo – A Fistful of Dollars (1964) Yojimbo – Last Man Standing (1996) Rashomon – The Outrage ...

There is a pressing need to remake the Kurosawa catalog with non-Japanese actors. Well, in a way this has been done with quite a few of his films. Seven Samurai – The Magnificent Seven (1960 & 2016) Yojimbo – A Fistful of Dollars (1964) Yojimbo – Last Man Standing (1996) Rashomon – The Outrage ...

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2026 1:05 pm It is as Bowden says: You cannot even think outside of the established parameters of politically-correct thought.

Especially when it is both the right and left politically-correct thoughts you want to move outside of. That said, I don't think it's that hard. But perhaps for others.