The Philosophy Discussion Forum

I haven't read all 43 pages of this thread, but I've picked up on a couple of ideas I'd like to address. Most of the following comes from my memory of Walter Kaufmann's highly regarded analyses and English translations of N, but I checked other sources concerning N's character and biography. The Man...

I'm trying to develop a reasonable criteria for determining meaningless or insignificant coincidence vs. possible or even probable connection or causation, when that connection or causation may not be verifiable by empirical means. Yes, I'm thinking of religious attribution, but not that subject alo...

I'm probably phrasing this query poorly, but I hope I'm communicating the general idea behind it. All observations/experience/knowledge/comments welcome, from "believers" and "non-believers" alike. Do most atheists/agnostics, particularly the atheists/agnostics in this forum, opp...

I posted this in another thread in response to a question. For tidiness sake, it seems it should be here as well... A summary of my perspective. Just as we can explore thought via the disciplines of philosophy, we can also explore outside of thought via the disciplines of "aphilosophy", i...

Clown Philosophy I hope these two (short) humerous philosophy vids are appropriate for this thread -- These are from a satirical animated series on YouTube which usually features debates between The Atheist and The Christian, but these two vids feature "The Clown Philosopher" as one of the...

Sorry to intrude -- most of this debate is over my head, although I enjoy following it. I have noticed that my Webster's dictionary definitions differ from some assertions given in some posts. Per my 1979 Webster's New World Dictionary: Atheist: A person who believes that there is no God. Atheism: ...

You're gonna call me stuff!!! Is it not still true that one only resorts to argumentum ad hominem when one has no legitimate case or point of debate? And is not the intention of a rude and bellicose argumentum ad hominem attack to discourage your opponent from further discussion. It worked with me ...

Sorry to intrude -- most of this debate is over my head, although I enjoy following it. I have noticed that my Webster's dictionary definitions differ from some assertions given in some posts. Per my 1979 Webster's New World Dictionary: Atheist: A person who believes that there is no God. Atheism: T...

Typist wrote:I can't figure out if I'm the baby, or the ass. I'm sure some poster will help me solve this vexing riddle.

DUDE!!! You're overthinking this one. Just chill out and "become one with the cute". rebecca

Thanks -- I do better with examples, such as you've provided, than with abstractions. I'm chewing on the matter now, using simple paper and pen sketches. rebecca Cool.- - On rereading, I see that what I wrote wasn't as clear as I had hoped it would be, but I'm sure I could improve on it. If you nee...

I'm not a maths guy, or a physics guy (except in a vary amateur sense,) but I'll have a go at this. It doesn't need a great deal of maths to grasp the priciple; just basic adding and subtracting of a few simple numbers. Say the speed of light is absolute. This means that two observers, measuring th...

Dude...

I think the idea is 'black swans'. Could be Taleb but maybe the old philosophical one about induction, i.e. "All swans are white, this is a swan therefore it is white" and then we found black swans in Australia(?). Thanks -- I wasn't familiar with Taleb or the black swan theory. Interesti...

RonPrice, Clarifying, in case anyone else got a bit confused, as I did -- it seemed to me your initial post (almost?) implied a connection between Auden and Bahai? Looking into it further, I could not find that Auden was ever affiliated with the Bahai movement. He was described as an "existenti...

This is interesting -- any "math guys" around to defend/explain the apparent contradiction? (I love it when the "math guys" jump in.)

One thing I don't get -- the geese px. Is there a profound point being made in it other than "super cute"? rebecca