What is the highest principle?

[Immanuel Can]

Help me understand?

When one gets to the obvious, that may no longer be possible. Sorry.

[Skepdick]

When one gets to the obvious, that may no longer be possible. Sorry.

So it's obvious to you? Then I am speaking to the right person!!!

It's not obvious to me. Do you mind explaining?

I think I am paraphrasing you correctly here when I say that I need you to help me understand what it is that I am seeing...

Am I seeing a rational person or an irrational person? (this was your objection to the "no harm" principle, right?)

Which category do I stick you in?

[henry quirk]

a fictional magical animal that, as the fiction goes, only virgins (the pure) can touch

Harry, that's your DEFINITION of a Unicorn. I told you I am not interested in your thoughts.

I want to know what a unicorn IS. Tell me about its immutable essence.

I gave you the shorthand version of the myth. It ain't my myth.

And it has no essence cuz it ain't real.

[Skepdick]

And it has no essence cuz it ain't real.

Do ALL real things have essence?

[henry quirk]

I do

nice try...I addressed evil vs not evil, not severity...my assessment holds

OK, but I care about harm, not evil so do you mind answering my question?

Which one is more harmful:

The EVIL murder of one person; or the NON-EVIL extinction of humanity?

nope...I decide what I answer, how I answer, why I answer, when I answer...your question doesn't interest me right now

[surreptitious57]

Towards the goal of survival ( and problem solving ) do you think more problem solvers is better than less problem solvers ?

No as it does not automatically follow than more problem solvers will lead to more problems being solved
That is correlation not causation and as such there is not an absolute relationship between these factors

What exactly is a problem solver is a very useful question here

Is a problem solver one who thinks about solving problems regardless of whether or not they actually do ?
Is a problem solver one who thinks about solving problems AND actually does solve them as well ?

Then I want none of the first and all of the second because they have a guaranteed rate of success
I pick just one of them and I will get a result but I pick one of the other there is no certainty of one

[henry quirk]

And it has no essence cuz it ain't real.

Do ALL real things have essence?

define essence (you brought it up)

[Skepdick]

define essence (you brought it up)

The immutable thing that makes a Unicorn, a Unicorn.

[Skepdick]

That is correlation not causation and as such there is not an absolute relationship between these factors

Science has never EVER proved causation. EVER.

All that science offers is strong correlations.

Do you think there is a strong correlation between "more problem solvers" and "more problems being solved"

What exactly is a problem solver is a very useful question here

I can't tell you what it is, but I can give you an example of what it isn't.

Philosophers aren't problem-solvers. They are problem-pointers. Fire alarms.

Is a problem solver one who thinks about solving problems regardless of whether or not they actually do ?
Is a problem solver one who thinks about solving problems AND actually does solve them as well ?

Which one do you think is better?

Then I want none of the first and all of the second because they have a guaranteed rate of success
I pick just one of them and I will get a result but I pick one of the other there is no certainty of one

Exactly

So do you think Philosophers fit in the former or the latter category?

[henry quirk]

define essence (you brought it up)

The immutable thing that makes a Unicorn, a Unicorn.

it's fiction, it has no essence

[Skepdick]

define essence (you brought it up)

The immutable thing that makes a Unicorn, a Unicorn.

it's fiction, it has no essence

Great, now that you understand the question, back to the previous one.

Do ALL real things have essence?

[surreptitious57]

The immutable thing that makes a Unicorn a Unicorn

An imaginary concept that does not exist outside of the human mind
As such there is nothing immutable about it as it is not actually real
Thoughts are of course real but the content of thoughts not necessarily so and unicorns are one of those

[surreptitious57]

So do you think Philosophers fit in the former or the latter category ?

All one can say is that some of them will be excellent problem solvers and some will not be
You cannot generalise for an entire category as there is no definitive answer for all of them

[Skepdick]

nope...I decide what I answer, how I answer, why I answer, when I answer...

I know. Why are you telling me this?

your question doesn't interest me right now

OK. No problem. Come back to it later.

When would it be a convenient time to follow up?

[Skepdick]

All one can say is that some of them will be excellent problem solvers and some will not be

Obviously. You can say this about any group of people.

Without a percentage-split it's not really informative.

You cannot generalise for an entire category as there is no definitive answer for all of them

I think I can. On a gut feel, what's the percentage-split between Philosophers who talk about problems, and philosophers who talk about solutions?