FlashDangerpants wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:06 pm
It doesn't really look like much philosophy was happening in that thread tbh. It seldom does when it's just iambignose going on about Donald Rumsfeld though
Just for the record, there are those here who insist they --
and only they -- are qualified to judge what either is or is not...serious philosophy?
Then those here who, even in regard to "meaning, morality and metaphysics", almost never bring their own assessments down out of the "philosophical clouds". And, of course, those who insist that, in or out of the clouds, and even in regard
to "meaning, morality and metaphysics", their own assumptions reflect what they insist is essentially the One True Path to the objective truth. God or no God.
As for Rumsfeld, in regard to "meaning, morality and metaphysics", please note contexts in which this...
"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."
...is
not applicable?
What, did you think it pertained only to the war in Iraq?
As for Maia, I have had a number of exchanges with her over the years. And, from my own "rooted existentially in dasein" frame of mind, her conclusions regarding "meaning, morality and metaphysics" are predicated on the assumption that she is in possession of what I and others describe as an "intrinsic self". In other words, an intuitive -- spiritual? -- self such that she "just knows" that some things are true.
As I posted on the Pagan Morality thread...
"...with Maia, the contexts we kept coming back to were abortion, nihilism and sexuality. Now, if I understood her correctly, she agreed with me that in regard to dasein -- our historical, cultural and uniquely personal experiences -- many of our value judgments pertaining to them are, indeed, rooted existentially.
So, okay, she seemed to concur with that. If her life had unfolded very, very differently, not only might she have accepted abortion as moral and sexual abstinence as irrational, she might even have become a moral nihilist herself!
But not only did that not happen, she seemed to suggest, but it could not have happened. Why? Because once the Goddess was there to guide this Intrinsic Self of hers, she could then feel comforted and consoled that at least she was doing the Right Thing.
...the most crucial factor thus being that in whatever way you choose to confront [conflicting goods] as a Pagan, you are able to intertwine and then embed your own personal agenda into this spiritual Self that enables you to at least be comforted that your efforts are in sync with something that transcends your own infinitesimally insignificant existence. You are part of an overarching natural Reality that for some puts them "at one" with the universe itself.".
