Philosophy Now Forum

reasonvemotion wrote:are you catholic, perhaps in your dim dark distant past?

Hell no, as I've said before, I hate religion. But I know what yours is..., VS.
No I have never gone to a day of church in my life, not any church.

My argument does not stem from bias. I just know that you can't assert what you did about that picture, with certainty. And I owe it to you, to let you know.

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...................................................................No, I'm straight. I don't kiss men.



I respect homosexuals the same way I would respect heterosexuals.





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Bill Wiltrack wrote:.


Was there a feeling of universality?

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When a bitch brings back food for her pubs, they lick her face to encourage her to regurgitate their dinner for them.
In this way dogs show their affection for one another.- and to their human keepers.

It is not unlikely that kissing is related to this sort of function. I cannot claim to know whether or not kissing on the lips is universal. In romantic love kissing stimulates, not only the salivary glands, but also the sexual fluids of both sexes in preparation for penetration.
Obviously humans and human culture is far more complicated than any evolutionary functionality, and to search for a universal reason for a universal phenomenon can only be misleading.

Bill Wiltrack wrote:.

Wait a minute...so, this function between two humans...a function that is widely considered a Universal Symbol of Love may also invoke, in you, macabre associations?

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I doubt it is universal - maybe not even universal in humans.

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Thank you for joining in.



This has been a GREAT thread. If you haven't already I would encourage you to breeze through the communications up to this point.



I think it is safe to say that the function that I displayed in my original post is widely considered a Universal Symbol of Love between two people.


I guess hugging, holding each other, shaking hands, feeling-up or dry humping are also universal symbols of love or affection between two people.




I also realize that speaking, or even writing, or typing could be used as means of communicating Love.






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Bill Wiltrack wrote:This has been a GREAT thread.

To be truthful, I think your threshold for greatness is on the low side.

Untrue, according to Stephen Pinker.

Kissing is not a human universal, it is built from parts that are.


Interesting. Homicide and rape are human universals.

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Wow...interesting.


Do YOU relate that function that you saw to the feeling of love?



Is there another function that is MORE universal in showing love than the function that is depicted within this original post?



If that Function is not a Universal Symbol of Love what is it?




Was my premiss that questionable?


Was that part of my premiss that questionable?



I mean, macabre associations, disconnections, detachment, unrecognizable function...is that what my fellow members saw when they viewed this thread?



This was not the reactions I was prepared to see.





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So...Philosophically, why does this function denote the emotion of love throughout the world? is incorrect?




So together we can't really develop a thesis for this thread because my original premiss is more false than true?




My thesis for this thread: There is no Human Function that is a Universal Symbol of Love?









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Hey Bill, who is that clown in the first GIF?

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I don't know but he is asking a good question.


What do you think about this thread?



I thought it was going well until this last page...


What do you think about this function?



Is it even a universal functional symbol expressing love?

Bill Wiltrack wrote:.








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I don't know but he is asking a good question.
I'm not sure that contextually he is, it looks like a picture of Michelle Obama is behind him. I wonder...

What do you think about this thread?



I thought it was going well until this last page...


What do you think about this function?



Is it even a universal functional symbol expressing love?

Well Bill, I don't believe I'm qualified to answer that question, which is why I didn't. You can always take my silence, as to the specific topic, in any thread that I participate in, as meaning this. Sorry I didn't give you more, but I have as yet not done research as to the courting rituals of all cultures on our planet. Earlier, I just couldn't allow the "witch hunt" based upon such ambiguous evidence, sorry if you found it distracting.

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Wow!


I NEVER noticed the images behind that guy...seriously.


Thanks for the heads-up.



I don't think I'll be using that GIF again for a while. Thanks.










Talkin straight with Snoop Lion. The artist formally known as Snoop Dogg.





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I want to share with you a fantasy ending to a story I heard recently:





So I insisted we stop at a restaurant. The finest one along the way.

I wanted to to go out of my way to make her feel like a queen.

Looking at her across the table in the most beautiful restaurant we had ever been in. I made a point to look longingly into her eyes. I looked so hard my reality changed. Our reality changed. Like a veil that was magically lifted, I began to see beyond the creases of her weathered face and to actually feel the gentler curves of her portrait. I felt her being.

I wanted her to see me seeing her, drinking in her beauty that perhaps only I could ever see. It was a form of love.

We had a fabulous meal, wine & a beautiful dessert with coffee.

I wanted to paralyze her with the most powerful experience she ever had involving a mental relationship with another person. Did she think it was a symbol of love?

I smiled as I gave her a total respectful experience as a gift of kindness

What happened to me was quickly entered and though not too quick it was of course just a dinner on the side of the road, and that was it, and I never saw the person again. What made the experience perfect was me asking whether she thought she was beautiful, she said, Yes. As I whipped-out my credit card she said, I have no way to express how perfect this was and I said, "no problem" and then, quite unexpectedly, a most beautiful feeling rushed over me.

It was awesome.







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Bill Wiltrack wrote:Philosophically, why does this function denote the emotion of love throughout the world?

It doesn't. And the word "love" nor the idea of "the emotion of love" hold the same across cultures throughout the world or history.

Is there something universally non-verbally understood about this physical activity?

In the cultures that practice it non-verbal responses differ but all appear to think it an intimacy.

I didn't put this under the Gender Philosophy because I don't think this activity has anything to do with gender.

Then what point in saying this?

I don't have a philosophical thesis yet. All I have is questions.

I would like to develop My thesis statement for this thread: based upon the responses I receive here from fellow members.


So, if you feel strongly about this activity please try to verbalize your feelings and I will use your response to form a thesis for this thread.

Why 'feelings'? Why not just verbalize your thoughts.

As a philosopher, have you ever engaged in this activity?

If you mean have I kissed whilst philosophically analysing the event, no. Have I 'french' kissed? Yes.

If you did, how did you feel?

With 'french' kisses, sexually aroused.

Was there a feeling of universality?

No, just intimacy. What do you mean by "universality"?

Why did you choose this image to associate kissing and love? As the anatomists view if not often associated with such things.