Philosophy Now Forum

RCSaunders wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 2:44 pm

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 4:54 am How about just answering the simple question? It's not a hard one, and it requires no "articles" : how did you do it?

I'm not sure what kind of hubris makes you think anyone else is obligated to answer your questions...

Did I say you were obligated? You'll have to point out where.

But when one makes a claim, such as "I am in the 1% of non-idiots," it's reasonable to ask how such a person decided that, and how they came to be that, if they did. That's surely got to be expected. It's a bold claim, and one that begs for justification.

But, of course, you can refuse. Or, you can lack an answer. That's possible, too. And absent an answer, we have to make up our own minds about that.

I've already explained that everyone is at any moment the sum of their choices. I'm am certain I have no special intellectual abilities, and all that I know and have achieved have been because I chose to learn all I possibly could and think as well as I possibly could, and that anyone could make the same choices and do the same things.

Then it's all the more crucial that you should tell us WHICH choices are key...because manifestly, some choices are merely trivial. For example, your choice red or white wine, or of a blue or red necktie for an evening dinner is going to make no difference at all to keeping you in or out of the masses of "idiots."

So which choices count?

So, once again, "how did you do it?" I chose it. Have you got that, now?

Well, quite honestly, no, RC -- because it's so completely vague as to be utterly uninformative, to anyone, of anything. "You must make the right choices," you say, and "all choices count."

What's anybody to make of that?

So there's nothing being offered thereby for anybody to "get."

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 6:33 pm So which choices count?

I know this is going to be tough for you. Every choice counts.

I'm sorry life is not what you'd like it to be. It's not a matter of getting one big answer right or getting some particular choices right, like having the right religion or embracing the right ideology, and everything else just falls into place. Life is demanding and ruthless, like reality itself.

Every choice of every day for as long as one lives requires one to make the best informed choice they possibly can without let up. Since all human behavior is chosen, that means everything one thinks and does must be the best of which they are capable. Whatever one is, whatever success or failure they have in life, their very existence and happiness, are the sum of all their choices.

To ask anyone how they happen to be who and what they are, (as you have about Mencken and me), has only one answer for every human being. Whoever and whatever they are is what they chose to be. It is the sum of all the choices they have ever made.

What you cannot ask is, why individuals choose what they choose. It cannot be known. It is one of the things that is wrong with every social theory. Why do people do what they do? There is no answer to such a question, because every human is a volitional being. Everything every human ever thinks or does has only one, "cause," the conscious choice of that individual.

Every individual is different. The answer to why any individual does what they do will be different. Only the individual himself can tell you why he made the choices he made, which may or may not be true, depending on whether he chooses to tell the truth or even knows his own mind. One thing is certain, nothing makes any individual think or do anything they have not chosen to think or do, which is why every individual is totally responsible for every aspect of their own life.

The fact that you even ask the questions you ask indicates you do not really believe human beings are volitional beings. No matter how much you claim to believe in what you call, "free will," it's not volition you believe in. To ask why anyone chooses what they choose assume something makes people do what they do, that what people are is something other than what they choose to be.

It's one way or the other. No one choice or collection of choices, determines all of one's other choices (although some choices are so disastrous they limit the scope of future choices). Anyone can choose to stop being gullible, stop allowing their feelings, or fears, or desires, or whims and wishes to interfere with their reason, stop relying on what they have been taught, or others say and believe, or what some authority teaches and choose to think for themselves, refusing to accept any contradiction or believe anything for which there is no evidence they can themselves examine and understand. Why most people do not do that, I have no idea. It's their choice. You'll have to ask them.

I know why those are the choices I make. I make them because it is the only way a human being can live successfully and happily in this world and fully enjoy one's life, because it is what reality and human nature require. It is very difficult, demanding, sometimes almost cruelly so, but it's the only way a human being can be truly fulfilled and worth every difficulty and pain, because it is the only way to achieve and be all one can be and enjoy the only kind of life worth living.

Anyone can have that kind of joyous satisfying life, if they choose to, but most, for reasons that are inexplicable to me, have chosen to grovel in the depressing morass of superstition, wishing and waiting for something else to provide them meaning and fulfillment.

RCSaunders wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:30 pm

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 6:33 pm So which choices count?

I know this is going to be tough for you. Every choice counts.

Not "tough for me."

Just "impossible to be informative." That's a little different. You don't know how you got to be in the 1%. Truth be told, you don't even know THAT you're in the 1%. But you like to think it.

Every choice of every day

Not plausible. And totally impractical. So you have no advice to the poor, benighted 99%, except, "be lucky enough to be me"?

Great.

What you cannot ask is, why individuals choose what they choose. It cannot be known.

That's called "motive," and it's different. You don't have to know why people do what they do, in order to say what they do. The latter can be done merely descriptively. The question was only what did you do: which particular choices made your life turn out such that you got to be part of the lucky 1%?

If you can't answer that, then either you're being obtuse or you just plain don't know.

But I've asked enough. It's clear that I will not be getting an answer.

What now? Did you have something to say about the topic?

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 10:54 pm

RCSaunders wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:30 pm

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 6:33 pm So which choices count?

I know this is going to be tough for you. Every choice counts.

Not "tough for me."

Just "impossible to be informative." That's a little different. You don't know how you got to be in the 1%. Truth be told, you don't even know THAT you're in the 1%. But you like to think it.

Every choice of every day

Not plausible. And totally impractical. So you have no advice to the poor, benighted 99%, except, "be lucky enough to be me"?

That's right. Unlike you, I know the world is not waiting with bated breath for me to save it and give them the answers to all their questions. That's your gig, not mine.

I don't have answers for anyone else. The world and humanity are not mine to save. I'm willing to answer sincere questions, but I'm not interested in convincing anyone else, especially against their will. I have no idea why you keep asking me questions and then claim I haven't answered them. You may not like or agree with my answers, which is just fine, but why do you ask if your going suggest I haven't answered them.

Your questions are actually very simple minded and almost anyone could figure out the answers for themselves. It's up to you know to think for yourself and quit looking to someone else to answer your questions. You are way beyond my help. So good luck!

theory wrote: ↑Sun May 30, 2021 6:54 am There is a growing movement that believes that human behavior can be reduced to brain chemistry and that there is no free will or guilt. According to this movement, criminal law should ideally be replaced by preventive measures such as psychiatric treatment.

Prominent professors in the Netherlands have proposed to replace the criminal prosecution for young adults (<21 years), stating that young criminals should not be punished, but should instead be transferred to forensic psychiatry. The idea: “The criminals are not yet fully grown mentally and deserve psychiatric help.”

Does ANY living thing deserve 'punishment'?

Should ANY one be 'punished'?

theory wrote: ↑Sun May 30, 2021 6:54 am Would it be good to replace criminal law with preventive measures?

If what you are really asking here is; Should preventative measures be taken to prevent/stop crimes from occurring? Then if ANY one does NOT YET KNOW the True, Right, Accurate and Correct answer to this question, then they have been severely abused/punished themselves.

theory wrote: ↑Sun May 30, 2021 6:54 am What would happen when people start to believe that there is no guilt, and that people are not responsible for crime, and that criminals instead should be submitted to psychiatric care?

Well considering that you have put forward three DIFFERENT things here, then, at least, three DIFFERENT things could/would happen.

Walker wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:52 am Choice ...


- Relying on choice to answer why is an intellectual cop-out.
- Choice is just a roadblock to understanding.
- Choice is a stopping point beyond which lies the answer to why.
- Choice is a rest-stop for those too ostensibly tuckered out to go beyond and find understanding.
- Every choice has a reason.
- Every reason is a cause.*
- Finding the cause to a reason that underlies a choice objectively answers why a choice is made.
- The red pill or blue? There really is no choice.


* Every time has a season
Every contract has a clause
Faustis made a bargain ...

Can you please explain what is meant with Faustis? A search in Google provided 0 results.

theory wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:40 am

Walker wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:52 am Choice ...


- Relying on choice to answer why is an intellectual cop-out.
- Choice is just a roadblock to understanding.
- Choice is a stopping point beyond which lies the answer to why.
- Choice is a rest-stop for those too ostensibly tuckered out to go beyond and find understanding.
- Every choice has a reason.
- Every reason is a cause.*
- Finding the cause to a reason that underlies a choice objectively answers why a choice is made.
- The red pill or blue? There really is no choice.


* Every time has a season
Every contract has a clause
Faustis made a bargain ...

Can you please explain what is meant with Faustis? A search in Google provided 0 results.

He misspelled it. It's actually Faustus, or more correctly simply Faust. You will find either of those, if you care to bother. Faust made a deal with the devil, but, according to Walker, he didn't choose to do so. It's just nonsense, but you can have fun with it.

RCSaunders wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:52 am

theory wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:40 am

Walker wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:52 am Choice ...


- Relying on choice to answer why is an intellectual cop-out.
- Choice is just a roadblock to understanding.
- Choice is a stopping point beyond which lies the answer to why.
- Choice is a rest-stop for those too ostensibly tuckered out to go beyond and find understanding.
- Every choice has a reason.
- Every reason is a cause.*
- Finding the cause to a reason that underlies a choice objectively answers why a choice is made.
- The red pill or blue? There really is no choice.


* Every time has a season
Every contract has a clause
Faustis made a bargain ...

Can you please explain what is meant with Faustis? A search in Google provided 0 results.

He misspelled it. It's actually Faustus, or more correctly simply Faust. You will find either of those, if you care to bother. Faust made a deal with the devil, but, according to Walker, he didn't choose to do so. It's just nonsense, but you can have fun with it.

Is the indicated Faustus the same the one mentioned in St. Augustine's philosophy? In Google, Faust is described as a protagonist of a classic German legend.

theory wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:40 am
Can you please explain what is meant with Faustis? A search in Google provided 0 results.

The proper spelling is Faustus. Faustian bargain.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Faustian-bargain

RCSaunders wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:52 amFaust made a deal with the devil, but, according to Walker, he didn't choose to do so. It's just nonsense, but you can have fun with it.

Asking why he did what he did is nonsense?

No, it's not.

Choice says nothing about why, and finding out why is a human characteristic. It's how civilization advances.

theory wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:40 am

Walker wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:52 am Choice ...


- Relying on choice to answer why is an intellectual cop-out.
- Choice is just a roadblock to understanding.
- Choice is a stopping point beyond which lies the answer to why.
- Choice is a rest-stop for those too ostensibly tuckered out to go beyond and find understanding.
- Every choice has a reason.
- Every reason is a cause.*
- Finding the cause to a reason that underlies a choice objectively answers why a choice is made.
- The red pill or blue? There really is no choice.


* Every time has a season
Every contract has a clause
Faustis made a bargain ...

Can you please explain what is meant with Faustis? A search in Google provided 0 results.

I just now googled “Faustis,” and the somewhat surprisingly adaptive/helpful AI returned one result. Numero uno.

The result was a question that asked, “Did you mean: Faustus?

Somewhat surprising because I have seen some search engines that are clueless unless the spelling is exact, however google's improvements are bound to follow from the wealth of focused attention upon what's important, a wealth that wealth can buy.

Walker wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 6:03 am

RCSaunders wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:52 amFaust made a deal with the devil, but, according to Walker, he didn't choose to do so. It's just nonsense, but you can have fun with it.

Asking why he did what he did is nonsense? No, it's not.

Choice says nothing about why, and finding out why is a human characteristic. It's how civilization advances.

If you ask someone: “Why did you buy the Brooklyn Bridge?” and the answer is, “Because I chose to do so,” you will have just cause to laugh up your sleeve in a manner of mild retribution that can be turned into instructional advantage, if it must be so.

Please excuse the formatting error. The last paragraph is the new material. The new and exciting material.

Walker wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 6:03 am

RCSaunders wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:52 amFaust made a deal with the devil, but, according to Walker, he didn't choose to do so. It's just nonsense, but you can have fun with it.

Asking why he did what he did is nonsense?

It is, if by, "why he did what he did," implies anything other than that individual's own conscious reasoning and choice.

Walker wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 6:56 am Choice says nothing about why, and finding out why is a human characteristic. It's how civilization advances.

If you ask someone: “Why did you buy the Brooklyn Bridge?” and the answer is, “Because I chose to do so,” you will have just cause to laugh up your sleeve in a manner of mild retribution that can be turned into instructional advantage, if it must be so.

Choice does not mean, "undetermined," it means determined exclusively by one's own conscious beliefs, thinking, values and judgments. It means nothing one does is determined by their biology, genetics, history, social experience, financial status, childhood experiences, desires, feelings, the sub-conscious, or chemicals in their brain.

If you want to know why any human does what they do, you must ask that individual and hope they tell you the truth, because what they do is what they chose to do, and only they know why they made the choice they did.

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 10:54 pm

RCSaunders wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:30 pm

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 6:33 pm So which choices count?

I know this is going to be tough for you. Every choice counts.

Not "tough for me."

Not yet, but it's going to be.

You can fool me. You can fool others. You can even fool yourself (obviously). But you can't and won't fool reality.