Comments

  • Any academic philosophers visit this forum?


    Sure, I think I was wrong regarding threads that are about physics even though very little of them are actually scientific or conducted according to what academia might require.
  • Greater Good Theodicy, Toy Worlds, Invincible Arguments


    I read a lot of the Tractatus Logico Philosophicus so I shouldn't bother; yet, at every step of the way one would have to avoid the valence of suffering (suffering itself being 'bad') with negating core features of suffering such as loss of a loved one, death, and pain itself that physics couldn't hope to ever do or even care to do ...
  • Greater Good Theodicy, Toy Worlds, Invincible Arguments
    I don't think suffering can be encompassed by physics or toy worlds. What makes you believe that is so?
  • Life is a competition. There are winners, and there are losers. That's a scary & depressing reality.
    It's good that you realize these things, as they do happen to cause s lot of turmoil for those who never had the abilities to be Wolfgang Mozart's or Beethoven's. Having said that, I don't think that any circumstance warrants abandoning hope or as you call it 'optimism and positivity'. One can always look forward to seeing the sun come up for another day.

    Keep on trying, and your English is great!
  • Is pornography a problem?
    An interesting issue that arises is if it is possible to make such content showing a different side of sex which does not always reduce people (specifically women) to objects.Manuel

    It seems that Japan is quite ahead of this in their own way. They utilize animated women or manga to this end. Just some knowledge I gained as a teenager. :brow:
  • Is pornography a problem?


    So, since the parallels with pornography and advertising is so strong, do you think this potential habit leads to unhappy or rather unsatisfied people?

    The appetite for pornography seems insatiable.
  • Is pornography a problem?
    I'm not sure if it's a gateway activity... What makes you say that?
  • Is pornography a problem?
    I wanted to point out that the greatest danger, whether apparent or not, of pornography is seen through the eyes of the religious and conservative types.

    Interesting, huh? :chin:
  • Is pornography a problem?


    While I was in college I talked with a guy who knew a few in the adult industry. He said they all smoke dope or snort cocaine.

    I'm sure you can find pornography associated in some way with most vices.
  • Is pornography a problem?
    Is there a philosophy of porn? If there isn't one, I'd be happy to collaborate with anyone who wants to socratically examine the subject.Agent Smith

    Sure. So, ethically what do you think about pornography? I mean, for a Kantian it seems like a totally bad thing with the whole means to an end thing, while for a utilitarian it can be a hedonistic boon for the population. I'm pretty sure Plato would abhor it with the whole degrading nature of it. So, what says you? Do you enjoy it from time to time?
  • Is pornography a problem?


    I just wanted to point out that your post took the cake. Well done, Sir.
  • Is pornography a problem?
    Shawn: I supposed Peterson was against it, yes?BC

    Yes, he's very vocal about it. See: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jordan+Peterson+and+pornography
  • Is pornography a problem?
    That statement reveals an interesting perspective, which is that the availability of women for sexual arousal purposes is a commodity and it historically was only affordable by the wealthy. From a capitalistic perspective, it should therefore be no surprise that someone has figured out how to bring this to the regular masses, which then begs the question of whether it's worse now that the vices of yesterday's kings are available to today's pauper.Hanover

    It's pretty much a commodity. Just that the amount of it produced is astonishing. There's quite a lot of it awash on the Internet.
  • Is pornography a problem?
    I feel for younger generations exposed to this shit early. It’s a much more rampant issue than I thought.Mikie

    Yeah, as I said to Wayfarer, I practically have no idea to what degree is it a negative. It's commonly assumed it's a negative but not many people know by how much...
  • Is pornography a problem?


    Interesting. I believe you are right about that.
  • Is pornography a problem?
    Any child with a digital phone or tablet device, anywhere in the democratic world (and in the absence of parental control software), now has instaneous access to an unlimited array of pornographic media through the same device they're supposed to use for homework. How can that *not* have an effect?Wayfarer

    I agree with the statement that there is some effect, yet this hasn't been proven according to science of the magnitude or degree or what kind of effects it has on teenagers and adults.

    At the present moment, it's hard to exactly measure what kind of effects does pornography produce in the adolescent brain or psychology or behavior.
  • Is pornography a problem?
    @unenlightened, what do you think? I'm not much of a psychologist; but, doesn't pornography have negative effects that change our beliefs towards women?

    Are there any ethical detriments you can think of in regards to the young being exposed to pornography?
  • Is pornography a problem?
    I think the most philosophical problem I can present whist ethical is the objectification of women. Women are portrayed as some tool for men to gratify themselves. I think this is a philosophical problem for the reason that the purpose of a women is skewed towards the idea that their function is to look a certain way and do certain things for men out of a man's desire or lust towards her.

    If that makes sense what else can be mentioned?
  • The Merely Real
    I haven't read any Proust, but philosophers routinely say some things of the real, apparent, and immanent in reality. So, it's a pretty popular theme.
  • Top Ten Favorite Films
    There will be blood.
    2001...
    Blade Runner
    Paths of Glory
    The Shining

    Anything with Jack Nicholson.
  • Causes of the large scale crimes of the 20th Century
    Imagine what the founder of TNT must have felt like during WWI &WWII... It was the same guy who founded the Nobel Peace Prize awards.

    Yeah, scientists became very self-aware of misuse of their findings after the Manhattan Project and WWII...
  • What if cultural moral norms track cooperation strategies?
    You might find evolutionary game theory more interesting.
  • Essence and Modality: Kit Fine


    Yes, I read most of it. He seems to advocate a very trivial notion of ontology that if something to exist it should exist in reality. However, how does this differ from Quine in that we ought to have an existential quantifier to instantiate x in the domain of discourse.
  • Proposals for the next reading group?
    Pragmaticism takes the desired end (the good) as the feature with the most power to shape knowledge and society as a whole.Metaphysician Undercover

    Pragmatism seems to be a sort of antithesis of Philosophical Pessimism...

    Does philosophical pessimism take failure to achieve the desired end as the formative feature of society?Metaphysician Undercover

    Not of society; but, the world as a whole, along with human nature reflexively interacting with the world in some authors opinion.
  • Essence and Modality: Kit Fine
    So, just to clarify, Pegasus has no essence but can be instantiated in the domain of discourse without being a singleton, yes?
  • Essence and Modality: Kit Fine


    What does existential quantification look like for singletons?

    I know Quine is mentioned, so does Fine profess his 'no instantiation without existential quantification' belief?
  • Essence and Modality: Kit Fine


    So, what is your opinion of what was said in my post above. I'll quote it again here:

    Thus different essentially induced truths may have their source in the identities of different objects - Socrates being a man having its source in the identity of Socrates, 2 being a number having its source in the identity of 2. In particular, an induced truth which concerns various objects may have its source in the nature of some of these objects but not of others. This is how it is with our standard example of Socrates being a member of singleton Socrates; for this is true in virtue of the identity of singleton Socrates, but not of the identity of Socrates.

    I don't quite understand the difference here ...
  • Essence and Modality: Kit Fine


    De dicto, we can only state truthfully what is analytic about Socrates. However, the author seems to argue that Socrates can refer to his identity without being a singleton. Isn't this way of analyzing obscuring the de re-de dicto distinction.

    I'm not seeing much that concerns simples.Banno

    He does refer in the quoted part in my response to your OP as a singleton.
  • Essence and Modality: Kit Fine
    the set [Socrates} is dependent on Socrates but Socrates is not dependent on {Socrates}.Banno

    But, that's an ambiguity introduced by not adhering to the de re de dicto distinction, yes?

    Where's that?Banno

    Nevermind, I don't think it's relevant, what I said.
  • Essence and Modality: Kit Fine
    Definition of a simple:

    In contemporary mereology, a simple is any thing that has no proper parts. Sometimes the term "atom" is used, although in recent years[when?] the term "simple" has become the standard.

    Simples are to be contrasted with atomless gunk (where something is "gunky" if it is such that every proper part has a further proper part). Necessarily, given the definitions, everything is either composed of simples, gunk or a mixture of the two. Classical mereology is consistent with both the existence of gunk and either finite or infinite simples (see Hodges and Lewis 1968).

    -Wikipedia
  • Essence and Modality: Kit Fine
    The author brings up the de re/de dicto distinction, initially; but, proposes a different way to denote a person by a name, and argues that definitions aren't always analytic. But, what are analytic statements if not definitional? It seems to me that the problem the author presents is how do we pick out things in the world, with names if there isn't anything particular about them that could allow us to categorize them as singletons in sets.

    Am I reading this accurately, @Banno?
  • Was Socrates a martyr?
    It's time for me to take another very long break.
    Talk elsewhere, as usual.
    Amity

    You will be missed.

    :flower:
  • Essence and Modality: Kit Fine
    I'm quoting the gist of the argument displayed between pg.7-8.

    Certainly, there is a connection between the two concepts. For any essentialist attribution will give rise to a necessary truth; if certain objects are essentially related then it is necessarily true that the objects are so related (or necessarily true given that the objects exist). However, the resulting necessary truth is not necessary simpliciter. For it is true in virtue ofthe identity ofthe objects in question; the necessity has its source in those objects which are the subject of the underlying essentialist claim.

    Thus different essentially induced truths may have their source in the identities of different objects - Socrates being a man having its source in the identity of Socrates, 2 being a number having its source in the identity of 2. In particular, an induced truth which concerns various objects may have its source in the nature of some of these objects but not of others. This is how it is with our standard example of Socrates being a member of singleton Socrates; for this is true in virtue of the identity of singleton Socrates, but not of the identity of Socrates.

    Regarding the bolded part, what's the difference? Is it again the de re/de dicto distinction?
  • Yes man/woman
    The teenager is starting to become more independent, more resistant to demands to be, and starting to become sexual. All of which is in conflict with being good for Mummy. So that is when there is an internal conflict developing.unenlightened

    Not a local phenomenon, in the least. My view is that after a period, which can last a decade and a half, the brain is developed, society steps in, and you either became something through work or college or something went awry throughout that process and just depend on a government check.

    Yes, but it is because they don't, that the person they are busy not being because they are being good becomes the bad person who does want to hurt other people, and in a special situation it can to come out. Have you read about the cruelty of nuns, and the sexual antics of priests? The saint creates the sinner in himself.unenlightened

    I'm sorry but I beg to differ. Take for example the homeless. Have you dealt with them? Don't they come off as the genuine saints of society, and even the target of Jesus' teaching? May, I ask if your speaking about only people in power such as leaders or priests?
  • Yes man/woman
    And the being that is negated is angry, frustrated, and hungry, for its own life. The prisoner in one's own psyche hates the one who is so free as to say yes to everything. Does that resonate at all?unenlightened

    I read this again, and kind of slowly understood this psyche as dominated by want's. A lot of people want things, but to return to the OP, I don't think people want to hurt other people most of the time.
  • Yes man/woman
    One is told to be something, always and everywhere, to be good, to be better, to be, God help us, authentic. And so everyone is always being something or other, which can only happen by negating what one is.unenlightened

    I don't think we're as driven to ideals as you make it seem. We usually start with socialization, then individualization. It's during the teenage years when things start emerging as problems. I think these teenage years where mental health issues can crop up is what your talking about. Is that something that I'm portraying accurately with regards to what you are saying?
  • Yes man/woman
    I'm in my early thirties, and have seen many people fall through the cracks in society. I have been around homeless people quite a lot in the great state of California, in rehabilitation facilities. My experience with them is that they are tough people with a certain demeanor that wouldn't threaten or hurt you. They don't tend to hurt or exploit one another. It's the gangs and criminals that cause the most amount of trouble with selling methamphetamine and other highly addicting drugs to people. Never been to jail; but, have also dealt with people who have come out of prison or jail for misdemeanors or even felonies. I suspect the rich wouldn't go out of their way to actively hurt someone, since they're having so much fun with themselves.

    People tend to maintain homeostasis and don't explode. Only those coming back from war or the battlefield with conditions like PTSD tend to fall apart or implode under the stress if not helped by their own Veteran's Affairs.

    I suppose to answer the OP, I think your results may vary depending on the area you inhabit. If it's late at night on a street in some slum, you might get hurt.
  • Yes man/woman
    In my dull normal life, people are never that free with each other, even when drunk. But it's interesting that sex and violence is where the op's mind went, and it reminded me of Rhythm 0 because 'do whatever you want with me' is very close to 'say yes to everything'.unenlightened

    Do you mind me asking, that on a deeper level why do people behave this way? Namely, the yes to everything ending up with negative things?
  • Antinatalism Arguments


    Sorry to hear about that. He must be angry.
  • Antinatalism Arguments


    I honestly do not think life is getting worse. Progress, is a difficult measure to calculate and there doesn't seem to be a lack of it. I also doubt that trickle-down economics works by any measure. Elon Musk is addressing some hard problems nowadays, with neuroimplats that will possibly enable a person to walk again or solve depression for the depressed

    Regarding progressives, I live in a highly progressive state that is handing out money to build shelter for homeless people, and direct funding for the bottom of the economic spectrum. So, I have no doubt that things are getting better for those who are most in need in my corner of the world.

    I might start a thread inspired by your post regarding, How do we define progress? I hope you can join.