Freedom requires knowledge of nature, and so we must study the sciences. We are natural creatures and must understand nature to understand ourselves. Likewise, we must master nature, “subdue it and have dominion over it,” in order to enact our will.
Freedom requires knowledge of the Logos, and so we must study philosophy, logic, and mathematics.
Freedom requires knowledge of the self, and so we must study psychology, the great works of art, etc. — Count Timothy von Icarus
1. Is it possible for anyone to have total freedom?
2. What kinds of freedom can a person have?
3. What kinds of freedom can subgroups have within a greater society?
4. Are there natural, insurmountable limits to individual freedom?
5. Are socially imposed limits necessary?
6. Can and should all people have the same amount of personal freedom?
7. How do we distinguish a freedom from a right? — Vera Mont
So, yes.By natural I mean something like a physical or psychological obstacle. — Vera Mont
7. They are related; complex and overlap, according to type and context:We have a moral duty to be free then, so that we can choose the good. This is why criminals have a right to be punished. We do not punish merely to deter crime. To do this is to treat another human being like an animal to be domesticated.
[...] We are the midwives of the Absolute. We are Mary, the theotokos, giving birth to the Body of Christ, his Church. As the Blessed Virgin served to create his first physical body, so we now construct his immanent body through world history. We come together to form the Church and strive to fulfill its Marian mission of the creation of the Body of Christ.
Apologies if this is a bit long. I have thought a lot on this and have some articles to draw on:
https://medium.com/@tkbrown413/why-freedom-is-the-key-to-happiness-be274bf5135c
https://medium.com/@tkbrown413/why-francis-fukuyamas-last-man-is-not-a-paradox-55310474e1fd
https://medium.com/@tkbrown413/freedom-requires-determinism-3cf4025d3c3d — Count Timothy von Icarus
We have a duty to be free. This is why criminals have a right to be punished. — Why freedom is the key to happiness - tkbrown
...tends to land in the Lounge and disgorge sundry marlin, kelp and old boots. — Vera Mont
So I recommend to anyone else who is interested that they read it only after they have added their own thoughts. — Vera Mont
The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has stirred up anger again over the front page of its latest edition which focuses on the earthquake in Turkey
The French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo's cartoon about the earthquake in Turkiye is continuing to receive negative criticism from all over the world.
Not only in Turkish society but several European nations and other countries have been reacting to its caricature.
[...]
The image published by Charlie Hebdo on the same day of the earthquake with the title "Cartoon of the Day" reads "Earthquake in Turkiye. Even, no need to send tanks." — Freedom of Speech or Insulting? - Euronews
Fine line
The critical voice of the political cartoonist can provide a vital safety valve for a society. They can give expression to frustrations, grievances and opposition. But cartoonists need to remain sensitive to local political and social histories.
It’s a fine line between balancing the need to protect free speech and these concerns. Political cartoonists need to continue to speak truth to power, but in so doing must ensure they do not cause division and hostility which may threaten the most fundamental of rights – the right to life. — The Conversation
May I assume that we all distinguish positive and negative freedom - freedom to do something and freedom from restraint by another ? — Vera Mont
This thread has wandered all over the place and I hadn't noticed it was moved to the lounge but I can live with all that because I think the few of us who stayed with the thread have made progress. — Athena
How do you write? — hypericin
Interesting to consider what music, if any, inspires a certain kind of story.
What environment works best for authors at various stages of the writing process?
Do you mix it up? — Amity
I have sometimes wondered where a thread went when it was moved to the Lounge, but now, I automatically look in every day. For one thing, there is more likely to be humour. — Vera Mont
This topic stems from the recently concluded literary activity.
I'm curious what people's writing process is. Mine may be unusual. — hypericin
We (TPF) benefit from both discussions and creative expressions. — 180 Proof
Online forums provide a wealth of publicly accessible data and have proven particularly useful for critical psychologists wishing to examine naturalistic data on a wide range of social phenomena. This article begins by considering the use of online discussion forums for critical discursive psychological research and outlines ethical debates regarding their use (particularly in light of past and current British Psychological Society guidelines). To demonstrate how such data can be used in critical psychology I provide an illustrative example of a discursive analysis of a single online discussion thread taken from a diabetes newsgroup that examines anti-social online behaviours in the form of “trolling,” “flaming,” and heterosexism.
The chorus is a 'refrain' of the song - the much-repeated comments and themes.
Justice, harm and retribution. Morality of the contract. The main theme of obedience to law. — Amity
But does the law overstate its case?
— Fooloso4
I'm not really interested in sorting out who's right or wrong here. It's just opposing views orbiting the idea of normativity. — frank
I admire Thomas Paine, as my forum handle suggests. His arguments for democracy are in tune with the problem of absolute power as described in Statesman.I wonder if our present condition is one where we cannot distinguish the regimes so clearly. Maybe the tyrannical, the oligarchs, and the dynamic of unfortunate public opinion coexist simultaneously. — Paine
Contrary to the way Socrates frames it, the city in question is not just "any city". It is one whose laws are said to be enacted justly. The problem, however, is not simply justice but the force needed to prevent the law from being overthrown. Although Socrates talks as if it is a matter of persuasion, of convincing the city, that too would be a:
subversion of the law wherebyjudgements, once delivered, stand supreme.
Philosophy poses a threat to the city. Socrates is silenced by force. The law proclaims that he does not stand on an equal footing with the law. To convince them would require doing the very thing they want to prevent him from doing, that is, philosophizing. — Fooloso4
Anyone who disobeys commits a 3-fold injustice: he disobeys us, we who nurtured him; and having agreed to obey us, he neither obeys us, nor persuades us otherwise if we are not acting aright, even though we lay 52A the options before him and do not issue rough commands to do what we tell him. No, we offer two alternatives: either do as we say, or persuade us otherwise. But he does neither of these.' — Horan
It is the opinion of the men of Athens that Socrates is doing harm to the young people. His disobedience suggests that he thinks that whatever harm and injustice to the city and its laws his disobedience may cause, the suppression of philosophy is a greater harm. — Fooloso4
The problem is crystallised by a chat with John Gummer, Lord Deben. He chaired the government’s Climate Change Committee and co-authored a report that slammed Britain’s green initiatives as dangerously inadequate: “We should be on a war footing,” he tells Packham, noting that a 1C rise in global temperatures is already causing mayhem, and we are headed for 2C or 3C. But when asked about radical protests, Gummer bristles, warning against “counter-productive” action and insisting, “We have to have the rule of law.” — Is it time to break the law? - The Guardian
A Good Stew.We (TPF) benefit from both discussions and creative expressions. — 180 Proof
I think it would work really well as an 'episode' in a novel of linked short stories.
:cool: Yes, I'd prefer a picaresque novel to a strictly progressive, bildungsroman-like form. Besides, I still have no plan for exactly where or how the characters go on — 180 Proof
It was in place there for months, if I'm not mistaken. In any case, the topic seems to have only three major contributors and moving it to the lounge section didn't seem to bother them at all. — praxis
I like that he has a name, but find it odd that he and the absent lover have names, while the main characters have none.
Is that nit-picky? — Vera Mont
Amity: What vows and to whom, why and why not. The reader has more questions.
180 Proof: The author has more questions too! Good reason to extend the tale and flesh out the background.
Amity: Talking about hunger, still no mention of this 'Good Stew'...unless, unless...
It's a 'God Puzzle'...or an anxiety over what is the right thing to do.
A different kind of a recipe to follow, for a good life.
180 Proof: The Socratic question, no?
180 Proof: "What would form the basis...why knowledge, of course.
OM wants to make sure she knows what she needs to know before she can 'properly' choose to join in
Jaquan's fate or not."
As Socrates says (paraphrasing) 'There is one good and that is knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.' — Good Stew - 180 Proof
...whenever I come back to it either to expand and polish the story or develop it as a chapter in a longer piece or as an 'episode' for an anthology of linked stories which explore the same setting (world). An experiment more than anything else, not my usual style; I enjoyed it though the jury (in my head) is still out on the tale's merits — 180 Proof
Didn’t mean to tag you Amity. Corrected. — Mikie
bike-specific paths — Jamal
Whilst bike bells are not a legal requirement, unless you live in the most rural parts of the UK it is strongly recommended that you use one. At under £5.00 bike bells are incredibly affordable and easy to replace.
Pedestrians, other cyclists and drivers all need to be aware of your presence and you never know, you could just save your own life or someone else’s. — Do bikes have to have a bell?
Bicycle Bell Law UK
Rule 66 of the Highway Code states that cyclists must let others know where they are when necessary. For example ‘by ringing your bell if you have one’. The if is key here; having or using a bicycle bell is therefore not a mandatory legal requirement in the UK.
It is recommended that cyclists equip a bicycle bell, and all UK stores will are required to equip one upon sale, but it is up to you whether you choose to use it or not. — Discerning cyclist
I believe your complaint about vaping is an irrational moral judgment more than a concern for public health, and that you’re in the grip of a moral panic. But that’s the interesting premise of this thread: in sharing what you find to be obnoxious, some readers will find you obnoxious. — Jamal
Pedestrians on cycle paths when I’m cycling, especially those who jump left or right at the last moment, when they realize there’s a bike coming. I want to say this is idiotic, because it really is the worst thing they could do, but my reasonable self tells my intensely annoyed self that it’s just a natural response and that I might do the same myself. — Jamal
To me, vaping was a good way to stop smoking. No doubt it has helped many people that way, and this is a good thing. — Jamal
It was made by placing a spoonful of sugar, or honey, in a small patch of clean cloth, then gathering the cloth around the sugar and twisting it to form a bulb. The bulb was then secured by twine or a rubber band. The baby's saliva would slowly dissolve the sugar in the bulb.
In use the exposed outfolded fabric could give the appearance of a flower in the baby's mouth. David Ransel quotes a Russian study by Dr. N. E. Kushev while discussing a similar home-made cloth-and-food pacifier called a soska (со́ска); there, the term "flower", as used colloquially by mothers, refers to a bloom of mold in the child's mouth caused by decay of the contents.
As early as 1802 a German physician, Christian Struve, described the sugar tit as "one of the most revolting customs". — Sugar tit- wiki
I use a vape but I don’t want to be a “vape guy” — Jamal
Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that one in 15 women (6.7%) aged 16-24 vaped daily in 2022 – up from fewer than one in 50 (1.9%) in 2021 – with young women overtaking their male counterparts for e-cigarette usage.
The rise in young women vaping mirrors findings in an NHS survey of school-aged children last year, which showed more than one in five 15-year-old girls using e-cigarettes – hugely outstripping their male counterparts. — Number of young women vaping daily more than triples - the Guardian
I was personally injured by the comments about vaping, but I’m a big boy, I can take it — Jamal
It is the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about annoyances. But, I didn't want to post it because my intention was not to disrespect the smokers of this forum (if there are actually any). It is literally a waste of money and toxicity for the environment. You know, it is bollocks how the state makes advertisements against smoke addiction, but at the end of the day they collect a lot of money in taxes thanks to all sold cigarette packages.
My mother is a smoker. I always give my best to help her to get rid of smoking. It is not an easy task. We have already reduced the consumption of packages and she "only" smokes half of the cigarette. I will be pushing forward until she definitely stops smoking. — javi2541997
Vaping is when you use a handheld electronic device to breathe a mist (“vapor”) into your lungs. An e-cigarette, vape pen or other electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) heats a liquid of nicotine, flavoring, propylene glycol and other additives into an aerosol that you inhale through a mouthpiece. Vaping can cause breathing problems, organ damage, addiction and other conditions. — Vaping - cleveland clinic
A friend who I considered to be almost as serious a vaper as me had managed 86 days off hers. Another friend told me how she had given up cigarettes for 18 months by reading Allen Carr’s book Easy Way to Quit Smoking.
I dared to believe that I could, perhaps, quit nicotine. I bought the vaping version of the book and read it in a couple of days. It works by dismantling any belief you have that vaping is a pleasurable or helpful activity – for example, the notion that it helps you concentrate or that it calms you in stressful situations. Quitting is reframed as a purely positive no-brainer and, what’s more, an easy thing to do, instead of the torturous deprivation that I feared.
The book was boring and repetitive but it worked some kind of sorcery because I obediently puffed my last vape – you are encouraged to vape as you read – threw it in the bin, and somehow I have been nicotine-free for an astounding 402 days. This is the first time in 20 years that I have not been ingesting some form of nicotine on a daily basis.
like a wine-soaked evening that goes on for months. — Jamal
It's so full of disparate topics and ideas and individual convictions, in no coherent pattern, that it belongs nowhere in particular. It reminds me of some long, wine-soaked nights of my youth. Nostalgic, y'know? — Vera Mont
I would first, again clearly state, my lack of academic qualifications in philosophy.
My field of academic expertise is Computing Science
I think however, that there is a great deal of philosophy in this thread and some chit chat as well.
I would use terms like social, political and cultural philosophy and perhaps even 'philosophy of life as a human,' but these are probably considered 'flippant' concoctions and associations of the word philosophy, which are not robust, academically accepted, uses of the word or field title as compared against those listed on TPF. — universeness
Maybe you want my opinion on this issue? — Baden
Honestly, I haven't read enough to pipe in, but I do understand the frustration of good lounge threads being backgrounded. — Baden
Again, I disagree with your judgement. This thread is full of philosophy.I disagree. — Jamal
Sorry to LOOSE my temper. — Mikie