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Cogito ergo sum

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Atheism And Moral Progress

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  • Originally posted by carpedm9587 View Post
    If that is indeed the case, I would suggest that the car mechanic should be having his conversations with someone else. S/he is likely wasting his/her time with the automotive illiterate.



    How kind..



    A thesis you have no reason to accept should be rejected. Outside of that, the rest of this paragraph has little/no meaning to me. It might be because I don't understand cars.



    Actually, it's not. I find that it is perfectly possible to discuss things without engaging in cryptospeak. Let me tell you a story, if I may.

    25 years ago, I set out on an audacious course: to build my own house. It was a ridiculous quest. I had no tools. I had no formal training. I just had a reasonable intellect, a willingness to learn, and a desire to have a particular house at a particular price. So I set out to do so. Each time I encountered something new that I knew nothing (or little) about, I used the same technique: I found someone who had done it before, hired them to do the thing with me - so long as I could participate and learn. And then I did the rest myself. I had never installed a window, so I hired someone to install the first one with me - then I installed the rest. Today, I live in the house I wanted, mostly built by my own hands. In the process, I learned that there were two types of people out there in the land of "construction." There were the people willing to share what they know - so I could be empowered to continue on. And there were the people who buried what they knew in "cryptospeak," making it virtually impossible for me to actually learn anything. The former had value to me. The latter had none. The former could take what they knew, and express it in terms I could understand. The latter lorded their knowledge like a cudgel - doing everything they could to keep me in the dark and maintain their superiority.

    I knew little about cars. I have had several mechanics over the course of my life. The ones that last a very short time are the ones that continue to throw cryptospeak at me, lording their superior knowledge over me. The ones that last a long time are the ones willing to "dumb down" what they know so I can learn. Nick is my current car mechanic. He's a gem. Hell take the time to provide me information in language I can understand. Over time, I've gained a lot from his tutelage. A good student recognizes a good teacher.

    I am a teacher, Matt. I understand the student who is not at my level of understanding. My area of expertise is telecommunications. I could, if I wanted to, bury my students with my knowledge. But that is not my job. My job is to help them learn. So I take what I know and reframe it in language that is at the level they can understand. I think of it as the equivalent of a Olympic-level swimmer helping a new swimmer to learn. They will never learn if they are ridiculed for not already being Olympic level - or if the teacher constantly insists they need to be at an Olympic level before they are considered worthy of conversation. As I teacher - I meet them where THEY are - I do not expect them to be where I am.



    It is not incompatible with moral absolutism, Matt. The problem is that the moral absolutist cannot show that an absolute moral framework actually exists. As I have noted several times - do not add to an explanation an element unnecessary to the explanation. Moral relativism explains how moralism works. It accounts for all of its dynamics. And it does not require me to include an absolute framework I cannot show to actually exist - not to mention cannot show that there is an absolute interpretation thereof. If you're going to make a case for moral absolutism, it seems to me you have to show something fairly basic: how does moral absolutism solve a problem that moral relativism cannot? Then, perhaps, we can get somewhere.

    As for the rest - I leave it to you to decide if you wish to remain in the world of cryptospeak. I am actually a ready and willing learner. But I have little patience for the teacher with an ego problem. I will learn from the teacher interested in teaching. I will reject the teacher only interested in fluffing their own ego.
    Many and painful are the researches sometimes necessary to be made, for settling points of [this] kind. Pertness and ignorance may ask a question in three lines, which it will cost learning and ingenuity thirty pages to answer. When this is done, the same question shall be triumphantly asked again the next year, as if nothing had ever been written upon the subject.
    George Horne

    Comment


    • Perhaps you and Carp can focus here, that Carp claims that moral relativism does in fact account for moral reality and experience, and that moral absolutism is unnecessary.
      Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

      Comment


      • Originally posted by seer View Post
        Perhaps you and Carp can focus here, that Carp claims that moral relativism does in fact account for moral reality and experience, and that moral absolutism is unnecessary.
        Exactly. And since it cannot be shown to actually exist...it is not only unnecessary, it's irrelevant.
        The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy...returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King

        I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong. Frederick Douglas

        Comment


        • Originally posted by carpedm9587 View Post
          Exactly. And since it cannot be shown to actually exist...it is not only unnecessary, it's irrelevant.
          Many and painful are the researches sometimes necessary to be made, for settling points of [this] kind. Pertness and ignorance may ask a question in three lines, which it will cost learning and ingenuity thirty pages to answer. When this is done, the same question shall be triumphantly asked again the next year, as if nothing had ever been written upon the subject.
          George Horne

          Comment


          • What do you consider a "philosophical demonstration?"
            The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy...returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King

            I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong. Frederick Douglas

            Comment


            • Originally posted by carpedm9587 View Post
              What do you consider a "philosophical demonstration?"
              Carp, you have told me more than once that you are not a materialist, so rejecting scientism is no big deal for you. And as we have discussed you also believe certain things to be fact without empirical or deductive justification (like what goes on in your mind actually corresponds to reality). So let's not nit pick, accept Matt's conditions and let's move on. I'm sure there will be much that you can attempt to pick apart...
              Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

              Comment


              • Originally posted by seer View Post
                Carp, you have told me more than once that you are not a materialist, so rejecting scientism is no big deal for you. And as we have discussed you also believe certain things to be fact without empirical or deductive justification (like what goes on in your mind actually corresponds to reality). So let's not nit pick, accept Matt's conditions and let's move on. I'm sure there will be much that you can attempt to pick apart...
                I am looking for him to define his terms. I'll wait for his response.
                The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy...returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King

                I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong. Frederick Douglas

                Comment


                • Originally posted by carpedm9587 View Post
                  I am looking for him to define his terms. I'll wait for his response.
                  Or nit pick so we can't even get off the ground?
                  Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by seer View Post
                    Or nit pick so we can't even get off the ground?
                    That is never my approach to a discussion, Seer. I'm disappointed you would even consider it.
                    The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy...returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King

                    I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong. Frederick Douglas

                    Comment


                    • When should we say that an argument for a given conclusion is a successful argument? I defend the view that, in circumstances in which it is well known that there has been perennial controversy about a given claim, a successful argument on behalf of that claim has to be one that ought to persuade all of those who have hitherto failed to accept that claim to change their minds (1).
                      Many and painful are the researches sometimes necessary to be made, for settling points of [this] kind. Pertness and ignorance may ask a question in three lines, which it will cost learning and ingenuity thirty pages to answer. When this is done, the same question shall be triumphantly asked again the next year, as if nothing had ever been written upon the subject.
                      George Horne

                      Comment


                      • Wow... and they call me wordy. All of this boils down to (as best I can tell)...

                        a) The truth of an argument is not reasonably based in who it convinces, because a person may not be convinced for a variety of reasons.
                        b) The truth of an argument should be rooted in 1) the plausibility of the premises, and 2) the soundness of the argument.

                        The soundness of the argument is well established - but the "plausibility" of the premises is problematic. What is plausible to one may or may not be plausible to another. The issue will be the existing worldview of the the disputants. None of us enters a discussion from a "clean slate." We bring the baggage of our pre-existing worldview. So things that are perfectly "plausible" to the theist are implausible to the atheist, and vice versa.

                        Frankly, I do not know how we overcome this problem.
                        The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy...returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King

                        I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong. Frederick Douglas

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by carpedm9587 View Post
                          Wow... and they call me wordy. All of this boils down to (as best I can tell)...

                          a) The truth of an argument is not reasonably based in who it convinces, because a person may not be convinced for a variety of reasons.
                          b) The truth of an argument should be rooted in 1) the plausibility of the premises, and 2) the soundness of the argument.

                          The soundness of the argument is well established - but the "plausibility" of the premises is problematic. What is plausible to one may or may not be plausible to another. The issue will be the existing worldview of the the disputants. None of us enters a discussion from a "clean slate." We bring the baggage of our pre-existing worldview. So things that are perfectly "plausible" to the theist are implausible to the atheist, and vice versa.

                          Frankly, I do not know how we overcome this problem.
                          Well let's just hear what Matt believes, then you can debate it. We should at least get it on the table...
                          Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by seer View Post
                            Well let's just hear what Matt believes, then you can debate it. We should at least get it on the table...
                            I'm voicing no objection. Simply following Matt's lead as to how he wants to proceed, and providing my input as we go. What he does with that is entirely up to him.

                            I do, however, think I'm about to get an object lesson on the wordiness I inflict on my discussion partners.
                            The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy...returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King

                            I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong. Frederick Douglas

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by carpedm9587 View Post
                              I do, however, think I'm about to get an object lesson on the wordiness I inflict on my discussion partners.
                              Karma is a bitch!
                              Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by carpedm9587 View Post
                                Wow... and they call me wordy. All of this boils down to (as best I can tell)...
                                What is plausible to one may or may not be plausible to another.
                                Yep.

                                The issue will be the existing worldview of the the disputants.
                                This will relate to one strategy of motivating the objectivity of moral values and duties.

                                None of us enters a discussion from a "clean slate."
                                Yep.

                                We bring the baggage of our pre-existing worldview.
                                Frankly, I do not know how we overcome this problem.
                                Many and painful are the researches sometimes necessary to be made, for settling points of [this] kind. Pertness and ignorance may ask a question in three lines, which it will cost learning and ingenuity thirty pages to answer. When this is done, the same question shall be triumphantly asked again the next year, as if nothing had ever been written upon the subject.
                                George Horne

                                Comment

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