jakelafort

Atheist family and iconoclastic so no celebrating nuthin…get-togethers for thanksgiving and walked some halloweens to gather CANDY.

Where is the value in holidays? Is tradition for sake of tradition a good tradition? Is it perdition to carry on a tradition borne of some mythical, exploitative or sordid mission?

A celebration without any basis…[Read more]

The problem i have Beanie with your position is that there is an answer. There absolutely is. However it is a scientific question. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately we lack the science to advance the philosophy.

I hold as axiomatic the following: A mechanistic, clockwork strictly determined universe precludes free will (and of course moral…[Read more]

Unseen, lets not lose sight of the issue. Whether moral responsibility is applicable once having posited no free will/strict determinism.

The choice of words in expressing my thoughts sucked. I should have said there is only cause and effect. There is no individual freedom to choose. There is a course of events which unfolds unerringly and…[Read more]

Unseen, i am not sure what you are getting at.

We act according to our nature? We are akin to programmed robots? And from this I am to understand what?

Unseen strikes out.

There is no cause and effect in anything we say feel or do in a universe that is laid out. It may appear to be cause and effect from our vantage. I once talked a gal out of suicide after four trying and draining hours. I felt like i had done something that was powerful in saving a young lady. But naah. Not if we posit as we are.

It is an absolute no-brainer that the idea of moral responsibility in a universe governed by strict determinism/no free will is impossible.
I would love to hear an argument to the contrary that makes any sense.

Davis, that is an interesting point you make in re non-free will philosophers in general and Sam in particular. I had wondered the very same thing. I like Sam a lot, have disagreed with only a few of his assertions but he does acknowledge the tension. I think he thinks it is a fiction we are forced to live with.

Woops, sorry Simon for reiterating, i missed some of the comments here.

Judge Judy likes to chide and deride which makes for good television.  I think she would say that we are responsible for the consequences of our actions because without responsibility we have the chaos Thomas Hobbes feared. Further, it inures to the benefit of all members of…[Read more]

But Beanie, isn’t it an issue when Ivy asserts that she knows it is god …KNOWS IT IS GOD…won’t critique the reasons given why it might not be god?

And then she is sure we are going to end up extinct.  After god’s involvement in her life why wouldn’t she assume god will make an appearance or take the necessary steps to arrest the trajectory…[Read more]

Simon, the comment i made in assuming strict determinism is same for the question you ask. But if we look at it from the perspective of evolution we evolved as social critters. Social interaction requires varying levels of cooperation, leading and following. If none of us were held to account for violating mores, rules, cultural expectations, …[Read more]

I don’t think we know. not with certainty, but if every moment was always going to unfold as it has and every moment will unfold in the only way it can then the notion that we hold a person responsible for their actions is silly.  On the other hand those who appear to have greater awareness or acuity get no more credit than those who appear…[Read more]

Ivy, you’ve managed to duck, dodge and evade once again.  I have no argument with the 30-50 yr apocalypse…who knows how long it will take but it seems probable. I have a problem with the magnification of your importance and the minimization of 7 plus billion non-Ivy.  If god intervenes or interacts in your life but refuses to do so for the s…[Read more]

No Ivy the problem of evil was not part of the deconstruction of your premonition.  I brought it up late because you said we will be extinct in 30 years.  So i thought here is a person who thinks god informed her of some future event in her life…hot shit magic…and yet she thinks this same god will allow humans to die off.  THAT IS ABSURD an…[Read more]

Okay Ivy…i give up…i can’t overcome your intransigence.

In any argument, dispute or attempt to resolve an issue it wont do to say I KNOW, it doesn’t make SENSE to me or it does not RESONATE with me.

I know you know the tired old …extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. But it is true. Those claims ought to make us more, not less skeptical.  I once had an experience that in the moment…[Read more]

That is tantamount to saying i have faith and i refuse to think.  Reason is your enemy.  God is your safety blanket.

That is how i see it.  You have given me absolutely zero in analysis.

Resonate is about how you feel. I am asking you to think. You  obviously deplore stupidity. Lets see how you analyze what i or others have written.

Ivy i am an attorney but i wont give ya advice.  Ya know why?

Cuz i took the time to write thoughtfully about your premonition is related to me by god issue and you did not have the courtesy to engage, agree or refute.

Imagine an old bald guy sticking his tongue out atya.