Tom

Once again Enco strawmans the shit out of one of us.

You don’t seem to understand Enco that it is very possible to have something inbetween absolute unconstrained freedom and a controlling communist tyranny. It is basically called: most of the Western world. The very country you live in constrains all sorts of freedoms like driving without…[Read more]

Pitbul kebabs?

Enco, you seem to be operating on the absurd free market idea that people make rational economic decisions and avoid irrational economic decisions. The threat of being sued doesn’t stop some people from doing dangerous shit. People keep doing dangerous shit, even when there is a high chance of getting caught and going to jail (bank robberies for…[Read more]

Enco, you seem to be operating on the absurd free market idea that people make rational economic decisions and avoid irrational economic decisions. The threat of being sued doesn’t stop some people from doing dangerous shit. People keep doing dangerous shit, even when there is a high chance of getting caught and going to jail (bank robberies for…[Read more]

The stafordshire bull terrier my brother had was actually really beautiful (that particular breed is quite nice) with really soft short fur and she was extremely sweet and wonderful to have, until she got very angry at and did major damage to our other dog (requiring a lot of stiches and taking a fair bit of time to recover). I am less interested…[Read more]

Nobody needs a pitbull. A pitbull doesn’t offer anything many other breeds can offer. Since they are the agents of a huge number of human fatalities, injuries and other pet injuries and since they are easily bred out of existence (and we bred them ourselves) this is a no brainer solution. Who was responsible for the dog’s misdeeds is irrelevant to…[Read more]

Bitbulls are completely prohibited in many countries/jurisdictions including the UK, Belgium, New Zealand, Ontario and some cities in the United States including Denver. I have never seen a pitbul in Europe (though they must exist in some countries where they are still legal) and I have no problem breeding them out of existence (considering we…[Read more]

Ridiculous human being. The University is facing no loss there. Imagine a chemistry science professor refused to wear new almost certainly safe protective gear and was ever so slightly careless with their equipment which put other students at a slight risk of getting hurt and then went: awe, the university is coercing me into using safety gear…[Read more]

I don’t consider it all flawed – but much of it goes nowhere except up its own arse.  Traditional moral philosophy is largely a giant waste of anybody’s time, except that it primes people to be ready for the real stuff (evolutionary ethics).

Yes Simon, we all totally have all the reason in the world to take someone seriously when they know virtua…[Read more]

Enco, it is unconscionably immoral for an utterly filthy rich country like the United States (a nation with wealth the world has never seen before) to allow a citizen to die because of thirst or hunger, all things that can relatively easily be covered by soup kitchens and water subsidies which, as a total cost relative to the US annual budget,…[Read more]

Simon, if you cannot even conceive of evidence or arguments that would make you question your theory, then I don’t know why anyone would ever take it seriously. I can fairly easily come up with multiple kinds of evidence for any argument I think is important. You have a major argument which you think is a comprehensive explanation of so many…[Read more]

Simon, moral norms are arbitrary, developed out of culture, in many cases unable to be bent despite clear reasons (and even cultural advantage) to get rid of it. You hand pick praiseworthy traits that have developed in some cultures and ignore the many cultural norms which are harmful and morally repugnant. Mass rape is a moral norm of human…[Read more]

Yes, but they’re only partial theories.  They leave out the idea of moral norms.

Wow. That is an extremely strange claim, that a full moral theory must include moral norms. That is the first time I have ever heard that. How exactly did you draw this conclusion?

If this is not the case, okay, what would disconfirming evidence look like to you? If you can even imagine it.

I would really like to know this Simon. Could you please give us a few examples of this?

That’s true.  But they’re related because each is an example of something fulfilling an ideal.

Good (morally good) as fulfilling an idea is only valid for some moral theories and not for others. In other words, your argument works only if it aligns with your arbitrarily chosen moral system. It does not with other ones such as deontological or util…[Read more]

But theologians are making an honest attempt to make sense of the factual information they think they have, in the same way that philosophers do.

Well Simon…you could say the same thing about flat-Earthers or QAnon lunatics. There is honestly no difference between flat-Earthers who put their stupid ideas into rational sounding arguments…[Read more]

Enco, I get the feeling that your point of view here stems from your deep mistrust of government, support for industry to do nearly whatever they like and an extreme dislike of regulation. You know fully well I never said we should be hostile to AI nor did I even insinuate we should assume the worst. Your occasional gift for putting words in other…[Read more]

for atheists, philosophy takes the place of theology.

Not really Simon. Theology is viewed as either a sub-branch of philosophy or an entirely different subject to philosophy. I take the latter view, some religious people do not.

Theology is a particularly pernicious intellectual field (if you can call it intellectual) because, with the most…[Read more]

Hey Unseen,

I am fairly certain that you can create a new group, and while you create a group, check the option to create a forum that is part of the group (I know that is slightly confusing). If you cannot do that, then I will happily create one for you. Go to images.google.com and search for two philosophy related images (try to be creative if…[Read more]

Thrive:

To grow or develop well

Nothing about evolution, adaption, fitness etc. If I wanted to talk about evolution, adaption or fitness…then I would use the terms: adaption, evolution or fitness. I would not confusingly replace it with: thrive.

You should accept that random and/or meaningless things happen Simon, frequently and at a much…[Read more]