Sidney Winston

The study of philosophy is but the introduction to philosophy.

Hegel.

That’s something you made up.

It’s called “doing philosophy”, rather than just studying what other philosophers have done (poorly, in the case of moral philosophy).

How do you know which books I’ve read?

I’ll recommend a book…you can read an introduction to ethics before you start redefining it. If you give me an email I can even send you a PDF of a short introduction to ethics. It won’t take much effort and will summarize quickly and well the history of and main moral systems from past to now.

OK, I’m all ears.  Can you give the name of it, an…[Read more]

Relative truth.

Ugh. Gross. Why? That is the starting place of anti-learning. It is for those who are afraid of knowledge.

 If ethics means helping in response to need

That isn’t what it means. That’s something you made up. I think, redefining an entire sub-branch of philosophy, before you’ve even read a single book about ethics, is not the best approach. Perhaps reading a book on ethics is the best first step. I’ll recommend a book…you can read an introduction to…[Read more]

I’m not sure that people’s needs fall neatly into categories of physical and non-physical.  If ethics means helping in response to need, and helping in response to the consequences of our actions towards others (fairness), then the need to thrive is both physical and psychological.

Simon Paynton wrote:

Truth means “that which is the case,” so relative truth would be “that which for you is the case,” right?

Yes, if “relative” means “subjective”. Anyway, it’s a view point that has some merit, i.e., usefulness, because it’s empathic. If you want to help to change someone’s world, find out what their world is. I can see the poi…

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Truth means “that which is the case,” so relative truth would be “that which for you is the case,” right?

Yes, if “relative” means “subjective”.  Anyway, it’s a view point that has some merit, i.e., usefulness, because it’s empathic.  If you want to help to change someone’s world, find out what their world is.  I can see the point of thinking like that.

No…it covers one structuralist who analyses Marxism. That doesn’t make him a post-modern Marxist. ,Heesh Simon. Pay attention.

Simon Paynton wrote:
Off the top of my head, I believe that the post-modern conception of truth or reality is to do with subjective, personal reality or perception. So, in the sense you give, they are not wrong to say that truth is relative or subjective. Actually, I’m not sure what “relative” truth means.

So, you’re saying (even if you don’t…[Read more]

Off the top of my head, I believe that the post-modern conception of truth or reality is to do with subjective, personal reality or perception.

So, in the sense you give, they are not wrong to say that truth is relative or subjective.  Actually, I’m not sure what “relative” truth means.

Simon Paynton wrote:

Simon Paynton wrote:
Do they really believe that anything is as true as anything else?

Maybe it depends on how you define “truth”. If it means “corresponding to reality” then it can’t be relative or a matter of opinion. But if it means “corresponding to perceptions” then it can mean anything you like.

Some would argue t…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
Do they really believe that anything is as true as anything else?

Maybe it depends on how you define “truth”.  If it means “corresponding to reality” then it can’t be relative or a matter of opinion.  But if it means “corresponding to perceptions” then it can mean anything you like.

From Wikipedia: “critical theory“:

Postmodern critical theory analyzes the fragmentation of cultural identities in order to challenge modernist era constructs such as metanarratives, rationality and universal truths, while politicizing social problems “by situating them in historical and cultural contexts, to implicate themselves in the process of…

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People have a talent for making diverse and seemingly incompatible things fit together. Sartre, whose existentialism is all about the inescapable primacy of the individual somehow also became a Marxist. Marxism subsumes the individual into the collective. The two philosophies could hardly be more incompatible it would seem, yet they both key in on…[Read more]

It’s ironic Simon because you really fit the intellectual profile of someone who would claim to be a post-modern-Marxist…so I guess it all makes sense. I’ll concede the point that someone can CLAIM to be a post-modern-Marxist. Just as a 16 year old white teenager from America can CLAIM to be a Mongolian-astronaut. Well…good for your guys. You…[Read more]

You can be a neo-Marxist.

No Simon. If you “take something” from Marxism from a post-modernist perspective then you are picking and choosing from Marxism. Not BEING A MARXIST. As atheists we can take the few tidbits in the bible that are of use and make something out of it from our atheist perspectives. That doesn’t make us atheist-God-believers. That’s absurd. Just as…[Read more]

Post-modern neo-marxist.  It makes sense to treat marxism in a post-modernist way, to take what one wants from it.

It’s all very well to say that something “shouldn’t” exist on paper, but it does in real life.

No Simon. Anyone who says they are a post-modern marxist is stupid, self-contradictory and is spouting nonsense. It’s like being a God-loving atheist. You cannot be a post-modernist marxist. Jordon Peterson was just making up stupid shit (or pointing to a small handful of werid outliers) so he could overgeneralize and straw-man a broad spectrum of…[Read more]