simon

@Simon – Prince Charles is referred to as His Majesty.

He has been waiting 73 years for someone to call him that 🙂

I wonder is anybody really likes indefinite pronouns?

@Simon – I think philosophy is good at supplying questions that need answering.

A classic question for philosophy students is to ask them “OK, should we all go outside now and kill ourselves and if not, why not”. I think that question demands an answer.

@Simon – Well, I don’t use the word spiritual, but I do the things that the word means to me: take care of my spiritual health, which effectively, to me, means biological, psychological, social, and moral well being.

Why not just say “Take care of my physical and mental well-being”.  If I ever go to the doctor and he says that my spiritual he…[Read more]

@Autumn – That is wrong. It may describe something different to everyone who uses it…

@Simon – Yes, but to the people who use it, it means something.

Yes, it can and usually does have a subjective meaning. But as a description of an experience, it does not.  But in any objective sense it is meaningless – or at least not meaningful enough to desc…[Read more]

@Simon – whatever definitions I could give, are never going to encompass all the things that people mean by the word.

And that is why I have said the word is meaningless. If it means something different to everyone then it describes nothing. It should be seen as an archaic term. Now I am off to partake in some vittles.

@Simon – It sounds like someone’s trying to be “spiritual” who doesn’t understand it…

But that Simon is exactly why I said the term is meaningless. It is entirely subjective. On what authority are you claiming his version of spiritual is incorrect and that your definition is correct.

His reasons for claiming the experiences are spiritual…[Read more]

@Simon

I now have a clearer meaning of what YOU mean by spiritual. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I don’t think it’s what almost everybody who uses the term “spiritual” means by it.

@Simon

Being part of something greater thane oneself is almost the opposite of an oxymoron, something almost too obvious and mundane to be stated. I’m part of the United States, the solar system, the universe. Duh!

If “it (spirituality) means things like achieving and maintaining inner peace and happiness; and self-actualising: achieving…[Read more]

@Simon – the self-domestication of the human race must have happened before we started cooperating. We were hunting big game by around 500,000 years ago. We must have been breeding cooperatively from around 2 million years ago.

By “we” do you mean just Homo sapiens or are you including others like  Homo erectus where co-operative food sharing an…[Read more]

@Simon Paynton

Love for someone who deserves it is in my definition of the word not unconditional because deserving is a condition.

“your Epicurean individualism corresponds with my small-group interpersonal morality of egalitarianism, liberty, helping, and fairness.”

That may well be as one of two settings for people who bluntly spoken are by…[Read more]

@Fronkey Farmer:

I agree with your description. My focus is a bit different. I try to figure out the psychological dynamics which cause some people to be religious while others are not. I mean I am looking at identity, motivation, emotions and at Darwinian fitness.

@Simon Paynton

I downloaded your ebook but I have not yet looked at it. I see…[Read more]

@autumn – But there are bound to be some authoritarians amidst all those people. In general, I think the cries of ‘authoritarianism’ strain hyperbole.

Yes. it is hyperbole. I think if we described a “pile on” as a form of bullying and “fake” SJW’s as bullies andor trolls then we would have a better descriptor of those engaged in such behavior.

[Read more]

@Simon – They contain a lot of nasty evil torture and wanton sick Isis-style depravity.

Are you referring to his 5 banned books or the Catholic Church? 🙂