Lars

African Americans are less likely to be wealthy enough to cover tuition as compared to white people. Based on their disadvantage of being qualified for jobs and in general having less education…should it be reasonable to pay an individual African Americans less because their over all demographic is disadvantaged? No. That’s grossly…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
So i distinguish the two.

Yes. Got it!

jakelafort wrote:
Ethics is a matter of applied reason.

If only that were mostly so Jake. If only. This is true when we are in the realm of applied ethics, legal debates and enlightened discussion. However, ethics all to often by-pass anything we’d recognize as reason. Consider this: in a large amount of countries…the most intellectual and…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
@davis – Jordan Peterson apparently believes they’ve been abusing a distorted version of Post Modernism.

Post modernism, in a political, identity, philosophy term…is already highly flawed and damaged goods in my opinion. Adding agressive toxic idenity-politics people who shame others for the words they choose, does not abu…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
@davis – Everyone seems to be locked down and afraid to move in case they get accused of being sexist, racist and homophobic.

Academics and many politicians are being more careful with their words indeed. To be honest, being more considerate with how you label and identify people is in many cases a good thing. Saying: “…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
@davis – what’s your view of the mess that the modern Left seem to have got themselves into?

There are three different questions in your text, so let me adress them separately:

The mess that we have gotten ourselves into, is turning political conversations into “the left” and “the right”. It’s mostly the fault of pol…[Read more]

@Pope tro

You’re going to have a difficult time trying to put critical thinking and post-modernesque tropes in some kind of disfunctional marriage. Critical thinking, in general, is designed to be cold hard analysis. Categorizing and reviewing the soundness of logical arguments. The multi-perspective family of methods/narratives, often tend to…[Read more]

Of course, Simon, SOMETIMES an explanation is necessary.  However, most of the time it’s optional. Trying not to do stuff automatically is quite hard.  I’m getting there slowly. Try it out. Try not giving an explanation (unless you’re talking to a police officer, etc).

@danielw I like those.  I’m not very good with rules, so I haven’t compiled a list, but I do have personal projects.  I learned to not get irritated by anyone.  That took a few years, but I’m pretty good compared to how I used to be.

My mum had a favorite mantra.  Never complain, never explain.  I’m working with this one at present.  It’s harder…[Read more]

Most of these are humanists principles, though a few of them are a little odd (touching dishes, taking sabbaticals, do not destroy). They may be good advice but I don’ understand why these are major priorities compared that what is left out, like educating others, fighting discrimination cruelty against the marginalised, loose religion, encourage…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
If by capitalizing and adding timeless you mean to convey something supernatural then i agree it cant exist. I am referring to demonstrable behavior with malice. If you consider humans with a modicum of intelligence and absence of superstition then i think you will have near unanimity in condemning as evil the most egregious…

[Read more]

So basically, ‘evil’ is a concept of what the worst of the worst would be, if it were a ‘thing’.  Got it.

Simon Paynton wrote:
But sometimes people do evil things for fun, and in the present moment, it’s a successful (social) strategy for thriving, given that we are competitive as well as cooperative. But a negative payback usually comes later in some form or other. Crime doesn’t pay; it pays to be nice.

There are a few misconceptions here. The 21s…[Read more]

@Tom

Yeah, well, if a short duck and dodge is the best way to make broad criticisms of something you don’t like and avoid defending it, then a short duck and dodge is the most successful!

@Simon

This may be true in some cases where people inflict unnecessary suffering on others, but it isn’t always the case. In endless examples of a group of people stuck in a mass movement of cruel insanity…countless people take no pleasure from the horror they inflict on others, or this complicity when doing nothing. Reluctant Japanese citizens…[Read more]

@Pope. Are you auditing the course at a university or college? Is it for non-degree students?

Perhaps you have a bad teacher. I did when I first did critical thinking (got a B-) and did really well with, believe it or not, a  Catholic priest professor. The first was very extreme in his severity of differentiating sound arguments. The next taught…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
If these famous philosophers are famous because they’re good, then it means they’re different from most people, enough to be going crazy once in a while.

They are “good” for many reasons, not necessarily because their works are relevant today. They provide insight into how and why people thought the way they did in the…[Read more]