Unseen

_Robert_ wrote:
Tomatoes live about two years in the tropics or until a hard frost so not like they should be so worried, LOL. It’s not like meat animals don’t eat tons of plants that could feed so many more people directly. That is the real damage.

I don’t think a plate of what cows and pigs eat would make palatable food on your dinner pla…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
So you admit that your “real” moral systems are not real.

I’m not offering a moral system and don’t think I ever proffered one as “real.” There’s nothing to admit.

Simon Paynton wrote:
Now, you are obligated to tell us how one of your “real” moral systems would answer this question.  If you don’t, then either you’re copping out, or they’re not “real” at all.

Nonsense. I’m engaging in creative crititicism, so I’m under no obligation to provide z system of my own, especially since I have some doubts as to w…[Read more]

@ Simon

I talk about justice, but interpersonal justice.

I’m not going to reread everything you wrote to make sure, but I don’t recall you ever using the term “justice.” Rawls defined justice as fairness, another term I don’t recall you ever using. You describe a system where the duties appear to be all one way, putting the individual in service…[Read more]

@ Simon

John Rawls emphasized the concept of each person possessing an inviolability founded on justice. Some definitions:

Inviolability: This refers to the inherent worth and dignity of every individual, something that should not be violated or compromised. Each person is unique and irreplaceable, deserving of basic moral protections and…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
You keep saying that, and I keep saying something different.  If you don’t like your group’s joint goal, you can fall back on your instincts and do something different.  These instincts may depend on the survival instincts of early humans: egalitarianism and compassion.

So “Do whatever you feel like doing.” Well, then you d…[Read more]

I was comparing my favorite current band, The Warning, with The Beatles with a friend recently and he said, “Really, how can you compare them with The Beatles, who many consider to be the greatest rock band of all time?” I said, “More people would say The Stones were the best rock band of all time.”

I went on to say, “You know, The Beatles best…[Read more]

@ Simon

Philosophy means love of knowledge, not love of bullshit.

If you parse the word “philosophy” it, yes, comes back as “friend of knowledge,” but as it has evolved, it has evolved away from the empirical sciences and is looking for a different sort of knowledge, exemplified by the questions it tackles. What is meaning? What is Being? What is…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
Well, a philosophy can either be accurate, or it can be bullshit.  Which is better?

False dichotomy. Philosophy isn’t a fact-based science. Neither is it an art, based wholly on a creative output. It is a unique field of study. And value theory (ethics/aesthetics) are unique within philosophy.

One person’s good is not ne…

[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
No enslavement in Egypt, no 40 years in the Sinai Peninsula, no mass migration to or conquest of “The Holy Land.”. Hence the Hebrew Israelites never left the area. They have as much claim as anyone else living there.

I’m not interested whoever was there first arguments. Obviously, using that sort of logic, we’d have to…[Read more]

Evidence Doesn’t Support Israeli Claims That Hospital Was Hamas Command Center: Report

The Israeli raid on al-Shifa Hospital last month, which was preceded by an evacuation order aimed at thousands of people sheltering at the hospital and hundreds of sick patients, produced one of the grisliest scenes in the country’s ground invasion of the G…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
Yes, that has practical implications. That’s a good thing. It indicates that my philosophy is close to reality.

So, you are now arguing that there is some sort of moral “reality,” with facts and where assertions are subject to practical testing. And this is possible without know (not defining or speculating) what The Good i…[Read more]

@ Simon

What is the point of solving a problem with “no practical implications”? LOL

@ Jake

That guy’s argument collapses if you talk about “Palestinians” not as a racial or ethnic group but as people, who happen to be Muslim, who have been living in Palestine for as long as the Jews. The only special overriding claim the Jews have is biblical, and only if one accepts it. Here is a well-reasoned, historical account of the…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
Again, I repeat once more, I was talking about philosophical questions, not real-world questions.  In the case of this conundrum, it remains a conundrum.  Is it a moral question, or a practical one?

By their nature, Simon, true moral questions ARE practical in nature. Is murdering an abusive marriage partner justifiable? S…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
Again, I repeat once more, I was talking about philosophical questions, not real-world questions.  In the case of this conundrum, it remains a conundrum.  Is it a moral question, or a practical one?

I’m lost. Give an example of a philosophical moral question with no practical implications that your system “solves.” Please.

A very special musician. Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac fame making one guitar sound like at least two. He’s playing an extraordinarily complicated riff AND SINGING AT THE SAME TIME. To escape the 40 seconds or so of patter before he starts, just move the slider to about 40-42.

Nowadays, it’s in Asia where you’ll find the most mindbogglingly strong instrumental talent. I could literally put up dozens of Korean and Japanese bands with more adept musicians than The Warning. This is a fairly random example in the sense that they were on the side of the Youtube page so I clicked simply out of curiosity over the thumbnail…[Read more]

@ PopeBeanie

Very soon after The Warning formed, their secret sauce became apparent: songwriting. As good as they are as musicians, much more impressive musicians are out there and bands full of such musicians as well, who can play rings around The Warning. I can watch their Teatro Metropolitan concert over and over and never get bored because…[Read more]