lovejoydavid Member

That much, particularly the last sentence, is clear. The greatest challenge to any kind of productive discourse is our inability to see the inconsistencies, assumptions, presuppositions, and biases inherent in our own worldview. But to work those out, we would need to talk more than, at this point, we are willing to do.…

I actually think I appealed to love on a previous thread as an example of an emotion that defied materialist explanation, but was inarguably real. However, I think that clearly logical statements can be made about the existence of love (love is real, so statements about it cannot be logically incoherent). I believe that…

Allow me to clarify a few things, from my perspective (not to imply that these are the way things truly are). I say that evil is not a thing to be created. By that, I mean that: "evil is in created things under the aspect of mutability, and possibility of defect, not as existing per se : and the errors of mankind,…

Does anyone think they have any insight into what the point of this hypothetical is? I did not write it, and the person who posed a version of it claimed not to have. For me, I think it is an existential challenge. One of the keys of existential philosophy was the crippling fear of 'non-being' (death), which any thoughtful…

I love scifi, and always have. Sadly, it is all nonsense. Quantum entanglement means you can transmit, say, photons over long distances, but not matter. The quantum field does not seem to be able to handle that. And wormholes, well, one would apparenlty have to be the size of the black hole at the center of the galaxy to…

Precisely my struggle. Odd how we came to the very same sort of question on the matter. It made we wonder if every Christian should cringe at Star Trek. As I mentioned somewhere else, the clone will already be lacking at least one experience of the original (being killed and cloned), so it is not the same person.…

I think this is where physics and medicine will have to go ahead of logic and psychology. If, indeed, it turns out that dualism is correct, and the 'mind' is actually a quantum phenomenon, then some kind of quantum transporter should deliver us intact. Clearly, the second premise is not such a transporter, and we have no…

It is a huge variable, as organs that retain stem cells are capable of extensive turnover and regeneration (and are the ones that are hit the hardest by chemo), others have little or no change at all (the brain, for one). Muscle repair, but are very little able to create new cells (hypertrophy verus hyperplasia), etc.…

Oddly, what we are now considered (in terms of expressive, interpretitive, communicative being) is the connections between neurons, rather than the structures themselves. Would not those have to be severed, if we are to be broadcast across space? Essentially, that part of our identity would end, and be restructured on the…

Very good! Most people think star trek immediately. Hilariously, I just saw this referenced in a Big Bang rerun. Sheldon felt that we would be "dead" in transport, and then reannimated as a different person. I I agree, we fall into the trap of "falseness." That is, the inherent knowledge that this is a non-identical…

To be clear, though, that is precisely why I spend so much time talking about, and from, the perspective of non-theists. I honestly want to know what drives beliefs, what motivates a person to adopt a specific worldview, and what it is that people are willing to give up to be consistent in their thinking. If I were to…

I think you misunderstand me. I am separating their perspective on atheism form their perspective on materialism (which drives atheism in most scientists). Lewontin has made it clear that materialism must survive, must win out, at all costs. His commitment to that is 100%. Dawkins has made similar claims. So they may…

Two great responses. Give me a little bit, and I will get back to you guys!

I think that in true numbers that is doubtless so. I wonder about percentages, though? I know quite a few non-theists that would give some lip service to the idea, but if get them to be up front about their allegiance to philosophical materialism you would likely get quite a different answer. Richard Lewontin and Dawkins,…

Alright, but it someone starts claiming to be agnostic to agnosticism, I am crying foul. My heart can only take so much.

I am sure you are right, but I have taken on a self-appointed role as "preventer of the ad hominem and red herring" fallacies! They are real thread derailers, and don't bring much to the discussion.

I think that, in at least some sense, we all walk without perfect certainty, and must all claim to be agnostic. It seems to me to be a perfectly natural state in a world with so very many questions, and so few answers. How we chose to engage those questions varies, though, and which tools we accept the epistemological…

Fence sitting has become a perjorative, I admit. However, I take it to be a legitimate position, with a clear epistemic assertion. I continue to use the idiom as you guys tend to be more relaxed than the rest of us, and I presume it is because you are the only ones that have found a place to sit! Consider me seduced,…

87% of counties in the US do not have an abortion provider, it is true. However, only 35% of women actually live in those areas. That is, most heavily populated areas do contain providers, and often an abundance of them. Part of the reason likely is that non-metropolitan areas tend to have higher proportions of both…

Thank you for that contribution! My friend seems to have addressed some of the points to it (and with greater depth than I could have managed), so I will not through anything else into the mix (perhaps later). I truly enjoy, though, how you have considered the implications of your worldview in regards to both design…

The point, if there is one, of my hypothetical scenario, is that the status of the unborn is not entirely unique. There are other possible scenarios across the lifespan that mimic most (if not all) of the conditions. Vulnerability, reduced agency, absent personal narrative, utter personal and/or physiological dependence…

Interesting. The (very brusque, I admit) question on my part was still directed. My intent is to get at the source of identity. Evil is a status, and not a very scientific one, that is, we will never find a discrete mental state that directly correlates with "evil." Rather, it is a culmination of actions, statuses and…

Honestly, folks, without some higher power to appeal to, this is how we grapple with bioethics, with questions of being and identity, human rights. There is no other means, unless you want to continue to appeal to fradulent common sense. To claim implausibility is to completely misunderstand the attempt to revisualize the…

Is evil an inherent or permanent status? Unchangeable? If so, how, in a world of only material causes? Common sense? Cause you said so? What if he was framed?

First argument: 1. An actually infinite number of things cannot exist. 2. A beginningless series of events in time entails an actually infinite number of things. 3. Therefore, a beginningless series of events in time cannot exist. This argument is substantiated by the argument: 1. The series of events in time is a…

No one wants to try my awesome hypothetical situation? Well, here are the follow up questions: Let me take the concept of 'narrative as identity' a step further. Presume he is released into the public, and now is a citizen. Presume further that he is able to find work, and purchases a home, gets married, has a child. At…

Imagine a man, a registered sex offender who first committed a crime as a young adult. He has been perpetually indigent and unemployed due to his need to register, and has supported himself through petty crime. He has also continued to reoffend, and is eventually incarcerated (for life) as a repeat offender of felony…

For many, the only reason that they do not get one is because they were not issued a birth certificate. Thus, no point in a death certificate. However, most hospitals now recognize that the mourning process is not different than any other, and will assist allowing contact with the deceased, pictures, etc, to honor the…

Dementia inherently implies reduced capacity. If there are any questions about the capacity to receive informed consent on a major, life saving procedure, then I must assume that there is no capacity present for an inherently life ending one. The question, then, is no longer about assisted suicide (which is sending someone…

Let us assume that establishing personhood is a waste of time. What determines a person? Nothing in contemporary thinking. It is a made up status based on a profound misunderstanding of the implications of our own internal experiences. Our brains do not imply a soul, they do not imply a cartesian mind, the do not imply a…