GENIUS FORUMS

Why do you think one of the realms of desire (realms of ego) is the "animal", Dan? I know in the past you have stated yourself a consequence of egotism is trying to shore up imaginary boundaries between self and other. So your present disagreement stems from some kind of cognitive dissonan...

Nietzsche on the dangers of compassion: If you have a suffering friend, then be a resting-place for his suffering, yet like a hard bed, an outdoors bed: thus would you be most useful to him. And if a friend deal you ill, say to him: "I forgive you what you did to me; but that you did it to your...

Dan Rowden: So, animals that have no ego (only humans and chimps do) never make choices? Someone else: Both humans and animals have egos. What would make you think that animals wouldn't have egos? DR: Because they have no sense of self. Even human infants younger than about 6 months lack this. I'm ...

Let me simplify it for you. Something is happening right now. Don't fill in the blanks. Don't name it. Whatever it is is just "something". Okay --- that's raw, direct experience. Now, of course, the mind naturally identifies it as what it is: a mental image is projected onto "somethin...

Leyla, There's no problem that I can see. One started with the belief that things are really there. Then, enters the concept of causality, and dualism comes into focus as how one thinks the world. Causality conceptually helps to deconstruct that initial belief, "loosening" the psychology o...

KJ: No one has ever experienced their own brain directly. They have only ever perceived empirically that consciousness appears to require a brain. It's not an absolute logical truth that consciousness is created by a brain. One can never peep behind the workings of consciousness to find out. O: Ok ...

no causality because there can't be (just) causality with no-thing caused/to cause. Nevertheless, the conclusion appears both counterintuitive and absurd. Only if you're still clinging to causality as if it really exists (i.e. to things). Causality cannot be caused, by definition, so it is not a th...

So if you're saying that the brain doesn't exist (even as a thing that is dependent on the rest of the universe and causality) then are you ascribing to solipsism? No one has ever experienced their own brain directly. They have only ever perceived empirically that consciousness appears to require a...

If saying to exist is to appear leads you to the conclusion that the totality doesnt exist" It doesn't lead to that conclusion. You've mushed together two different definitions for existence, or, two different conclusions in separate lines of reasoning. "To exist means to appear" is ...

All will (free or not) is by definition want . It doesnt make sense to do something and then say it wasnt willed to be done.And if will is either wanted or not , look in what way would it be will if it wasnt wanted. Maybe my definition is wrong There is no definition there, that I can see. but i al...

So the question is, if a human understands the workings of the dual mind and tasting pleasure is a possibility. False conclusion. Understanding duality means seeing the relativity of all things, and their illusory nature. Even one who doesn't quite get so far as that, recognises the intrinsic folly...

KJ: "Ugh", says Woman. "That sounds terribly boring, and therefore illogical." LS: I disagree in this instance. That sounds like abstracting everything into utter meaninglessness, and therefore illogical (unless logic is devoid of meaning and content of any kind): You misunderst...

Russell to Orenholt: So you believe that the self inherently exists beyond our being conscious of it. Orenholt: I never said it exists inherently. The existence of the self depends on everything else in the universe. You're not there yet. That dependency is causality. Think of it this way. A buildi...

Orenholt, As Diebert recommended, I think you should cut back on the posts, and spend more time thinking. But for both of us to have recommended this, doesn't bode well. Why would she think that a woman's only value is in being female? A female's capability for wisdom is typically nil, with nil effe...

Men are born into the world but have no status in it until they are able to make something of themselves. He is not considered a man until he has proven his worth, and then he must continue to do so until the day he dies. His mental focus is inwards to his soul, reckoning the value of his life. Fem...

Bob, the author's view that an idea exists purely and most perfectly outside the process of conceptualising and thought is completely bonkers. It's a relic from Plato. Ideas only ever exist as thought. Thinking is where ideas are made. It's how truths are formed.

Also, the appeal to authority is a fallacy because a personal pronoun is not a philosophical proof. One has to indicate one's own understanding.

Present a refutation, Laird. What you've presented is "your articulation of logic is wrong, and you should learn what is right". Go on, then.

Besides, there is a bigger picture here. Kelly demanded I retract a criticism of Weininger I made because I had not perused his "opus" in its entirety before making the criticism. Yet I suggested if she were to retract her claims about prince/Blair's being mentally ill, this thread would ...

I think it's sad that I am deeply surprised at the existence of people like Robert, bluerap, Jupta, etc.

Blair wrote:Kelly's in love with being Right. It's hilarious.

I love reason. It works. But it's also painful, and to that extent, I have to practise to get the hang of the ramifications of reasoning. Thus I find your resentment instructive.

"Anyone who criticises women, on the basis that they're irrational, is spiritually retarded. This fact is demonstrated by Blair." The premise Alex and Carmel basically gave was "The person who criticises women as irrational is spiritually retarded." It is true that it isn't an ar...

Laird, the definition of an argument you give is based on the academic view of a syllogism, but neither are accurate. The reason they're both misleading, is because neither show an understanding of the foundation of the logical structure of the syllogism. Namely, A=A. That simple structure is just t...

If mental illness is a disruption in rational thought, I think it all depends how mental illness is defined. Some people call unusual, or socially unacceptable, or abnormal behaviour, symptomatic of mental illness, just because the person doesn't appear to reach "normal" conclusions. If m...

Laird, that's not my "argument". It's my attempt to make a succinct summary of the "argument" presented by Alex and Carmel.