A philosophy thread.

.. In one sense ; Evolutionists, can see the same things, Non-evolutionists see ; Yet, usually end up, glossing over, {and- or ignoring}.. How a slow 'evolutionary' development, hypothesis ; Makes, for a poor 'fit' .. In a puzzle sense. o:

A bit like the "Chameleon" ethos?

Why? Does he have a nice ass?

Tom or Wittgenstein? 

or Cottonfrock?

Wittgenstein. I think Tom's buns may be stale.

Hopefully Tom didn't leave a bun in the oven somewhere.

So is it true that @Tomtalk has pulled an Elvis and left the building?  That's unfortunate.  I like his style and the way he dialogues with people, and I also have numerous questions for him.  I hate to label him, especially since he doesn't exist, but he seems to be an eclectic mix of metaphysical naturalism, uber-Descartes, atheist who believes were all connected in a way reminiscent of pantheism....yeah, he's definitely deep as has many levels.

I do take issue though with the Descartes-esque ultra cynical view that nothing in reality can be known, we could all be part of a dream and it's all an illusion, there is no self--although Descartes didn't go that far and made an argument for existence with his cogito ergo sum- "I think therefore I am."

If everything is an illusion and we're in a dream and we don't really exist and there's no such thing as free will or good and evil, right or wrong (except naturalism right), love or beauty (although in several posts he commented about something being beautiful and things that he loved), there is no such as happy or sad (even though in some posts he identified what made him happy), no such thing as cruelty (although in one post I noticed he called something cruel)...well, the logical outcomes of such beliefs are disturbing.  If Tomtalk's views are correct, which seems a contradiction in itself since he seems to think there is no truth (and yet he believes nature is truth), then that would mean murder is not wrong, or rape or racism or prejudice or hate or genocide or what Hitler did.  But does anyone really believe that?

The whole we're in a dream, don't really exist, everything is an illusion view to my knowledge is not one that anyone really takes seriously--even among professional philosophers.  I'm unaware of any prominent philosopher who truly adheres to such ultra skepticism in epistemology and even if there are proponents, they certainly don't live out their daily lives in such a manner.

Even strict verification theory--to my knowledge has fallen by the wayside.  Absolute "proof" is not required to validate reasonable positions.  

Here's the other thing, if it's true that there's no truth, and if it's true we don't exist, and everything's an illusion and we can't trust our own senses and perceptions--then neither can we verify science/empiricism which rely on observation.  If we can't even trust our own observations, then we can't say that science is correct or that evolution is correct or that nature is all there is as TomTalk believes, because we can't trust the observations on which they are based.  

To me, it seems that such views create so many logical inconsistencies that one can hardly have a coherent philosophy and I wish TomTalk was present to get his take on this.  It is certainly not reality or a paradigm that is real-world functional in our daily lives.

It all reminds me of a story I once read related to postmodernism and while I'm not sure I agree with all the author's philosophical points, I thought he raised some good points.  Here's what he wrote:

 "I remember lecturing at Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in this country. I was minutes away from beginning my lecture, and my host was driving me past a new building called the Wexner Center for the Performing Arts.

He said, “This is America’s first postmodern building.”

I was startled for a moment and I said, “What is a postmodern building?”

He said, “Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.”

I said, “So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?”

He said, “That is correct.”

I said, “Did he do the same with the foundation?”

All of a sudden there was silence.

You see, you and I can fool with the infrastructure as much as we would like, but we dare not fool with the foundation because it will call our bluff in a hurry.

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"It is not certain that all is uncertain, to the glory of skepticism"- Pascal

.. Personally .. I believe that there's a dual & simultaneous, psychological & spiritual, process/ progression, going on ; In whatever '7 deadly sins,' it concerns .. {including perhaps, other dysfunctional character-traits}.

.. There's a Scripture passage, in the Bible .. where a 'demon'{s}, are prone to inviting, More demons, into a non-resisting person. o:

I believe in transcendental realism.

.. I suppose, it could be said ; That this, and recent, preceding generation's, own Faith ; Requires, less of the 'faith', regarding prophetic Scriptures ; Simply because, for the last 100 years, {and even going, further back in time} ; We're the beneficiaries, {as-it-were}, of the 'Seeing-is-believing'; Scripture prophesied events ; Concerning, both 'Israel'; And the chaotic, 'End Times' in general. o:

http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-future-has-arrived/

Where no Counsel (is) the people fall.But in the multitude of Counsellors (there is) safety.

Proverbs 11.14.

Where there is no beer the people perish!

So do we just have to grin and beer it?

.. Not that anyone asked ..