Philosophy Now Forum

This statement might have helped me understand where you're coming from, or maybe not so let's see. Would I be right in thinking that you view the bacteria as being different to the boulder because the bacteria is alive and can act, consciously or otherwise, in an independent fashion. I.e. it doesn...

... a falling boulder makes choices. It starts to fall and then stops. What action does the boulder take that starts and stops the falling? This statement might have helped me understand where you're coming from, or maybe not so let's see. Would I be right in thinking that you view the bacteria as ...

Notice how you changed term from choice to decision? I didn't change the terms, I introduced decision making into my definition if choice. Who says I have to think about a choice in order to make it? I can choose based upon the toss of a coin or just by seeing what comes up. You might as well attri...

...it seems that your not defining free will in any meaningful way... Why? ...and certainly not in accord with the commonly accepted definition. Well my definition is at the top of this page, let’s see your ‘commonly accepted’ version and compare. Free will implies choice and bacteria do not make c...

Do bacteria thereforet have free will? Of course – what else do you think causes the changes that result in evolution? This is quite a bizarre statement. If you really mean that it seems that your not defining free will in any meaningful way and certainly not in accord with the commonly accepted de...

I did not know you could philosophize in a pub, but why not ? From the Wikipedia article on Rick Lewis :lol: In the mid-1990s, France and other countries saw a wave of philosophy cafés, informal philosophy meetings held in cafes. The first of these were created by Marc Sautet in Paris, and by the l...

Was just curious. And I'm familiar with the song. Had a mate who used to obsess over it

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Out of curiosity, what's the inspiration for your handle? Just wondering whether its the legendary monster or Matt Wagner's comic book anti-hero.

There are some other puzzling assumptions in the text that I am not happy with. Why does he think that eating meat is not completely compatible with loving animals. I love animals and also love eating meat, and it is not simply the case that I love the eating more than the animals; by love of anima...

The outcomes are different whether we allow people to commit murder or not. Whether murder is inherently wrong or not doesn't alter the fact that allowing murder may be bad for the general well-being of most humans as most humans would rather avoid being the victims of murder. Murder is therefore to...

I assume that Joey knew the cop had a weapon. When the cop arrived on the scene, he was attacked by Joey. The cop backed the car up (retreated). Joey pursued him. Joey went to the driver's side of the car and tried to break the window. The officer then shot him in self-defense. From these facts, on...

There's no evidence that suicide was the desired intention so you're attributing desires and wants when you have no right to do so. You said that Joey "probably is better off dead (non-existence)" and I'm afraid that makes you a pretty callous bastard no matter how you want to wrap it up i...

tbieter wrote:It occurred to me while walking my dog this morning that this incident may be a "suicide by cop" incident. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_by_cop

And you think that such people are better off dead?

It is evident that Joey Carl was a slave to his anger. He may also have been a slave to chemicals. He probably is better off dead (non-existence) than being alive and living as an unhappy slave. And the community is certainly better off without his harmful presence . Did you do much defence work as...

I certainly wouldn't claim that my method is ideal. In fact I know that's I've developed a method that requires the least "proper" note-taking so that I can get through the material quicker (i.e., keep up with the timetable). I got a distinction on A211 using the method though so it seems ...