I'm not a philosopher but ....

Tell us a little about yourself.

Moderators: AMod, iMod

Post Reply
Doug1943
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2021 5:39 pm

I'm not a philosopher but ....

Post by Doug1943 »

... I do like to think about some of the same things y'all do.

Like: what the hell is consciousness?

and

How can we know what's true? In particular, how can we know true things about social reality?

Given that there are some very intelligent people, who are not obviously motivated by the desire to see humanity suffer, who flatly disagree on the interpretation of social reality ... in particular, how to improve it ... how can those of us who are less intelligent, if equally benignly motivated, know what to think?

This year's Nobel Prize winner in Economics will totally disagree with last year's winner. This is not true in Physics or Chemistry.

I used to be a Marxist, and my then-self would have answered my today-self with something vague about class interests. And while this may well explain why millionaires don't want real socialism, it doesn't explain why Victor Davis Hanson disagrees with Noam Chomsky.

And a 'small' question: liberals used to be strongly in favor of free speech. But now many of them -- or the ones who call themselves 'progressives' seem to have given up that stance, in favor of suppressing speech that members of certain groups say make them feel 'unsafe'. I know the Hard Left have always been against free speech, for those they define as 'fascists', and that this definition when they use it is a pretty broad one. But now many non-Hard Leftists seem to be embracing this approach as well. I don't understand why, but I'd like to. So many some of them will explain why they are in favor, for example, of preventing Charles Murray from speaking on campus.

I suspect there are a lot of smart folks here, so I'll look forward to seeing what they say.
Age
Posts: 20043
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:17 am

Re: I'm not a philosopher but ....

Post by Age »

Doug1943 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:01 pm ... I do like to think about some of the same things y'all do.

Like: what the hell is consciousness?

and

How can we know what's true? In particular, how can we know true things about social reality?

Given that there are some very intelligent people, who are not obviously motivated by the desire to see humanity suffer, who flatly disagree on the interpretation of social reality ... in particular, how to improve it ... how can those of us who are less intelligent, if equally benignly motivated, know what to think?

This year's Nobel Prize winner in Economics will totally disagree with last year's winner. This is not true in Physics or Chemistry.

I used to be a Marxist, and my then-self would have answered my today-self with something vague about class interests. And while this may well explain why millionaires don't want real socialism, it doesn't explain why Victor Davis Hanson disagrees with Noam Chomsky.

And a 'small' question: liberals used to be strongly in favor of free speech. But now many of them -- or the ones who call themselves 'progressives' seem to have given up that stance, in favor of suppressing speech that members of certain groups say make them feel 'unsafe'. I know the Hard Left have always been against free speech, for those they define as 'fascists', and that this definition when they use it is a pretty broad one. But now many non-Hard Leftists seem to be embracing this approach as well. I don't understand why, but I'd like to. So many some of them will explain why they are in favor, for example, of preventing Charles Murray from speaking on campus.

I suspect there are a lot of smart folks here, so I'll look forward to seeing what they say.
A reason people prevent free speech from occurring is because the former does not want to be proven false, wrong, nor incorrect, and so will do all they can to keep the "other" silent.

There is for example another online philosophy forum where the administrator of that site claims to be all for free speech, and even claims would fight for the right for free speech, yet that administrator will, and has, prevented "others" from speaking freely, especially when the "other's" words conclusively counter the administrator's own words.
User avatar
Dontaskme
Posts: 16940
Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2016 2:07 pm
Location: Nowhere

Re: I'm not a philosopher but ....

Post by Dontaskme »

Doug1943 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:01 pm

what the hell is consciousness?
It's HELL

Welcome Home.. :D
Post Reply