Think Humanism

whitecraw

Nice quote, Lifelinking. Swift was, of course, himself an avid copycat, as was Laurence Sterne; and Shakespeare has already been mentioned. The literary mode is called ‘creative imitation’. There’s a passage in Plutarch, for example, of Cleopatra on her barge which has passed down through literary h...

whitecraw

Well Whitecraw, I think that is a rather silly response. Why should Lifelinking's view be derived from the bible, rather than the bible being derived from general human experience? Does your view not imply that we cannot disapprove of murder without being accused of being closet christians? Because...

whitecraw

I have no great names to back me up when I say that we can only ever really know somebody, from what they do. That seems to be one of those bits of Bible philosophy that’s passed into popular currency. Be-waur o fauss prophets at come tae ye in sheep’s cleadin, but aneth is ravenish woufs. Ye will ...

whitecraw

I have never heard of the author (Wang Hui) before - do you know anything about him?

For all you Eurocentrics out there, here’s an article about him: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/13/news/left.php

whitecraw

Thing is, Chris: what an agnostic, as a fallibilist, must never say is that it is certain that absolutely nothing is certain. For then s/he’d sound even more absurd than Socrates, who notoriously laid claim to the knowledge that knew nothing. But, of course, as Dan reminded me this doesn't apply to ...

whitecraw

A sort of 'rules don't apply to me, after all I can quote Kierkegaard Et Al (just don't expect me always to acknowledge it)..' Hi Lifelinking. I've already apologised to Maria for pissing her off and acknowledged that I did break a rule of the Board and, on the principle of 'when in Rome', ought no...

whitecraw

I see what you mean, Dan. You're referring to folk who are agnostic in their theology but not in their epistemology, and so may consequently claim certainty in relation only to their beliefs concerning their ability to have knowledge of such theological matters as the existence or non-existence of G...

whitecraw

It’s difficult to see how an agnostic could meaningfully be said to be dogmatic, when agnosticism is a particular instance of fallibilism (a recognition of the deep fallibility of human beings and the unattainability of absolute certainty). Unless, of course, the agnostic was dogmatic in his or her ...

whitecraw

It doesn't occur to your reader that what you've written may not be your original work, because that's not how people think. Yes, that’s unfortunate. But I can’t be held responsible for how other people think. I’m sure many people think that when they look at a work of renaissance art, they’re look...

whitecraw

While I'm sure it's illuminating to learn of the cavalier attitude to intellectual theft by certain great authors, your post above smacks of an appeal to authority. Personally, if I put time and effort into writing something and then see someone ripping my work off and presenting it as their own wh...

whitecraw

I've discovered that there is no language which can be used, no vocal inflection employed or obsequious gesture which can be formed to prevent the faithful from taking offense at the notion that their cherished god isn't home. Instantly they accuse me of being confrontational and pissing on their s...

whitecraw

How can this be neutral? By restricting the competence of moral judgement to private life. The Machiavellian doctrine became notable in the 20th century as realpolitik : politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives. If you restrict the competence...

whitecraw

Yes, Maria: I’ve had this argument elsewhere in relation to other literary work. Plagiarism (or appropriative writing) is a fascinating phenomenon. It didn’t appear as a ‘problem’ until the 18th century, when lawyers set us on the path of copyright confusion and arguments over moral rights by seekin...

whitecraw

I 'm basiaclly trying to find out if, in the eyes of a humanist, it would be helpful to have something - a product,service or resource- that you could turn to in a moment of crisis or if you were feeling a bit lost in life… In all the big and little crises in my life, I’ve always found a fag does th...

whitecraw

The ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ names didn’t come into common usage until the early 1990s, but the concepts they represent have been in use for some time. In earlier philosophical publications, the terms ‘negative atheism’ and ‘positive atheism’ were more common; these terms were used by Antony Flew in 1972...

whitecraw

Whether you donate or not to any chosen cause is entirely up to you and not a matter of morality IMO. Again, this depends on your ethics; i.e. your theory of morality. Morality pertains to right conduct; and there is a view that it is immaterial whether that conduct takes place in the private spher...

whitecraw

Tuba I think you might be confusing moral obligation with legal obligation. The thing about moral obligation is that it's supposed to be universal, whereas the sort of obligation you're talking about extends only to those who are subject to the law that imposes that obligation. A society somewhere m...

whitecraw

The most recent review of the literature I’ve seen is Kai Nielsen’s Atheism & Philosophy (2005). He finds taxonomies in: • Alexander, Samuel, 1927, Space, Time and Deity, London: Macmillan.Ayer, • A.J., 1936, 2nd ed. 1946: Language, Truth and Logic, London: Gollancz. • Bradley, M.C., 2001, ‘The Fine...

whitecraw

I have a problem with the whole notion of moral obligation anyway, as I explained in an article I reproduced in the other place. Derek Parfit ( Reasons and Persons , Oxford 1984) has high hopes for a non-religious ethics. With the development of such an ethics, he suggests, "both human history, and ...

whitecraw

Life and death - Why re we born and why do we die? No reason. Life ain’t rational. Only our various understandings of it can be properly called ‘rational’ or ‘irrational’ according to the rules of racionation (logic). Things don’t happen in nature for any ‘reason’. It’s just one damned thing after ...

Think Humanism

Think Humanism

Search found 223 matches

Re: Plagiarism

Re: Plagiarism

Re: Plagiarism

Re: Humanism as the Theme of Chinese Modernity

Re: Atheistic Fundamentalism

Re: Plagiarism

Re: Atheistic Fundamentalism

Re: Atheistic Fundamentalism

Re: Plagiarism

Re: Plagiarism

Re: Making Offenses

Re: Moral imperative

Re: Atheistic Fundamentalism

Re: Views on living life without religion

Re: Atheistic Fundamentalism

Re: Moral imperative

Re: Moral imperative

Re: Atheistic Fundamentalism

Re: Moral imperative

Re: Views on living life without religion