Recent content by Sidheil

I"m really surprised to see how critical of philosophy people are. I didn't expect to find that in the Philosophy subforum. My own quick defense is that science cannot answer all questions, and some very important questions must be answered by philosophy. But that is off-topic here, so I don't...

Unfortunately I'm not very well versed in the philosophy of science, but you raise some good points. I'll look up some of Kuhn's works.

I wonder of that's party of the reason for the rise of analytic philosophy?

I do like Chesterton. His book Orthodoxy was part of what got me interested in philosophy. And the ability to think as deeply as he did, and still write to a popular audience is quite commendable. I see what you're saying, I suppose I was thinking that when he said unpopular he was referring to...

It sound like you're asking if, even if we don't perceive a sensation out can still be said to "exist". My best guess is that we can separate sensations from our perceptions of them. So in an empty forest the sound still exists, but no perception does. But there are hundreds of books that have...

Reminds me of Bishop Berkeley. Are you at all familiar with him? He is best known for being a philosophical idealist: that matter does not exist and objects are only perception.

I came across this article the other day, and found it fairly interesting. For those that don't want to read it, the basic idea is that, while we have not yet reached ultimate knowledge about the universe, we are closer than we were before. Asimov claims that if we examine the history of...

It happens all the time. "I like Romantic music, but I never enjoyed Baroque." Bam! Centuries of music, dismissed with a wave of the hand. I think the problem comes when we're dismissing the art for a quality other than the work itself. If, for example, we don't like modern art because it's...

You seem to be dying for someone to engage in Chesterton's thoughts here, and I hope you don't find me too presumptuous should I attempt. Oh, and I'm not Orthodox, so if I say anything not kosher here (irony fully intended), just let me know. Obvious observations first, it would seem he's not a...

Well now, the question was the elimination of heresy, not heretics. I took that to mean teaching truth and always opposing falsehood. I really don't see how one can rank that low on the list of priorities.

Huh, I had just watched that. I understand a lot of what the video was saying; it's where I was a few years ago, and some of my family still is. I think the article was very well written. Some bits I just had to laugh at..."So this is awkward." :D Thanks for the read!

Thank you for posing the question. It was an interesting one.

Yep, I'm going to have to agree. I can't think of an example where lack of belief is the main impetus for an action. I can see it removing inhibitions for another action, but there must still be a belief motivating that action to begin with.

I think I agree. When asked "why did you do x?", someone usually responds "because I believe y". So we can say belief y has a causal relation to belief x. But if we do not believe x, for example that God exists, is that a lack of belief? Is "God does not exist" just as much a positive belief as...

Well, unless you're a determinist the cause would ultimately just be you willing to make a certain decision. I think that saying any belief or lack of belief makes us necessarily take a certain course of action is over simplified. For example, you believe God does not exist, and you believe one...