Someone... but not anyone. That's they key of it.

Ok, i acknowledge my existence as absolute, that's a given. I acknowledge yours... that's a bit harder, but i do it too, because i can't think of my mind being so twisted as to create you as a figment of my imagination (joking, really :lol:). But these are the old phylosophical examples. Something m...

I know i wouldn't react well... not by social inputs in me, but because... it's like when you reveal a deep secret to someone you trust, and then you find out that now that secret i known by some more people. You give a person the regard, the prize of your intimacy, and then that person simply gives...

which absolutes exist? give me examples so i can know what you are talking about. Then i'll tell you if i agree or not.

That's how it happens... but not why
Life is a circle, huh?

well, you don't find "humanity is overrated" as humorous, either. No, seriously: there are people like you, who think that "love" ("that social construct" as you would put it) is just meaningless and/or stupid. Actually, if i was supposed to follow the current trend amo...

I wonder... why that idea of love appeals us so much, then?

You didn't seem to understand it, when you insulted the scientific work of past times. My whole point was to underline that objectivity is not at all absolute, as the previous discussion seemed to imply (not with you). Our objective, scientific knowledge, is quite certain, but not absolute by any ac...

Poorly thought out? Excuse me, but caloric was a very good theory. Very good science, having in account the experimental methods they had available. Caloric theory explained observational facts pretty well, and only had a couple of weak spots. Same goes for ether, electric fluid or flogiston. Maybe ...

Anthony, sorry to break it to you but: Libertarianism =/= Capitalism Objectivism =/= Capitalism They both defend capitalism as the way to do economy, but the capitalism is merely an economic theory to remove all barriers to free trade and free enterprise. Nothing to do with social and individual rig...

Remember the caloric? the electric fluid? the ether?
They all "existed". But they exist no more.

humanity is overrated

I am, instead, interested in knowing how slavery isn't viable in a capitalistic society. How 14-hour labour days aren't viable in a capitalistic society. I always thought they had more to do with the higher moral standards developed by the higher classes what produced the destruction of slavery, and...

In the Vth century BC, there was a man in Elea called Zeno. Zeno was very intelligent and his thought was very acute. Since he was pretty well off, he could spend time thinking, and so, he was a philosopher. The way he saw it, movement, and hence space, were absurd concepts. They made no sense, math...

I don't know about you... but i don't need absolute objectivity. I am happy with a reasonable objectivity. You know, the amount of objectivity that makes us trust in the laws that make things work.

Maybe we cannot have more than that... but what do we want absolutes for?

and real ballot recounts do?
I mean, if they changed the ballot boxes... well, there is little a recount will do about it.

*not a confession, just a comment*
driving up there? from NY to Boston?
Just to vote???

Isn't it like more than 200km?

*confession*
Would never go to vote if the place was farther than 10 km.

Problem with Churches is that they rarely seem to be able to keep themselves from giving into the temptation of temporal power. Maybe "organized religion=bad" isn't necesarily true, but... "religion+power=very bad" is as true as it gets. And, for power, i am not only (but also) t...

BTW, I define “existence” like this: 1) something exists (physically) if I can test its properties directly with my senses (touch, sight, smell etc) Adendum: or if its properties can be tested repeatably in laboratory conditions, in experiments whose interpretations are consensuated by the scie...

Thanks for agreeing with me ^_^

I am not talking about triggers. And you are not talking about love. You are talking about a process that is quite physiological. The readying to fulfill our reproductive task. But what about love itself? Not the reproductive passion, but the willingness to self-sacrifice? Much of our behaviour is l...

Dopamine, oxytocin, neuro-peptides. That's "how", not "what" :wink: Science explains "how", not "what" or "why"... because essences and ultimate causes are things that meaningless from a scientific point of view. Btw, you left out endorphines, phero...

Well... i can't even come up with a definition for "to exist", whether it is objective or subjective.

I don't think love can change. When it's love. But loving someone is not at all the same as "being in-love with someone". Being in-love is temporary. It can last more or less. It's the passion of the start, a new beginning, the emotion of the novelty of the new person. That causes a wish t...

as if elections with paper ballots were any harder to cheat on...

I kind of agree with Ithillien. You cannot keep discrimination between 2 groups of people in the same country. You cannot have "dependent states" within a country where people has different rights. Either they should become full fledged citizens, in equal footing (hopefully, with some rest...

Let me say i am against death penalty. But Saddam's execution won't be justice as much as it is a political necessity. And it is plenty of justice. I mean, most of the people who are justly sentenced to death did way less than he did. But it is a political necessity in order to avoid that he could b...

But the existence of other people, even if not "completely sure", it's quite certain. Either they do, or we live in a kind of Matrix, like Descartes said. In any case, acting under the assumption that people, and environment, have an actual existance leads to a decision-making that is appr...

Byakko, if USA problem is at all similar to Spain, murderers and drug dealers are the people with less problems to get in: they have all their papers and visas perfectly in order. More in line with the OP topic, i would like to say that i had never been as offended as when, while i was together with...

Isn't it cute how little 25-y.o. babies think they are old?
I am 27 so there

Feelings should have nothing to do with knowledge. Yes, you can "know" that something it's True, because you feel it so. But that kind of knowledge will always be a knowledge with inverted commas, not a knowledge that steams from experimentation and verification. More than intellectually c...

*hugs Alea as well*

... yes, i am back