General Philosophy

Why are we more civilised than the ancient greeks?

It appears from my limited acquaintance that ,as far as we can tell events in the universe follow random paths (can we call them "paths" or are they "appearances?) I am thinking of spontaneous radioactive emissions where there (again to my limited knowledge) thee is no "interior" pattern to the ordering of events save for the half life laws that seem to be obeyed. What interpretation can one give to this order of things? I understand the Einstein was famously (and seemingly wrongly) outraged by the notion of pure randomness (not sure if it was in this context) but is it possible to welcome this state of things beyond the requirement …

An observation is an act of perception, we perceive the face of the stopwatch. One cannot say the duration of the interval was 3.0 seconds without taking additional steps, for example is my clock keeping good time? the only way to establish that is to compare my perception with someone else's before the start of the observations. The point I'm driving at, perhaps not very well, is that we can never talk about science as being decoupled from personal experiences, we cannot claim that one person's experiences are "not real" and another persons are. If Newton were told "the time measured by this person moving at this speed relative to me, will measure ten seco…

It is easy to see that since ancient times, the idea of emptiness has been introduced, and especially by religious ideologists. Atomists, Buddhists, and Christians, and in modern science, the reincarnation of Newtonianism in Einsteinism and quantum mechanics, introduced practically administratively, after the complete collapse of Newtonianism in the 19th century, and even by repressive measures. Why is this important to them? As far as I remember, Aristotle considered Newton's first law absurd, he used this argument as proof of the impossibility of emptiness, saying that if there was emptiness, then bodies would move endlessly

In "The Selfish Gene", Richard Dawkins writes Later Richard Dawkins wrote "Unweaving the Rainbow" This belief is common among athiests, and I am going to argue that Richard is wrong. It is a matter of fact that every single one of us is going to suffer, and this is ample evidence that Richard Dawkins is wrong. I argue that believing that we are lucky to be alive when you accept the reality of suffering, is bit like believing in God when you believe that life on Earth was all formed by evolutionary and physical processes. This does not represent a true acceptance of the facts. The title "Unweaving the rainbow", refers to John Ke…

What do you think is the most likely explanation for the Fermi paradox? Title says all.

If we asume that there was nothing that could chose between A or B before there was life on earth than nothing could have affected the series of events that occurd after the Big Bang took place. So the second after the the Big Bang took place life on earth was already determined.

The etymology of punishment is to cause pain. Is it more painful to lock someone up and throw away the key? Or to take them from the dock and kill them? Or, in the case of the innocent, to dangle the hope of a reprieve with very little chance of success?

What does it mean for something to exist? Does it even make sense to define 'non-existence'?

I have published a website - url deleted This site examines the geometrical design of the Giza pyramids, summarizing the findings of a number of authors, as well as describing the latest astronomical findings. I have approached egyptologists but with little response so far - perhaps they write me off as a fringe author. However I continue to plough ahead hoping to receive feedback on what I have written. It occurred to me that if I were to post on a scientific forum I might get a more impartial response. I hope it's ok to post in the general philosophy section - I don't know which would be a better section to post in. robin

Again and again members ask the question "what is space ?" Indeed we have at least currently active threads which include discussion of this question. So what do members consider the difference between the two uses to be ?

Well ,I was in at the fire last night, staring at it and waiting for a piece of wood to burn through and fall down. It seemed to me that ,no matter how closely I paid attention to this anticipated event it always occurred when I was not looking. Can I elevate this seeming characteristic of such events into something of a principle? Do "events" never exist in isolation but always as part of a sequence and are the links in the chain of these sequences always blurry and never "standalone ? Or is it more a question of our inability to see clearly enough and in enough detail? So do all events "bleed into one another " in spite of…

Are virtual particle pockets of energy? In other words: are virtual particles force carriers? If not, if they’re in no way a form of energy, and in no way associated with kinetic energy because they’re not actually moving/vibrating at all, but rather just ‘theoretical and mathematical constructs’, as some argue, then why are they called ‘particles’ in the first place? How is that not a misleading term, because, if you’re a particle somewhere in the universe, you’re definitely not ‘nothing’ (which is what ‘a mathematical construct’ basically implies). And if you’re not nothing, that means you therefore must be something, i.e. some sort of kinetic/potential energy, al…

I was watching this video on youtube https://youtu.be/ig380wp10aQ?t=111 in which Gary Kasparov says that machines revealed so many secrets, and magic or mysteries of the game of chess are gone because you could see it through the lenses of computer and even an amateur can actually understand immediately what is happening at the chessboard thanks to the machine’s advice. There is another video that I cannot find anymore in which he is more specific and says that engines can explain what’s going on. And he is right of course, in the context of chess, every explanation is expressible first and foremost in the language of moves, which engines do speak, however, besides that, …

Hi so as part of a zoology degree, I'm doing a human geography class and learning about the current European Migrant Crisis. Just wondering if anyone has ever written about what it really means to be allowed on to a particular piece of land, who has the right to live where. I'm assuming philosophy would be the best place to start but if it's better suited in the politics forum feel free to move this there. Not just or the present day, though I am interested in that too, but historically. Maybe even if anyone has ever written on the very first human migrations out of Africa, not in an archaeological or paloeological sense but in a "who now owns this and can live here…

What is Immortality? When and How could we achive that? Are we digitally already Immortal?

The purpose of this topic is for me to try and gain a better understanding of what "rules" are in the context of understanding of what knowledge is. The question that I wish to begin this topic on is "what are rules ?" in the context of philosophy? My current understanding of them is that they are repeated actions or behaviors of some observation. Say for example seeing a car multiple times in a row. You may define a rule stating that "a car will pass by." Thank you for your responses. edit: reduced it to remove all the vagueness

I don't understand you guys - how don't you have extreme depression?! This is not completely true. I sorta do, 86% of population is religions, people have innate defensive mechanisms. And most of people have positive illusions and don't see the world: how it truly is! And lie to themselves. Fact is - life is hell!!! https://aeon.co/essays/the-voice-of-sadness-is-censored-as-sick-what-if-its-sane I am troubled by this idea of Eternal Return long time. Read spoiler for more info: I am warning you - Extremely depressive (no human being should ever know about this) read for you own risk!!! E.g. Nihilism is not a choice, or philosophy, it simply arrives! This is simi…

Recent years have seen a surge of interest in quantum mechanics. Most of those drawn to investigate are people seeking answers to fundamental questions of reality. There is a train of thought within society that leads to the quantum field being a bedrock of new information, greater understanding and heightened awareness of the world in which we exist. Does quantum mechanics therefore create its own philosophy? Are we on the cusp of a completely new world view? As an introduction to this concept, Thought and Consciousness explores the correlation between what is known in scientific terms (without delving too much into those terms!) and what we would like to know,…

That formulation might seem to put our understandings of space and time on something of an equal footing. As I understand it the equations that allow us to make the space-time diagrams actually have both/all axes as spatial with the "time" axis involving the "c" multiplicator so as to be of mathematical use (ie all axes have the same units). So "t" in the graph seems to me to be a tiny factor (although clearly present) Would a description such as "space-timed light distance" be as accurate ,if a lot ,lot ,lot less catchy? Is it possible to reformulate the space-time diagrams in such a way that all the axes are represented in terms of ti…

I'm testing my first poll today. I've scanned for similar topics but wasn't able to find collocations "good philosophy" or "bad philosophy". Especially if your option is the third one, I'm very interested in your criteria, exceptions, and so on. Thank you very much.

Hey, I’m new here and have never posted on anything like this. I totally understand if I’m being an idiot, so feel free to highlight this. I just wanted other peoples thoughts on this as I’m struggling to find any other posts on it, I’m probably just searching the wrong terms. This is a bit of a messy brain dump but it’s a thought that’s been racking around in my brain for a while. It started with the theory that we are the universe experiencing itself and it’s slowly grown from there. So as a quick summary it’s the idea that if someone was to somehow change one small atom, structure or design in my brain before it had even grew in the womb, would I have ceased…

Hello Community! One moment follows the other in every point of the volume space is. There is no point of space where time could flaw backwards. Can I say that time is Linear since in every point of space it is pointing to the Future?

Can something cease to "exist" or is everything only transformation of matter? Since this is life, including this post, is it possible to go against life and "die"? Occult teachings only provide an explanation of life, and material science only observes external phenomenon, therefore interprets, while consciousness and thought are life by their own right, so where is death?

Discuss...