The Giftorcurse Philosophy Thread

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Hello, WP members.

You know, I just got the idea to start up this thread as a means of "schooling" myself in order to be a successful debator (Is that how it is spelt?) on the forum. Sometimes, I make a post here just to add my commentary to some issue, like I did for the Cryogenics post sometime prior to me typing this. But I feel that modern society, with its ever-growing idiocy, has stifled my intellect somewhat. I feel that I am becoming a victim, another statistic for the millions of boneheads out there that think Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen is a cinematic masterpiece, that obsess over what celebrities had for breakfast, child stars in rehab, endless wars, and all manner of atrocities commited against other people over race, religion, politics and portable MP3 players, because every third-world dictator wants to listen to Austrian Death Machine's "Get to the Choppa" while masterminding the slaughter of an entire tribe.

I'm sorry if my mode of speech borders on stream-of-consciousness, but that's how all good rants are made.

The point is, we live in a strange world in a mysterious, middle-aged universe. We have our ups and downs, our loves and hates, our hopes and fears. Believe it or not, I'm not that good with philosophy, save for the fact that I have a very basic comprehension of existentialism and nihilism. When describing my religious preference, I consider myself an "neutral" agnostic; I am skeptical about the existence of God, and yet I wonder about the possiblity. Politics were never my thing. All it is a bunch of farts representing other farts, trolls on all fronts.

This thread is basically going to consist of random conversations between me and the lot of you about... whatever philosophical thing is on your mind. I'll wiki something if I don't know anything about it. Anyway, to quote Spongebob, "I'm ready!"

Ok, sure, I'll create a few sets of questions:

1) You are agnostic. Ok, why do you think other people think God exists? Do you think that their position of knowledge makes sense? Why or why not? What notions of deity do you consider credible. Would you think that Zolgolzag the baby devourer who demands living sacrifices is sensible? How about the generic notion of an intelligence?

2) Why do you think people reject this existence? Is there position of knowledgeable sensible? Why or why not? Do you think that maybe atheism is an overstatement of a position? For instance, atheists may only refuse to believe in certain kinds of gods, such as the traditional monotheistic notion, but others they might be agnostic towards? Do you think that atheist questions about the credibility of being agnostic on the issue makes sense? (for instance, the notion of not being skeptical towards unicorns or fairies in gardens?)

3) What are the best ways to get knowledge and why? Do you think that philosophical reasoning comes before more empirical methods, or do you think that empirical methods are equal to more abstract methods, or do you think that empirical methods generally trump abstraction? If you had to present a case that something was true, would you reference empirical studies first, or create logical arguments first, assuming that either method was available? If you were to be persuaded, which of the two prior things would you prefer? What do you think of the epistemic status of mystical experiences? Are different perspectives useful in our pursuit of truth? How so? Are some perspectives better than others?

4) What is the relationship of language to truth? Can language really convey truths with ease, or will there always be sloppiness? Why? Of what relevance is the hermeneutic circle to communication? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutic_circle Why do the words that exist, exist? Is our ability to think of an idea in some way dependent upon the existence of words or terms for the idea? What is the relevance of metaphor to thought? How important are metaphors for our way of thinking? Is it reasonable to believe that the mind actually expresses other conceptual qualities by some sort of metaphor? http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... phor-moral Can metaphors allow us to understand things that words themselves could not get us to understand?

I'd like to jump into this thread, too, because some of these questions sound interesting.

Some starters for conversations.

1. In an increasingly media-driven society, people are beginning to lose sight of what really matters. The line between image and reality is becoming blurry, and I wonder if even the news is real (what with the bias and all that). Your thoughts?

2. Genetic engineering on humans is slowly becoming a reality. Descartes and I have discussed this. I, for one, dread the idea to a certain degree. Not only would we have the capability to alter expressed traits to suit someone's ideal image of a human in a future time, but we might, repeat, MIGHT change the underlying nature of what it means to be human. This does not apply to what is passed down through the ages, but rather things of a mental/emotional concern.

3. Many people are of the opinion that if God does indeed exist, he is what you may call an a**hole. Anger, much?

Man, I can't come up with anything to say.
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