When you hear the concept of a world government, what is your initial reaction? Are you generally more positive or negative towards such a possibility?
Going beyond your initial reaction, what causes you to feel that way? Do you feel that it would be a cesspool of corruption or a force for...
A video was posted of an Obama speech on here a few weeks ago. The gist was that whilst faith was perfectly rational and reasonable, it was not appropriate for making political choices because the truth of faith is inherently private whilst politics is inherently public.
To put that another...
When Kosovo declared its independence a number of countries, including Serbia and Russia, judged this act to be illegal. My question is why might they think this?
Is it simply that, under international law, a region may only break away, legally, with the express permission of its parent...
When people ask me why I am vegetarian, I respond vaguely with something like "for health/environmental reasons". I know that what they are actually asking is something more akin to "Why are you being so stupid?" so I make sure I don't mention anything about morality or I'll just confirm that...
This was just posted on Zen Habits
In condensed form, the steps are this:
1) Admit you are not perfect
2) Place yourself in the shoes of others
3) Act with compassion and kindness
4) Practice
5) Make it your goal to do 5 kind things every day
What do people think? Do the majority of people...
I am currently reading a critique of History as a discipline, in which it is compared to the natural sciences and argued to be inferior. Historical explanations just don't appear to be as strong as, say, physical ones. Why is this?
Perhaps it is due to the kinds of questions we expect History...
When we get to Heaven, and there are some not present, for all eternity, will we be content or not content about that fact?
If we are content, then have we turned into something we currently would consider monstrous?
If we are not content, then is an eternity of non-contentedness desirable...
In this talk, Dennett explains two ways in which Darwin's theory is unintuitive and helps us to understand the second. I often hear people challenging evolution on this point so I thought I would post it up here for discussion.
Essentially the objection boils down to something like "How can...
I am an atheist but I have a large amount of contact with Christians on a religious level due to the many Christian events I attend and the many Christians amongst my friends. Through this contact, I encounter many arguments and ideas that help me to understand why Christians believe what they...
This is something I came up with today. I think it is a novel approach as far as I am aware. I've changed and simplified the argument a bit.
The concept of necessity is dependent on the confines of the human mind
Anything necessary under the human interpretation of necessity is...