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Hi juantoo3, it depends on what you mean by subjective and objective. If subjective = Proceeding from or taking place in a person's mind rather than the external world objective = Based on observable phenomena then, IMO, morality is entirely subjective. It's a concept we make up. How do...

Dear everyone, thanks for sharing your views on evil. I will now try to summarize the discussion so far. As I see it, the following definition of evil meets the most agreement. Evil is intentional and avoidable physical and/or mental suffering caused in a living being by a human. Some...

This comment is exactly on the spot. My feeling is that maybe humans honed reasoning skills through evolution. Other predators got faster and deadlier. We got smarter, we developed languages that allowed us to operate more effectively as a group. (Here we have the chicken-egg problem, as always...

Hi Thomas, please do, I like to hear your comments. Yes. How many people can prove E=mc2 ? Sure, many can say "I know for a fact that scientists have taken up an atomic clock on an airplane, flew it around high up in the sky for hours, and when it came back it showed a few nanoseconds...

:mad: Erased a perfectly good post. Now I had to do it all over again. (Hmm. Do I know that or do I just believe it? :p ) Yes, I can accept that. Provided you accept that information = intepretation of data. And that data = observation of the world through the five senses. So, knowledge =...

Well, I feel I have been repeating the same line of thought since I started writing in this thread. Pity I didn't manage to convey it better. Here's one definition I used earlier: knowledge is a belief that the majority of people deem true. No, of course I don't recreate my world every morning...

Ok, then I'll change my mind. I don't think all positions are equal anymore. Now I think that mine is better than yours. :p Seriously now, seems to me you're saying thinking should 'lead somewhere'. In this case, your's is leading somewhere and mine isn't. Where do you want to arrive? (You...

Hi juantoo3! I was thinking of starting a similar thread, but I figure it might fit better here. It's a more limited question really, but that's probably good. That way, we can divide the huge topic of "Knowledge of Good and Evil" into smaller, more manageable pieces. I would like to ask the...

Because those devices are part of an explanation system. That's the point I'm trying to make. Every observation must be explained by a theory of the world (or rather, an aspect thereof). Already the very idea of having a device specifically designed to prove a theory is following the modern...

Ok. If I understand you correctly, you take the incredible complexity and beauty of the world as indicitation of a deity that is immanent and transcendant (as opposed to a deity which is separate (and transcendant)). But you do reject the idea the world just being what it is without any deity?

Thank you, and you're welcome. :-) Using your definitions, I would say I'm interested in the personal search for understanding ourselves and everything beyond ourselves. I believe this search is something primal in man. And I take institutional religion, science and childrens' neverending...

Actually, you're disagreeing with me. I'm the one claiming that that the only 'facts' there are, if any, are the mere direct observations we can make. (Direct observations are only those we make with the aid of our own senses, not through measuring devices). I do agree that the aim and language...

Hmm, interesting. Knowledge as a fixed star, always there, clouded but waiting to be sighted. Right now I'm thinking of a discussion around knowledge as a function of 'degree of uncertainty' and 'degree of agreement'. Quahom1 has posted definitions of belief and knowledge that I found...

Ok. How do you go on to use your model and understand the relationship between belief and the four knowledge categories? Are there four corresponding belief categories, as well? Also, I suppose that you would like to have a set of categories that are mutually exclusive and collectively...

Sorry for the misintepretation, Druweid. I'll try again. If I understand you correctly, you believe that man has the ability to imagine himself beyond that what his previous experiences would logically indicate. And ability would enable gradual personal spiritual development to the point where...

From what I can see, most of the topics on CR are somewhat 'slippery'. And all of them are worth the discussion, I believe. Places like this are gems on the Internet. :-) It honors you that you respect your subject so much that you'd stay out of the discussion to protect yourself from bias. But...

With these definitions in mind, let me then ask a few questions. Do we believe or know that Earth is round? I mean, we haven't verified it ourselves, have we? We know it's round because all people and all books around us say it's round. (Except, of course, the Flat Earth Society :-) What about...

I agree Thomas. We can use observations of natural phenomena, like boiling water or gravity as common ground and first stepping stone for further understanding. Maybe we could call the observations "facts", as all human beings could agree to seeing the same thing. However, as soon as we try...

Now, I could rewrite the above to something more provocative: To assume that 'belief' has only properties A and B, lacks property C and requires property D is wrong. Therefore the assumption signifies a lack ... of clear thought. This brings us into the "emotive responses". Emotive means...

Thomas, Druweid, Käthe, thanks for the welcoming, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on my questions. Druweid has an interesting perspective on the main question: Let me rephrase the quote for clarity: Observation: Religions seem to have been part of humankind since the birth of modern...