Philosophical Speculations

Just to chime in real quick since I was brought up, I don't necessarily think Rovelli's sense of dependent arising and emptiness is flawed. I do think the mirror-house analogy is flawed, but I think he was clumsily trying to make a point I'm pretty sure I agree with in substance. If I were to tweak ...

Alright great then we definitely agree! I hold the "light" to be pretty important here, whether it be a point of light, a line of light, a cone of light, a sphere of light, or any other geometrical shape of light :) What do you think? I suppose. You seem to be going somewhere with that thought, and ...

Alright great then we definitely agree! I hold the "light" to be pretty important here, whether it be a point of light, a line of light, a cone of light, a sphere of light, or any other geometrical shape of light :) What do you think? I suppose. You seem to be going somewhere with that thought, and ...

I extrapolated can opener to mean an assumed device that bails one out of an empty ontology. Right, exactly. And what irritates me is not really that he's imported an experiential dimension into his materialism. What irritates me is that, standing on his experiential materialism (if only there were ...

Actually I thought I was disagreeing :) You said the "light" in the analogy would be the reflective interaction of the mirrors, correct? I don't see how that could be correct without assuming meaning beyond the mere reflective activity. Oh, I meant that no reflection happens unless there's light ...

Interesting critique. Like a Dennett "assume a can opener?" More clever? I'm not sure what you mean, but I got the phrase from the joke that takes a jab at economists: A physicist, chemist, and economist are stranded on an island with only canned food available and no can opener. The physicist and ...

Right, and I contribute to that time by responding to your posts so quickly, another consequence of my addiction. If I am at the computer, then I feel compelled to refresh pretty often, and if a notification comes up when I refresh, then I feel compelled to stop whatever I am doing and respond. It ...

OK then, if Rovelli's not an illusionist, perhaps he's a closet animist. As David Abram says, animism is "a participatory way of perceiving that simply defies any sharp distinction between things that are animate and things that are inanimate. To the animate sensibility, everything is animate ...

No not at all, the discussion with you has been the most easily flowing one for me in a long time :) The typical misunderstandings and gamesmanship of these things has been kept at very minimal level, if not absent completely, and that saves a lot of time-effort! Thank you! I'm flattered. I've ...

Although it has been increasingly time-consuming lately... does anyone have the number for Philosophers Anonymous? :? For nihilism I go with the maxim, " I am not sure what it is exactly, but I know it when I see it ". Teilhard de Chardin's The Phenomenon of Man does not read at all like nihilistic ...