@Zetherin,
Zetherin;131009 wrote:
There is no evidence for ghosts existing, and this is why the other nine girls shouldn't believe Jane. And Jane shouldn't believe there is no ghost there simply because the other nine don't believe in ghosts. Who ever said that she should?
And, finally, the other nine girls were right - it wasn't a ghost. Jane was wrong. It was an alien who stole the predator's cloaking device.
I didn't put words in anyone's mouth. I told a story. Both Jane and the other girls were wrong. And perhaps all of us humans are wrong. But wrong from what standpoint? The narrator's? We don't have the luxury of that narrator. Let's change the story on this one point. Jane
did see a ghost, not an alien. But the ghost only made itself visible to Jane. So other girls now represent majority prejudice. For Jane, the evidence was there. For the other girls it wasn't. Evidence isn't universal. Reality is revealed by discourse. Our notion of reality can be liken to a network of beliefs. We resist beliefs that threaten the smooth functioning of our network. We embrace beliefs that promise to improve its functioning. Sometimes it's a difficult call. Also, depth psychology suggests that the ego is only a fraction of the total psyche. We don't even know our selves completely.
---------- Post added 02-22-2010 at 06:41 PM ----------
Scottydamion;131198 wrote:
Everywhere O.o
The idea of qualia is the ultimate humbling factor to me. I don't have anything to add however... except perhaps in asking if you follow the Youtube channel "QualiaSoup"?
Haven't seen it. I'll check it out some time. Thanks.
Yes, qualia are mysterious. I'm all for natural science. It has proven its utility. But I'm not going to pretend that we have attained some method of truth beyond the pragmatic or mystical. I sympathize with Hegel, who failed his impossible but noble ideal, which was to do with work with reason. But this requires reason's investigation of itself.
---------- Post added 02-22-2010 at 06:47 PM ----------
Scottydamion;131168 wrote:Sure, but if it was impossible to improve on knowing which beliefs were false we would not have the advancements of science.
I agree with you here. I bet you would like the pragmatists. We find some reasons more reasonable because they work for us. We are persuaded by the scientific method because it browns our toast. Unfortunately, some of us think that debate is as simple as the mathematical description of gravity. It's just not like that.
Sentences are not equations. They just
aren't. Only a holistic view of language with includes social practice
can even begin to recognize the complexity of language use.
---------- Post added 02-22-2010 at 06:49 PM ----------
Zetherin;131150 wrote:
But the key is, during any period of time, during any point in our learning about the world, there are beliefs which are reasonable and those which are not.
You are still treating your notion or method of reason as a sort of universal reason. It's not that I think this is wrong, or even completely avoidable. It's just that I favor a self-consciousness that is aware of this projection.
---------- Post added 02-22-2010 at 06:52 PM ----------
Zetherin;131090 wrote:
We can extend courtesy to certain stupid peoples, but that doesn't make them not stupid just because we do. Would you agree?
I'm a condescending elitist at times. Granted. I think we all are. But I find it easier to process this self-description precisely because it is a self-description. I find it more unreasonable to be condescending without realizing it. I'm not saying that
you are doing this, but only that the above sentence brought the issue to mind.
---------- Post added 02-22-2010 at 07:43 PM ----------
Henry got a wonderful toy for X-mass. It was called a Universal Truth Calculator. All he had to do was put in data, and the U.T.C. would spit out whatever conclusions or probabilities were relevant. This was
Universal Truth, brought to you by
Universal Reason. This was not just one human's way of looking at things or even an entire
culture's way of looking at things. This was the UNIVERSAL TRUTH. This was the Way Things Really Were, apart from all the silly little humans who saw it differently for some silly little tiny reasons. This Calculator was like God, except that this Calculator assured him that there was no God. Or at least no
other God. (It also assured him that Santa Clause was something to make kids feel good. Not a real and true thing like the Calculator, which just incidentally made Henry feel so very happy in his tummy.)
Henry was overjoyed. He made fun of all the kids at school. They admired him anyway, because he talked as one with authority. Except there was a girl name Jane there who had the Absolute Abacus. Somehow the Abacus and the Calculator could not agree. Henry and Jane began to hate one another.