Posts by John

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

John_Mann

'To Be Happy'

This the motto of every cult in the world.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

John_Mann

Occam's Razor and epistemology are philosophy.

Occam was a Catholic friar BTW.

Well, my job is done in this topic.

Cofty you still are using science methods to things that don't belongs to science. I told that is exactly what a positivist does. From now on you know you is a positivist. And positivism is more than wrong and false, is evil.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

John_Mann

@cofty

"What is this thing you call a soul?"

I know you want a scientific evidence to this question.

You maybe not be aware of that but you're blindy following a philosophical system called Positivism.

Positivism says that the only valid knowledge is science. They deny any other philosophical insight. Some even deny psychology. But Positivism is absurd because they see science as a magical wand (existing by itself) and can't see that science itself is a philosophical system. Positivism is pure absurd.

The soul can't be a problem to science because science is the quest for material properties and the soul is immaterial. But we can find material interactions with the soul.

The soul is a problem of philosophy.

When you ask for scientific evidence to a philosophical problem you're following the Positivism.

Positivism is the base of modern Atheism too. When someone says he's an atheist because there's no scientific evidence for God, for example. That's a positivist atheist and that's why atheists are always trying to hijack science.

The problem of soul have a lot of debate in philosophy and one of the definitions of the soul is it doesn't have any parts but it's responsible for high mental functionalities.

The soul have functions without organs. So when you see evidence for the sense of beauty in human behaviour (like art) and does not find the exact part of the body that produces it you're seeing a function of the soul. The non instinctive memory is another function of the soul. In other words no matter how hard you try you would not find the 9th symphony in Beethoven's brain.

Cofty I'm not trying to offend you. I admire your love for science and I think you're very intelligent. I'm just trying to exchange some philosophical knowledge with you.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

John_Mann

Some positivists would ask for scientific evidence of "meaning" or "purpose" of life. Positivism is very flawed and are everywhere lately with blind followers (usually they even don't know they're following it).

But this is a philosophical question.

In philosophy field one will inevitably reach the Absurdism when trying to answer this question. Because our desires, including the purpose of life, does not come in shiny scientific packages of answers. In other words we are the only animals that desires things that doesn't grow in the trees of the material world. We are like fishes wishing for fire.

After Absurdism you have only two options: Nihilism and Existencialism.

Nihilism says life have no purpose and more: life can't have any purpose.

Existencialism says life can have purpose and it divides in two options: one says you can give any purpose you like and the other says the purpose is metaphysical and is already planned.

These two subcategories is called Atheistic Existencialism and Theistic Existencialism.

With this philosophical explanation we can label any answer in this topic.

I'm a christian existencialist. So that's my answer to the purpose of life.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

John_Mann

Yes, the origin of consciousness is another discussion.

I used to think about panspermia as the origin of life on earth but now I'm more inclined to abiogenesis (happening on earth).

I'm very skeptical about extraterrestrial life.

Yes, animals do have souls. Humans have an animal soul too (along with the directly created soul). But the animal soul is mortal.

33

What's Is The Goal Of This Religion?

by pale.emperor in

what's is the goal of this religion?.

i mean, if it's for money they could do a lot more like other religions do: tithing, paying for prayers from the gb, selling "miracles", selling "blessed" items, selling courses.. if its for power then what are they hoping to do with that power?

they dont seem to do anything.

John_Mann

I'm thinking about that since I left.

And I came to the same conclusions.

Seems there's no point to exist at all.

But I doubt there's no goal.

If we (or they) don't fully understand the main goal, it doesn't mean there's none.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

John_Mann

The Catholic Church accepts the theory of evolution regarding the human body and its animal soul (kind of a BIOS). And believes God directly created a soul in one of these human bodies in some point in history.

If that's new for you, it's not for catholics.

"... if the origin of the human body comes through living matter which existed previously, the spiritual soul is created directly by God ("animas enim a Deo immediate creari catholica fides non retimere iubet"). "

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP961022.HTM

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

John_Mann

OK Viviane I see you makes no difference between a human being and a pig.

I think this is a horrible view. It's pointless to keep a conversation with a pig or a goat.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

John_Mann

Cofty, did you read about the bicameral mind hypothesis?

It's thought people even could not perceive the blue color in ancient times.

And the modern human behaviour theory says it started at least half of the time you mentioned.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

John_Mann

What exactly sounds insane to you?

The time (6,000)?

Do you agree modern consciousness must had started somewhere in time? When do you think it happened?

Do you agree that modern humans are the only specie to develop a sophisticated consciousness? Like to be aware of the own death and concepts like infinity, justice and beauty?

John_Mann

Posts by John_Mann