tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post8157489910593164743..comments2024-03-28T03:20:15.940-07:00Comments on Edward Feser: The Twilight ZoneEdward Feserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13643921537838616224noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-5505863323292637932010-08-15T18:25:16.044-07:002010-08-15T18:25:16.044-07:00Hello Paul,
Sorry for the late response -- I didn...Hello Paul,<br /><br />Sorry for the late response -- I didn't see your comment until just now.<br /><br />Actually, I am not a property dualist. I am a hylemorphic dualist. I say something about this in the last chapter of my book <i>Philosophy of Mind</i>, and my fullest and most recent statement -- including a fairly detailed comparison of hylemorphic dualism with other versions -- is in chapter 4 of <i>Aquinas</i>.Edward Feserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13643921537838616224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-49304161323290995372010-08-05T08:22:50.320-07:002010-08-05T08:22:50.320-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Paul Boirenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-49620779244079181102010-08-05T08:20:41.764-07:002010-08-05T08:20:41.764-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Paul Boirenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-37752970733739045322010-08-05T08:20:09.816-07:002010-08-05T08:20:09.816-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.P Boirenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-44299037808497023982010-08-05T08:19:25.010-07:002010-08-05T08:19:25.010-07:00Hi Prof Feser
I was most fortunate to have been a...Hi Prof Feser<br /><br />I was most fortunate to have been able to study philosophy at Saint Michael's College, University of Toronto which helped me appreciate your excellent LS even more. Thank you for the excellent book.<br /><br />I am naturally lazy and a little busy, but I have been wondering about the issue of substance vs property dualism via a vis free will and the subject. I am... attracted to substance dualism as best I can tell as seeming a fuller expression of the free will we experience, but have not spent enough time on it to clear up the issue. I know you are a property dualist and ask if there is a short work you can recommend discussing the essential differences. <br /><br />Lastly , I spend quite a bit of time on the "GOd Delusion" amazon ebsite which boasts some professional philosophers arguing for atheism , a few Catholics like myself who are having a pretty good time, and the usual ugly dawklings. <br /><br />Cheers and keep it coming. <br /><br />Paul Boire<br /><br />Brampton Ontario CanadaP Boirenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-46975224601815086722010-07-31T16:24:52.144-07:002010-07-31T16:24:52.144-07:00One episode of the 80s' Twilight Zone was abou...One episode of the 80s' Twilight Zone was about an artifact which, once activated, would stop time at the will of the holder of such object.<br /><br />I remember that when the guy pressed the bottom, everything would stop.<br /><br />It's interesting, because as far I know some philosophers of time have argued that time is essentially a measure of movement (i.e. time only exists when some physical object is moving)<br /><br />The writers of such episode perhaps didn't know anything of philosophy, but intuitively, they realized that in order to make appear that time was stopped, they had that stop any movement (except the movement of the person holding the stopping-time artifact. The latter, by the way, seems to be an inconsistency, since the movement of the artifact's holder would produce "time" if the above definition is correct, at least regarding him...)<br /><br />Perhaps you remember that episode. At the end, the URSS had sent a missil to USA, and the guy holding the artifact would stop the Earth's time (and movement) just before the missil landed on USA.<br /><br />I don't remember more details of such episode, but at the time I liked a lot.<br /><br />Off-topic: William Lane Craig just published this 30-page article on 5 arguments for God's existence:<br /><br />http://thegospelcoalition.org/pdf-articles/Craig_Atheism.pdfJimehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12817742150756784876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-19089018965554099462010-07-31T16:23:13.336-07:002010-07-31T16:23:13.336-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jimehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12817742150756784876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-26809380941921439622010-07-30T13:46:16.942-07:002010-07-30T13:46:16.942-07:00Speaking of planes, what's the AT response to ...Speaking of planes, what's the AT response to fear of flying?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-22472183921172499442010-07-30T03:28:39.748-07:002010-07-30T03:28:39.748-07:00Our host has been weaponized in the comments secti...Our host has been weaponized in the comments section of the Templeton 'Big Questions Online' website. (Shermer v Chopra article) Might be a Templeton Prize in it :) <br /><br />I agree with the commenter, the folks over there need help with their philosophy of nature.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-8013087163569577382010-07-29T18:11:28.143-07:002010-07-29T18:11:28.143-07:00I took me a couple attempts, but I managed to watc...I took me a couple attempts, but I managed to watch the full "It's a Good Life" episode.<br /><br />I'm sorry, but I find most programs from that era to be mildly (or strongly) painful to watch -- they're all so melodramatic.<br /><br />On a slighty amusing note, I watched the first bit of "A Kind of a Stopwatch" -- notice "McNulty" droning on about how soccer is the Sport of the Future?Ilíonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15339406092961816142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-4455092259165015392010-07-29T00:12:11.225-07:002010-07-29T00:12:11.225-07:00Concerning "It's a Good Life"
When ...Concerning "It's a Good Life"<br /><br />When I was a kid, I read the short-story on which the TZ episode is based. In the story, the boy is not selfish and callous, and if his willful, it is a function of tender years and lack of real understanding. And the harm he causes everyone is because he's trying to <i>please</i> all the desires (including that of animals) he hears, but not understanding the implications of his actions.<br /><br />Thus, the townspeople defend against that by training themselves to keep their minds empty when he is around.<br /><br />SO, for instance, in the story, "Aunt Amy (?)" is "the smiling, vacant thing you're looking at now" not because “the monster” doesn’t like singing and snapped at her when she forgot, but rather because her husband had died and she forgot to hide her grieving (in her mind, she was crying for her husband to come back to her) … and, wanting to <i>ease</i> her sadness and suffering, “the monster” animated the corpse (I suppose he teleported it out of its grave) … but, of course, it was still a dead corpse. The shock/horror of seeing her husband as a zombie is what broke her mind.<br /><br />Happily, real people are a bit more resilient than those in stories and movies ... and psychological treatises.<br /><br /><br />WV: infer *grin*Ilíonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15339406092961816142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-77804397372710567122010-07-28T12:06:20.752-07:002010-07-28T12:06:20.752-07:00Speaking of which, I'm interested to know what...Speaking of which, I'm interested to know what you would give as the Thomistic natural-law response to this dilemma. (The pro-infanticide Aristotle would have no problem going to war on hostile children, yes?)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-62387108239433808172010-07-28T11:56:48.995-07:002010-07-28T11:56:48.995-07:00In “It’s a Good Life,” omnipotent 6-year old Antho...<i>In “It’s a Good Life,” omnipotent 6-year old Anthony Fremont terrorizes a small town. He is clearly selfish, callous, and willful, and causes unimaginable suffering to those around him. But he is only 6, and arguably lacking in understanding both of the moral law and of the consequences of his actions. So, does he have sufficient moral responsibility for it to be morally permissible to kill him so as to save the town from the horrors he inflicts upon it? Discuss.</i><br /><br />That is (minor spoiler alert) the real conceit of John Wyndham's <i>The Midwich Cuckoos</i> as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com