Krimel asked dmb: Culturally derived? Cartesian assumptions? From whence does "culture" and "assumption" come? If there is no "out there" how is your form of radical idealism different from solipsism? Saying that you are rejecting solipsism by rejecting Descartes is just rearranging the bumper stickers on your car. dmb says: Well, yes Krimel, I thought you didn't know. I assumed you were being sincere and didn't understand that the problem of solipsism is predicated on Cartesian assumptions and that radical empiricism is an attack on those assumptions. I thought your questions were actual questions. They certainly don't LOOK like rhetorical questions. Sure, there is a bitchy tone to them as usual but it looks like they were truly meant to stump me, that you thought you were putting up a serious intellectual challenge and otherwise asking me to give some straight answers, so that's what I dished up. I suspect you're just pissed off that I actually had answers.
And if it's true that you don't see those Cartesian assumptions as a problem BECAUSE you hold those assumptions yourself, as I contend, then it would only be natural that we'd disagree about what James's radical empiricism does to those assumptions. I mean, you keep wanting to dispute "my" understanding of James with your understanding of James. But isn't it fair to say that your James is the psychologist while mine is the empiricist? Isn't that why you keep responding to empirical claims with psychology and the physiological sciences? I realize that this is your background and you very likely feel that you're on firmer ground there but don't you think that's mixing apples and oranges? Don't you think it would be better to respond to my empirical claims with differing empirical claims? I do. This is especially true to the extent that normal science is conducted on the very assumptions we're supposedly talking about and that you just asked about. I can understand why you wouldn't really enjoy being told that you don't "get it". Who would? (That's a rhetorical question) But I think you're being unfair to me and your nasty tone is getting mighty stale. If you insist on playing that game the least you could do is make it fun. Bumper stickers are supposed to be funny or at least pithy, but you're just plain hostile. And boring. C'mon, you used to sling some real zingers. When did you lose your sense of humor? Is it because you're trying to quit smoking? Put down that crack pipe for the last time, did you? Krimel said:By the way Descartes "cogito" is not at all to be equated with Cartesian dualism. dmb says:Yea, I know. "Cogitio" can't be equated to any kind of dualism because dualisms usually involve two things, not just one. Otherwise it would be called a monism. Genius. See, that's a zinger! _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Hotmail®…more than just e-mail. http://windowslive.com/howitworks?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_hm_justgotbetter_howitworks_012009 Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
