What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

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Sculptor1
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by Sculptor1 »

JackDaydream wrote: August 16th, 2022, 5:45 pm
The people who I knew who went too far with cutting out so much and lost loads of weight. Of course, it is better to be a bit underweight than overweight but they were feeling ill.
[/quote]
No. It is much better to be a little overweight. It is simply better to have a little reserve.
Fasting probably is a good thing from time to time. I know Muslims who fast a couple of days a week
and it is probably a way of detoxification. I have known people who go on juice diets and feel this is beneficial.
I would never recommend a fruit diet since this would mean a harmful glucose insulin cycle. It might make you feel better because the brain wants you to get sugar, despite working better on ketones. There is an evolutionary mechanism that wants us to be fat, and sugar which was only normally available in the late summer was sought to build fat for winter. In the modern world winter never really comes, and sugar is available all year long. This is why we have an obesity, T2D and metabolic syndrome epidemic in the western world.

It does seem that the way society and medicine is going does seem to be 'a pill for every ill'. I know people who take handfuls of pills several times a day. It does seem like a fast, convenient solution, endorced by doctors. There is also the whole industry of health shops and people often spend loads of money and take products which they don't need. I used to go in and buy various tablets frequently when I was working. I still buy various over the counter medications for sleep because I often can't get off to sleep until about 5am otherwise. Even cutting right down on caffeine doesn't prevent it. People who seem to be able to fall asleep whenever they choose to are so lucky. I am not sure whether it is connected to thinking too much but even as a child I had difficulty sleeping. Good sleeping does seem to be essential to so much, although I know people who can manage on very little sleep. I have read that some of the mobile and digital technologies signals, like 4G, interfere with sleeping. So many people do seem to struggle with sleep so it is possible.
Coffee is really good for your microbiome but caffeine has a half life of about 12 hours. So a morning is a great idea, but needs to burn out before bedtime. So do not drink it in the day. Switch to green tea.
Signals in the air do not interfere with sleep. But working on a computer totally does! I would suggest that you do not eat after 6pm, and get some blue blocking sunglasses to wear before bedtime. Your day should include physical exercise, and some meditation to avoid over thinking problems.
Have you tried Qigong? You don't have to believe in Shakra theory, the movement still works to reduce BP and assist in calmness.


Of course, stress is an underlying issue for sleep and so many factors in health. Stress management techniques are important but life has so much potential stress, with some having more to cope with than others. Generally, I feel that trying to cope with stresses is possibly more important than diet but a combination of the two ways is likely to be the best.
They are both equally important, and if you get the diet right, the stress reduces.
My advice is to never eat anything in a packet.
Modern living has transformed out diet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1qbkL-Iff8
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JackDaydream
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by JackDaydream »

feinbird wrote: August 16th, 2022, 8:00 am Is the coexistence of free will and determinism possible? I suppose that the first thing to be done is to rightly define two of the considered notions. Divine foreknowledge is a characteristic part of distinctive omnipotence of the God. If the God (and here I'm not taking a God as a phenomenon of religious faith, rather defining it as a universal structure and pre-determiner of causal) is omnipotent (able to do everything that is logically possible) and immortal, then it is supreme and exists as a time-independent being that was created by itself, and since the being is all powerful he can neither be created nor destroyed and is therefore eternal. If it is eternal, then it's a logical necessity that there is no time at which supreme being begins to exist and no time at which he ceases to exist. The God is omniscient, therefore he foresees all the actions and movements happening in the universal order. If The God foresees that i do something then I will do it. We can avoid the word 'must' for it would rather indicate that my action was a part of consequent that follows logically from the antecedent. While I may agree that this notion doesn't fully confront the doctrine of free will, the answer still remains ambiguous. Foreknowledge of the God doesn't prevent us from thinking that our will is free. Free will means that something could happen otherwise, that it was in our ability to perform or to not. It hardly derives from that by thinking of our freedom we may infer that it's real. if The God already foreknows all the events to happen independently of time, then how there is ever a chance of us acting otherwise?
Hello, I think that you are new to the forum and I hope that you find it helpful. I am glad that you have put an entry on this thread, but you may find some more which are addressing free will and determinism. However, what I find interesting about your post is the way in which it looks more at the idea of predermination, which was an idea followed through more in religious discussions about free will and ancient concepts of fate and destiny. Even within the picture of astrology there was the idea of fate being determined by the positions of the planets, especially at the time of one's birth. In theistic pictures the issues of destiny may be based on the design of God. In the scientific paradigm, there is the issue of genes and of nurture. In this way, there have been large shifts in the locus of responsibility in the ongoing question as to whether humans have free will and the understanding of the extent of free will and choice.
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The Beast
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by The Beast »

What is “outside of time” to the understanding might have relevancy to the concept of free will.
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JackDaydream
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by JackDaydream »

The Beast wrote: August 17th, 2022, 9:13 am What is “outside of time” to the understanding might have relevancy to the concept of free will.
The idea of free will might be connected to 'outside of time' in the framework of any cosmic or eternal perspective. In that sense it does depend on whether causality is linear and the issue of the arrow of time. Experiences, events and linear aspects are causality occur in sequences but they may also be seen as patterns from the larger perspective. However, human subjective experience is within linear time, but with ability to look to the past and present, in what Eckhart Tolle described as the 'eternal now.'
philg42
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by philg42 »

JackDaydream wrote: August 17th, 2022, 9:56 am
The Beast wrote: August 17th, 2022, 9:13 am What is “outside of time” to the understanding might have relevancy to the concept of free will.
The idea of free will might be connected to 'outside of time' in the framework of any cosmic or eternal perspective. In that sense it does depend on whether causality is linear and the issue of the arrow of time. Experiences, events and linear aspects are causality occur in sequences but they may also be seen as patterns from the larger perspective. However, human subjective experience is within linear time, but with ability to look to the past and present, in what Eckhart Tolle described as the 'eternal now.'
Eckhart Tolle tries to describe the moment of insight which is 'timeless' where it feels as though anything and everything is possible. The problem is dealing with the aftermath of such an experience. Tolle is an interesting example.
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JackDaydream
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by JackDaydream »

philg42 wrote: August 17th, 2022, 10:52 am
JackDaydream wrote: August 17th, 2022, 9:56 am
The Beast wrote: August 17th, 2022, 9:13 am What is “outside of time” to the understanding might have relevancy to the concept of free will.
The idea of free will might be connected to 'outside of time' in the framework of any cosmic or eternal perspective. In that sense it does depend on whether causality is linear and the issue of the arrow of time. Experiences, events and linear aspects are causality occur in sequences but they may also be seen as patterns from the larger perspective. However, human subjective experience is within linear time, but with ability to look to the past and present, in what Eckhart Tolle described as the 'eternal now.'
Eckhart Tolle tries to describe the moment of insight which is 'timeless' where it feels as though anything and everything is possible. The problem is dealing with the aftermath of such an experience. Tolle is an interesting example.
As far as I understand, Tolle sees the 'now' as the basis for viewing all experiences because each moment is now before it dissolves into the past. I am not sure exactly what you mean by the 'aftermath' of experience so perhaps you could explain further. Part of the issue of the past may be about painful experiences, because some people ruminate on these. I am a little in the opposite direction because I am apprehensive of the unknown aspects of the future, to a greater extent than the past, but such focus on the past or future can impinge on the appreciation of the here and now.
philg42
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by philg42 »

JackDaydream wrote: August 17th, 2022, 4:50 pm
philg42 wrote: August 17th, 2022, 10:52 am
JackDaydream wrote: August 17th, 2022, 9:56 am
The Beast wrote: August 17th, 2022, 9:13 am What is “outside of time” to the understanding might have relevancy to the concept of free will.
The idea of free will might be connected to 'outside of time' in the framework of any cosmic or eternal perspective. In that sense it does depend on whether causality is linear and the issue of the arrow of time. Experiences, events and linear aspects are causality occur in sequences but they may also be seen as patterns from the larger perspective. However, human subjective experience is within linear time, but with ability to look to the past and present, in what Eckhart Tolle described as the 'eternal now.'
Eckhart Tolle tries to describe the moment of insight which is 'timeless' where it feels as though anything and everything is possible. The problem is dealing with the aftermath of such an experience. Tolle is an interesting example.
As far as I understand, Tolle sees the 'now' as the basis for viewing all experiences because each moment is now before it dissolves into the past. I am not sure exactly what you mean by the 'aftermath' of experience so perhaps you could explain further. Part of the issue of the past may be about painful experiences, because some people ruminate on these. I am a little in the opposite direction because I am apprehensive of the unknown aspects of the future, to a greater extent than the past, but such focus on the past or future can impinge on the appreciation of the here and now.
To explain further, I went through a number of insight experiences over thirty or so years of regular meditation practice. One of them was the 'big one' where time ceases to exist and everything becomes possible. Nothing to do with my own past or future, just a glimpse into the infinite, if you like. It's like nothing else in human experience but probably something we are all capable of experiencing as human beings. Maybe through meditation, or drugs which affect a certain part of the brain, or electromagnetic pulses which do much the same (which I've seen adertised online as a do it yourself brain stimulator) or even the result of a stroke ('My Stroke of Insight' by Jill Bolte Taylor chronicles how a brain scientist's own stroke led to an enlightenment experience).

However you get there the experience is so overwhelming that there is a period of post-traumatic stress as you try to come to terms with it. I was lucky in that I was experimenting with meditation as a means to alter my state of consciousness, so I was expecting the unexpected. Although I wasn't expecting to become a Buddhist as a result of anything I did. I did a lot of research afterwards and noticed a pattern I could recognise in the writings of others such as Jill or Eckhart or Saint John of the Cross or others, although they came to very different understandings of how to resolve their experiences.
stevie
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by stevie »

JackDaydream wrote: August 15th, 2022, 7:22 am
stevie wrote: August 15th, 2022, 5:32 am I am always right and never wrong. Even in revising my opinion about this or that I am always right which does not mean that I were wrong with the opinion I revised because evers opinion depends on the information being present and this information is a continuous flux. So I can rightly say that in every moment I am right.
Are you saying that being 'right' is entirely subjective?
I can't see what words of mine might entail such a question.
mankind ... must act and reason and believe; though they are not able, by their most diligent enquiry, to satisfy themselves concerning the foundation of these operations, or to remove the objections, which may be raised against them [Hume]
Belindi
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by Belindi »

Stevie quoted himself:
I am always right and never wrong. Even in revising my opinion about this or that I am always right which does not mean that I were wrong with the opinion I revised because evers opinion depends on the information being present and this information is a continuous flux. So I can rightly say that in every moment I am right.
But are you as right as the man who is better informed ?
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JackDaydream
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by JackDaydream »

philg42 wrote: August 17th, 2022, 5:36 pm
JackDaydream wrote: August 17th, 2022, 4:50 pm
philg42 wrote: August 17th, 2022, 10:52 am
JackDaydream wrote: August 17th, 2022, 9:56 am

The idea of free will might be connected to 'outside of time' in the framework of any cosmic or eternal perspective. In that sense it does depend on whether causality is linear and the issue of the arrow of time. Experiences, events and linear aspects are causality occur in sequences but they may also be seen as patterns from the larger perspective. However, human subjective experience is within linear time, but with ability to look to the past and present, in what Eckhart Tolle described as the 'eternal now.'
Eckhart Tolle tries to describe the moment of insight which is 'timeless' where it feels as though anything and everything is possible. The problem is dealing with the aftermath of such an experience. Tolle is an interesting example.
As far as I understand, Tolle sees the 'now' as the basis for viewing all experiences because each moment is now before it dissolves into the past. I am not sure exactly what you mean by the 'aftermath' of experience so perhaps you could explain further. Part of the issue of the past may be about painful experiences, because some people ruminate on these. I am a little in the opposite direction because I am apprehensive of the unknown aspects of the future, to a greater extent than the past, but such focus on the past or future can impinge on the appreciation of the here and now.
To explain further, I went through a number of insight experiences over thirty or so years of regular meditation practice. One of them was the 'big one' where time ceases to exist and everything becomes possible. Nothing to do with my own past or future, just a glimpse into the infinite, if you like. It's like nothing else in human experience but probably something we are all capable of experiencing as human beings. Maybe through meditation, or drugs which affect a certain part of the brain, or electromagnetic pulses which do much the same (which I've seen adertised online as a do it yourself brain stimulator) or even the result of a stroke ('My Stroke of Insight' by Jill Bolte Taylor chronicles how a brain scientist's own stroke led to an enlightenment experience).

However you get there the experience is so overwhelming that there is a period of post-traumatic stress as you try to come to terms with it. I was lucky in that I was experimenting with meditation as a means to alter my state of consciousness, so I was expecting the unexpected. Although I wasn't expecting to become a Buddhist as a result of anything I did. I did a lot of research afterwards and noticed a pattern I could recognise in the writings of others such as Jill or Eckhart or Saint John of the Cross or others, although they came to very different understandings of how to resolve their experiences.
Thanks for sharing your experience and it sounds very positive. It is probably good to have regular meditation practice and my own is a little haphazard. I often think that I will meditate when up up to it. However, it is often when I am lying in bed unable to sleep that I begin meditating. A few of my most intense meditation times were a couple of years ago when I finished working at 9pm and was due to go to work again at 7am and couldn't get to sleep at all. Generally, even though I find stress and trauma horrible, it does seem that the harshest experiences are those which lead to deeper searching in the inner wastelands. If life was all pleasure there may be very little learned.

I have always been drawn to some mystical writings and thought this to be complementary to Catholicism for a long time. When I read about Hinduism and Buddhism though I felt more of an affinity with it than theist notions of God. The images and ideas of God often seem rather restrictive and so I am not surprised that many choose to become atheists. Some deep philosophy seems to be able to transcend the question is there a God? Buddhism and Christianity may have parallels in understanding even though most Buddhists don't believe in an actual God. I don't define myself as a Buddhist, but do find Buddhism helpful. The particular form which I find helpful is the school of Nichiren Daishonin and I have practiced chanting, 'Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo' at times.
stevie
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by stevie »

Belindi wrote: August 18th, 2022, 5:10 am Stevie quoted himself:
I am always right and never wrong. Even in revising my opinion about this or that I am always right which does not mean that I were wrong with the opinion I revised because evers opinion depends on the information being present and this information is a continuous flux. So I can rightly say that in every moment I am right.
But are you as right as the man who is better informed ?
Evident information (as sounds or signs) appears to me. The same evident information may appear to others if they can hear the same sounds or see the same signs. So in that case both, the others and myself are equally right in terms of individually expressing what appears to us upon having seen or heard the same evident information.
If there is information evident for another (through hearing or seeing) but not evident for me (since I cannot hear or see it) I cannot judge whether this information is "better". Also, I would not say that there are different kinds of information, one being "better" than the other, because information may only be relevant or irrelevant and in case of "relevant" different kinds of information events may contain different relevant quantities of information because relevant information is cummulative.
So the question ought to be "But are you as right as the man who has received more relevant information?" And the answer is "yes" because as stated above "being right" is a momentary event. Lacking a standard of "rightness" independent and outside of individual cognition any further debate is a debate in ignorance and the categorization "subjective vs objective" is born from and supporting innate ignorance.
mankind ... must act and reason and believe; though they are not able, by their most diligent enquiry, to satisfy themselves concerning the foundation of these operations, or to remove the objections, which may be raised against them [Hume]
Belindi
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Re: What Does it Mean to Be 'Right' or 'Wrong' in Philosophy?

Post by Belindi »

stevie wrote: August 18th, 2022, 12:20 pm
Belindi wrote: August 18th, 2022, 5:10 am Stevie quoted himself:
I am always right and never wrong. Even in revising my opinion about this or that I am always right which does not mean that I were wrong with the opinion I revised because evers opinion depends on the information being present and this information is a continuous flux. So I can rightly say that in every moment I am right.
But are you as right as the man who is better informed ?
Evident information (as sounds or signs) appears to me. The same evident information may appear to others if they can hear the same sounds or see the same signs. So in that case both, the others and myself are equally right in terms of individually expressing what appears to us upon having seen or heard the same evident information.
If there is information evident for another (through hearing or seeing) but not evident for me (since I cannot hear or see it) I cannot judge whether this information is "better". Also, I would not say that there are different kinds of information, one being "better" than the other, because information may only be relevant or irrelevant and in case of "relevant" different kinds of information events may contain different relevant quantities of information because relevant information is cummulative.
So the question ought to be "But are you as right as the man who has received more relevant information?" And the answer is "yes" because as stated above "being right" is a momentary event. Lacking a standard of "rightness" independent and outside of individual cognition any further debate is a debate in ignorance and the categorization "subjective vs objective" is born from and supporting innate ignorance.
Relevance depends on amount of information , because the more information you have the more power you have of selection. As you remark, information accumulates. However information also becomes redundant, and power to select which information is redundant and which relevant is a power which depends on specific information.

Being right is a momentary event only if information is of the sort that rapidly becomes redundant. Much information pertains to long term circumstances. Much information pertains to lawlike connections such as pertains to physics, chemistry, and biology.

Rightness and wrongness is not binary but insofar as those depend on information, the more information the better; info may be transient, circumstantial, and lawlike.
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