My first question pertains to "rights" as it is commonly understood in the phrase, "Bill of Rights". I know you have stated before that we do not have rights, that we have properties like arms or eyebrows. Is this simplification, omission, or something else?? I remember a debate I won in a U.S. Constitutional studies class in high school where the teacher had asked us the question: what are rights?? In essence the position I took was "might makes right": people have the right to free speech so long as they have a willing audience and they are not silenced by authoritarian power; people have the right to bear arms so long as they can maintain a grip on a firearm. Of course these rights can be abridged or negated and they are inherent only inasmuch as we ourselves are able to enforce them. What do you think of this characterization of rights?? I find it ambiguous when you use the word "rights" in your videos (which you rarely do), but then admit that the word basically doesn't have meaning in your philosophy. Do you admit this because it is simpler to skirt discussion of rights when not all of us have vocal cords or trigger fingers?? Do you admit this because you have overlooked how rights are intrinsically connected to our physical selves?? Or have I misunderstood your position that "rights are not a thing"?? I struggle to adhere to NAP but I also accept that certain forces can only be resisted with force in kind (e.g., gravity).
My second question has to do with the existence of God. I have heard your invisible-pink-unicorn-on-the-dark-side-of-the-moon argument and that holds a lot of water with me; we cannot be called upon to prove things in the negative. I also realize that organized religions throughout history have caused many evil things to happen and I myself do not subscribe to a church. Our current scientific understanding has it that the universe began as a very dense, very energetic grapefruit-sized object that may or may not collapse back on itself, or get sucked into another dimension through black holes, or quantum tunnel to a new vacuum state at a moment's notice, or simply freeze someday in the distant future. There's a lot of uncertainty there. But does it beg the question of a prime mover?? Reductio ad absurdum and reductio ad infinitum arguments are frowned upon in the philosophical arena (if I'm not mistaken) but isn't our current scientific understanding pointing toward just such an absurd, infinite universal model?? I am reminded of a scene from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where the existence of God is logically proven and God disappears in a puff of smoke because His requirement for the faith of believers is circumvented by said proof. What is your take on the existence of a prime mover, or is there simply uncertainty that may or may not be borne out by scientific investigation someday?
He says "You can't blame people for their choices in choosing Wall-mart vs the mom and pop stores"
But therein lies the crux of the issue. You can blame people. And you should blame people, because after all, we are all trying to find truth in our distorted reality. Isn't the whole idea of philosophy to
change peoples minds? To re-affirm some sort of truth that wasn't evident in the psyche of the individual before? Maybe due to media conditioning or otherwise?
Does not paying someone for their work count as an initiation of force? Would it be unreasonable for the payee to hire a "debt collection service" (assuming the payee had not used a trusted third party [or if they are a trusted third party]) to forcibly recompense the debt?
Dreams?
Intervening with Abusive Parents
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