Search found 2185 matches
- Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:33 am
- Forum: City of God in Secular City
- Topic: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
- Replies: 10
- Views: 22270
Re: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
Slight correction, they were Scots-Irish herders. However, yes. The idea of rule of law wasn't as heavily developed as it was in the North. He quotes one guy as basically saying "America reached democracy too soon." The English institutions were not quite as heavily emphasized there. What didn't hel...
- Thu Jan 22, 2015 11:42 pm
- Forum: City of God in Secular City
- Topic: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
- Replies: 10
- Views: 22270
Re: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
There's one school of thought that the west shouldn't engage, that IS is just going to have to run its course and let everyone get sick of them, as horrible as it sounds, instead of having them gain an external enemy to focus on. Which they'd love, because I think they know this is the case. Thus t...
- Tue Jan 20, 2015 9:25 pm
- Forum: City of God in Secular City
- Topic: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
- Replies: 10
- Views: 22270
Re: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
Interesting. I've seen it around and was wondering if it was worthwhile or a bit fluffy. Wonder what he'd have to say about recent developments like IS and Boko Haram. Well, maybe that was one reason why he was primarily focused on the West. The Middle East never had an Enlightenment or the distinc...
- Tue Jan 20, 2015 9:21 pm
- Forum: City of God in Secular City
- Topic: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
- Replies: 10
- Views: 22270
Re: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
Interesting. I've seen it around and was wondering if it was worthwhile or a bit fluffy. Wonder what he'd have to say about recent developments like IS and Boko Haram. Well, maybe that was one reason why he was primarily focused on the West. The Middle East never had an Enlightenment or the distinc...
- Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:04 pm
- Forum: City of God in Secular City
- Topic: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
- Replies: 10
- Views: 22270
Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
Just finished reading this and I have to say that I was impressed. Pinker definitely has an atheist bent in his thinking, but his general explanations for why relative violence in the world has gone down over the last century is pretty compelling. He goes pretty in depth concerning government contro...
- Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:04 pm
- Forum: City of God in Secular City
- Topic: Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
- Replies: 1
- Views: 6969
Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
Just finished reading this and I have to say that I was impressed. Pinker definitely has an atheist bent in his thinking, but his general explanations for why relative violence in the world has gone down over the last century is pretty compelling. He goes pretty in depth concerning government contro...
- Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:46 am
- Forum: Adventure of Faith (Religion/Spirituality)
- Topic: is evil essential or realist?
- Replies: 77
- Views: 99450
Re: is evil essential or realist?
Why would that tend to lean more towards virtue ethics? I see virtue and deontic as complementary, with virtue more onthe motivational side and deontic more on the justification side. As you mentioned, virtue used as sole justification tends towards being circular True, though virtue ethics can als...
- Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:46 am
- Forum: Adventure of Faith (Religion/Spirituality)
- Topic: is evil essential or realist?
- Replies: 77
- Views: 99450
Re: is evil essential or realist?
Why would that tend to lean more towards virtue ethics? I see virtue and deontic as complementary, with virtue more onthe motivational side and deontic more on the justification side. As you mentioned, virtue used as sole justification tends towards being circular True, though virtue ethics can als...
- Sat Jan 10, 2015 2:10 pm
- Forum: Adventure of Faith (Religion/Spirituality)
- Topic: is evil essential or realist?
- Replies: 77
- Views: 99450
Re: is evil essential or realist?
If we define evil solely in terms of 'loss of good' it seems like, for better or for worse, we're going to have trouble distinguishing between active malice and passive callousness. Like, between walking past a drowning man and pushing him in? Maybe that's what evil is, a willful disregard of the g...
- Sat Jan 10, 2015 2:10 pm
- Forum: Adventure of Faith (Religion/Spirituality)
- Topic: is evil essential or realist?
- Replies: 77
- Views: 99450
Re: is evil essential or realist?
If we define evil solely in terms of 'loss of good' it seems like, for better or for worse, we're going to have trouble distinguishing between active malice and passive callousness. Like, between walking past a drowning man and pushing him in? Maybe that's what evil is, a willful disregard of the g...