What would you ask a person who knew everything?

[Heretic_Cata]

What is the purpose of meaning ?

 

[Terxpahseyton]

I think what I would be most interested in is: "Is there a good alternative to economic liberalism?" and if "What is it?"

 

[ParkCungHee]

Well, as a skeptic I like that one.

I think just about all practical ethics are not so practical without a clear understanding of what a person is, or if there's even such a thing.
Most people have a muddled, inconsistent understanding of the self, and those who have a clear picture tend to have very radically diverging ideas about what the self is.

 

[Cutlass]

I think what I would be most interested in is: "Is there a good alternative to economic liberalism?" and if "What is it?"

Poverty

 

[Traitorfish]

I don't quite understand what you mean by onthologically prior, but I disagree. (prior suggests time, but the univerce and it's laws are not in a temporal relation with each other).

That's why I said "ontologically prior". It means that the one is the condition of the other, not that they follow each other chronologically; B-therefore-A, rather than A-then-B.

Laws are a concepts. If they describe nature, then they are true and therefore exist. This is independent of humans asserting those laws.

So you're a a Platonic realist?

Poverty

Worth remembering that SiLL is German, I think, because at face value you're rather shooting yourself in the foot with this one.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

You can if you want, right here.

 

[Flying Pig]

I'd be going with this one

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Worth remembering that SiLL is German, I think, because at face value you're rather shooting yourself in the foot with this one.

Yep, my parents grew up and lived most of their lives in an alternative system. And they certainly weren't struck down by poverty. And while they approve of leaving said alternative beyond, and while from a material POV they benefited significantly, I personally am skeptical if it really meant an improvement of life quality for them (assuming the GDR hadn't economically collapsed, which is admittedly a very big assumption). But that has a lot of personal reasons weighted in of course.

 

[Traitorfish]

Actually, I just mean that when you say "economic liberalism", you don't mean it as opposed to "economic conservatism".

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Ah well, I suppose Cutlass' response can be taken either way.
I mean it in the academic sense I was taught and along with that in a not so politicized sense. Constituting the principles of private autonomy (including private property) and the state as the protective force of said autonomy based on the reasoning that only individuals can know and choose their preferences and best do when allowed to freely trade.
That sure knows a lot of varying extensions and caveats, but when it all applies in an essential manner, it to me is a variant of economic liberalism.

 

[ParkCungHee]

What would "Economic Conservatism" even encompass in the German context?

 

[Traitorfish]

Presumably it's something to do with allocating part of the defence budget for helmet-spikes.

 

[ParkCungHee]

...SiLL is your conservative party taking applications?

 

[Terxpahseyton]

What would "Economic Conservatism" even encompass in the German context?

I honestly can't say We don't really deal with with the term "conservative" other than to describe the social conservative dimension of the CDU.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

...SiLL is your conservative party taking applications?

Under the criteria given by Traitorfish - yes, yes it is.
http://www.npd.de/

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

What is the purpose of meaning ?

It is ÐðæÆ.

 

[Souron]

So you're a a Platonic realist?

A brand of it perhaps. My view stems from semantics. Concepts don't exist in the same sense as things do, but in so far as they do exist, they do so independant of people.

 

[AlpsStranger]

I want to change my answer.

At this point I would settle for the winner of the 2012 elections. This would have two benefits.

1) I would quit obsessively reading about them.
2) I could invest every spare cent into intrade and make some good cash.

 

[Global Skeptic]

A brand of it perhaps. My view stems from semantics. Concepts don't exist in the same sense as things do, but in so far as they do exist, they do so independant of people.

How do you know that?

 

[Souron]

Because the difinition of law of nature does not mention or presuppose the existance of people.