Read this Kozmo - it's a genius breakdown of logical / metaphysical issue surrounding having human beings able to act freely, and thus sometimes with evil intent, and hypothesizing a creator God.
Read this Kozmo - it's a genius breakdown of logical / metaphysical issue surrounding having human beings able to act freely, and thus sometimes with evil intent, and hypothesizing a creator God.
Thanks! Am reading this very moment! Fascinating stuff. The quote I noted was meant in humor or irony, but I find it both funny and provoking. I do think the ancient metaphysical traditions of the East have a lot to teach us.
A few observations - yes, we should take some time if possible to study at least the basics of Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism.
Also, that none of Smullyan's taoistic reasoning would surprise Socrates, the Stoics, or any freethinkers and skeptics in our own broader Western tradition. It's the orthodox, dogmatic theologians who would find some reasons, or just lame pretexts cloaked as reasonable arguments and considerations, to claim Smullyan's essay is "heretical" or otherwise deficient.
"There is unanimous agreement that Nāgārjuna (ca 150–250 CE) is the most important Buddhist philosopher after the historical Buddha himself and one of the most original and influential thinkers in the history of Indian philosophy. His philosophy of the “middle way” (madhyamaka) based around the central notion of “emptiness” (śūnyatā) influenced the Indian philosophical debate for a thousand years after his death; with the spread of Buddhism to Tibet, China, Japan and other Asian countries the writings of Nāgārjuna became an indispensable point of reference for their own philosophical inquiries. A specific reading of Nāgārjuna’s thought, called Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka, became the official philosophical position of Tibetan Buddhism which regards it as the pinnacle of philosophical sophistication up to the present day."
{More, much more, after all it is an encyclopedia!}
Read this Kozmo - it's a genius breakdown of logical / metaphysical issue surrounding having human beings able to act freely, and thus sometimes with evil intent, and hypothesizing a creator God.
https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTaoist.html
Is God a Taoist? by Raymond Smullyan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan
In this bio, under "Logic Problems," you'll see my one and only Wikipedia edit.
Thanks! Am reading this very moment! Fascinating stuff. The quote I noted was meant in humor or irony, but I find it both funny and provoking. I do think the ancient metaphysical traditions of the East have a lot to teach us.
A few observations - yes, we should take some time if possible to study at least the basics of Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism.
Also, that none of Smullyan's taoistic reasoning would surprise Socrates, the Stoics, or any freethinkers and skeptics in our own broader Western tradition. It's the orthodox, dogmatic theologians who would find some reasons, or just lame pretexts cloaked as reasonable arguments and considerations, to claim Smullyan's essay is "heretical" or otherwise deficient.
Here's another one worth a look:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nagarjuna/
"There is unanimous agreement that Nāgārjuna (ca 150–250 CE) is the most important Buddhist philosopher after the historical Buddha himself and one of the most original and influential thinkers in the history of Indian philosophy. His philosophy of the “middle way” (madhyamaka) based around the central notion of “emptiness” (śūnyatā) influenced the Indian philosophical debate for a thousand years after his death; with the spread of Buddhism to Tibet, China, Japan and other Asian countries the writings of Nāgārjuna became an indispensable point of reference for their own philosophical inquiries. A specific reading of Nāgārjuna’s thought, called Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka, became the official philosophical position of Tibetan Buddhism which regards it as the pinnacle of philosophical sophistication up to the present day."
{More, much more, after all it is an encyclopedia!}
That essay/dialogue on God and Taoism is fantastic! Even tho' it bent my mind into a pretzel! Socrates must be smiling in Elysium.
Yeah stuff like that is why I think philosophy will always be around!