Duff

James = William James "One metaphysical problem that James endeavors to pragmatically consider is that of "materialism or theism?". James inquires as to the practical differences that come with holding that "the facts of experience up to date are purposeless configurations of blind atoms moving according to eternal laws, or that on the other hand they are due to the providence of God."23 James asserts that retrospectively, no practical difference obtains; "those facts are in, are bagged, are captured; and the good that's in them is gained, be the atoms or be the God their cause."24 But, James stipulates, prospectively, there is a difference. When considering future facts of experience, we ask, as James puts it, "'what does the world promise?'"25 In other words, what sort of experience will be brought into effect if materialism and theism make good on their solemn pronouncements? James believes that materialism and theism offer strikingly different answers to this question. Materialism has it that the stuff of the world is transient and that eventually, all will decay with nothing remaining to represent that which was. "This utter final wreck and tragedy," states James, "is of the essence of scientific materialism as at present understood."26 The energies of our systems will decay, the glory of the sun will be dimmed, and the earth, tideless and inert, will no longer tolerate the race which has for a moment disturbed its solitude. Man will go down into the pit, and all his thoughts will perish. The uneasy consciousness which in this obscure corner has for a brief space broken the contented silence of the universe, will be at rest. Matter will know itself no longer. ‘Imperishable monuments’ and ‘immortal deeds,’ death itself, and love stronger than death, will be as though they had never been. Nor will anything that is, be better or be worse for all that labour, genius, devotion and suffering of man have striven through countless generations to effect. (from Balfour’s The Foundations of Belief) Theism, on the other hand, has it that "tragedy is only provisional and partial, and shipwreck and dissolution not the absolutely final things."27 According to James, this is because although the perishing of objects of the world is acknowledged by theism, theism makes an assurance that materialism never could, namely, that of an eternal preservation of moral order. Because he regards the "need of an eternal moral order" as "one of the deepest needs of our breast,"28 James characterizes theism as offering "a world of promise, while materialism's sun sets in a sea of disappointment."29 That is to say that in its affirmation of an eternal moral order, theism promises a world of promise, or hope, while in its denial of an eternal moral order, materialism promises the opposite. Settling this question pragmatically consists in deciding which promise one wishes to accept." Source Thought it was an interesting take on the issue when I learned it in philosophy class this semester and that I would share it for fun (not saying I agree completely). :grin:

Drove around with my younger sister to give people their orders of candy from the fundraiser her basketball team held. Was fun.

Stuffing is fine the way it is! Do not do anything to it!

H2PM Posts: 3,641 Active Posts: 34,203 (24.05 per day) Most Active In: Forum Games (30,481 posts) Love it, haha.

Highest view:post ratio on the first page: Post Pictures of Your Pets! Bored, so I calculated all the ratios. Following that is Advertise your thing here. Then Hot celebrities/models!! :) Post them here!! (which makes sense) Of course, this isn't counting sees' "The $250,000 car" thread. :P In conclusion: TIF is a pet loving community. :3

I know I've posted her before, but eh.

Had a dream last night that I was back on my high school football team. I wasn't sure if my coach was going to make me play or not (I had a feeling he would because I was a starter all the years I played when I actually went there). But I didn't know any of the plays. And then I wasn't in my pads (because I assumed he wouldn't play me cause I didn't know the plays), and was rushing to get them on because I knew he'd be pissed if I wasn't ready and he wanted to play me. I woke up and my heart was pounding so fast and hard that my chest hurt. No exaggeration. It really hurt.

Easy question to answer. No if by Christmas you mean celebrating Jesus' birth. If you mean secular 'Christmas', no one is forcing them to celebrate or not celebrate.

Other high school friend is having a small get together tomorrow at her house. It isn't a party; most likely it'll just be us sitting in her living room telling stories and laughing a ton, which is usually a bunch of fun. Anyway, the girl I'm confused about texted me earlier yesterday making small talk. She asked me what I had planned for the weekend/NYE, so I told her I was going to this get together and then whatever came up on NYE (high school friends usually plan something). "I have plans with [her best friend] tomorrow night, so Im not sure if I'll make it to [high school friend]'s yet. But aside from that no other plans. I was going to see if you wanted to meet up sometime this weekend? Catch up on everything since school started. I'm going to get some sleep, but let me know what you think! Goodnight, sleep tight" So there's the text that I've been expecting since her best friend talked to me (who is the same best friend she is hanging out with this evening). My response: "I like this sound of that. We can figure things out when we're both awake, though. Goodnight, [name]." (was 2am) To be honest, I don't know if I should try and plan this or what. It definitely won't be a dinner type thing (at least I wouldn't think so). Should I be the one to plan the time and place and all that in this situation? Or should I leave that to her? I'd think the latter, since I'm the one who has been distant this whole time.

Thinking back on this year, it's so obvious for me how much your expectations and mindset affect how drunk you get and how much fun you have. There were a few nights where I *could* drink, and so I just did, but I wasn't planning on doing anything with it. Didn't feel like going out. I drank cause it was there, and I didn't feel the affects at all. Compare that to when my mates are going to go out, and I get a text from this really cute girl that I should come over and hang out with her and her friends. I down three beers and am psyched because I always loosen up around girls when I'm drunk and it makes things super fun. We went over there and I had a blast and was pretty darn buzzed. I guess recently I've just had no motivation to get a buzz going.

Man, it seems like I had the easiest wisdom tooth removal experience ever. Everyone I know who's had it done talks of being in bed for a day, and taking tylenol 3's/oxycodone and being unable to do anything. I was completely fine 5 minutes later, didn't even need tylenol. Maybe I had weak teeth... Lucky you! I was bedridden until the following day. I also had problems with the clots that formed, which gave me massive headaches. And I also had to do shit for football was sedated and in pain (my coach made me max out on bench, which caused me to start bleeding from my mouth a shit ton). It might have been because the roots to my teeth had touched the main nerve line that runs through the bottom of your gums. Yours might not have yet. They caught mine kinda late. Tell me about it. Which means I really need to start going to bed at like, 10pm instead of 2am. It sucks waking up with half the day gone.

Number One Gun's album The North Pole Project. Pretty good. Found them last night, and I'm quite fond of their style.

No Strings Attached. Hated the plot. Not my thing. But for some reason I found Natalie Portman to be very cute in this movie (when she wasn't having sex). 1/5 just because Natalie was cute. :P

Getting my wisdom teeth out was so uncomfortable afterwards. Not the pain, but the fact that my mouth was numb, so I had to choke down milk, and even then, I couldn't tell when it was going in my mouth or not, and then it would get all dry because I didn't swallow all of it (physically couldn't tell if I had swallowed all of it). Bleh.

Hoh shit. $900 on amazon. Rofl. Maybe not, then. So far, I have nothing planned. Usually one of my high school friends plans some sort of little get together at her house with drinks and all that. We'll see, though. 7 hour drive doesn't sound really fun. EGGS!

I need to invest in a sweet stormtrooper outfit for Halloween. They're so freakin cool.

The Dam Was Split But The City Was Saved - A. Armada

They always come back. Only on breaks, and only to catch up with friends. :shades:

Have a good one, Rpg. Stay out of trouble! :3

I remember getting oxycodone and hydrocodone after getting my wisdom teeth pulled.

I played Runescape today. Was raining outside, so I didn't want to longboard and screw up my new bearings.

Doing that makes me think my other ear is plugged, and I can't stand when one of my ears is plugged (either literally or because I can hear something out of one ear and not the other). Plus, I swap which side I'm sleeping on many times before I actually fall asleep.

Sagaba - Blue Scholars

Holy shit, lol. :thumbup:

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