Sinfest

[taurobolium]

how does existentialist thought define itself in relation to other people? I mean, how can I define my personal values by my own history without a greater philosophy to apply to others?

It seems imbalanced, because you'll only be able to follow the 'golden rule' if you can remember being slighted yourself in the same way.

[Willem]

Wow man, you've cracked existentialism. You've completely thrashed it. Call up dem philosophers and fucking tell them man. They're wasting their goddamn time. They could be doing useful stuff, like working at Starbucks and giving me my goddamn coffee.
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attitude of a street punk, only cutting selected words out of context to get onself excuse to let one's dirty mouth loose

[Willem]

Semi-serious answer:

[Michael]

[Michael]

[nathan]

I think he's saying any application of the golden rule falls prey to the problem of induction. Obviously, the solution to this faux-dilemma was outlined by Popper: only do unto others what you have previously seen them enjoy. If no previous experience exists, then do something completely random.

I'm gonna go tie noodles to a cat now. For Jesus.
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All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last. - Marky Mark Proust

[nathan]

Re-reading, I was totally wrong. He's saying we can't use our own emotional history to forecast somebody else's reaction, because there isn't a one to one correlation. The solution to this problem is to recognize that you're defining an "individual" as a container of X set of experiences. Since you don't have access to the other person's experiences for use in future-casting, and since your own may be inapplicable to their life, you must instead define into existence a third person(Person C) whose experiences are comprised of the set shared by both you and the person you're Golden Ruling. Then use external emotional cues (smiling/frowning/words of approval) observed from the other person, in conjunction with your own internal reactions to forecast the effect of the action on Person C. If person C would like it done unto them, person A is validated in doing it unto person B.

Of course this still runs into the induction thing, in which case see the prior post.
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All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last. - Marky Mark Proust

[Snorri]

[Arc Tempest]

Is it just me, or does it sound like this guy is trolling for the answer to an exam question?
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The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice.

[Vox Raucus]

The 'Fest at its best.
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I come from Downtown, born ready for you / Armed with skill and determination / And grace, too

[picturesofsky]

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Ironically, Halen's one of the few people here I wouldn't worry about terrifying my friends and family. In my head he ends every real life conversation stroking his chin and saying, "well yes, that sounds reasonable."

[Sam]

[Dogen]

Hey, Kara leases medical equipment.
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"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. I’ll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman

[Mr Gary]

And didn't Halen 'major' in philosophy at Durham?

No, actually, we'll just rest at Dogen's point. Forget I said anything.
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[Arc Tempest]

Buddy of mine used to work at Starbucks, in his year there he had to teach four different people with philosophy degrees how to make coffee without burning the crap out of themselves.
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The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice.