Pete Mandik on Materialism, Quine, and Religious Mysticism

[@andystewart9701]

Great interview! Some of the discussion on religion brought to my mind Schellenberg’s work on skeptical faith and some pragmatist views of religion especially the aesthetic and poetic views of religion of the philosopher Santayana. He was an atheist but called himself an aesthetic Catholic. He saw religion as like poetry, not true or false but religions could be better or worse. As a pragmatist and naturalist he saw religion as like poetry and creative art or literature and just as meaningful. Great channel And interview!

[@awsmith1007]

Wonderful discussion. Feel like I understand Pete’s views a bit better. Seems like a really nice guy all around

[@ideacastilluminate]

Great conversation, I see Pete on Twixter a lot but didn't know much about him, thanks for this episode. Benjamin looks and sounds a lot like Charles Haid.

[@MaxPayne-fi1mz]

Hi. What has happened to some famous christian channels from discussing Analytic Philosophy to some politics?

[@ryanward6230]

Wireheads... We're almost there, no? I mean these "phones", man. All middlemen are on [at least] two continua: chemical addictiveness and another factor we can call disorder (as an antonym of homeostasis). Mind-altering opiates are high on both continua, but pleasure buttons are low on both. And the little devices we are addicted to are also low on both, and thus insidiously addictive - in a way that has been so normalized as to resemble control, agency.

[@ryanward6230]

What happens when I slide my willpower to 100% while contemplating two or more mutually exclusive desires? Is it what happens when an android is presented with a paradox?

[@PeteMandik]

they freeze up until death. basic “Buridan’s donkey” type situation en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buridan's_ass

[@ryanward6230]

Are desires about slider position second-order desires, or are they something else? Anyway, long before I get to bloody stumps, wouldn't I desire to lower my willpower slider?

[@ryanward6230]

Oh also, you mentioned sliders for courage and calm. But this begs the questions - not all characteristics are of a similar nature, right? Or are they? Are there sliders then for creativity, perception, imagination, other attributes that make up "intellect", "competence"? Are all mental attributes accessible through sliders? Are they all equally accessible relative to each other? And are they equally accessible to all people? (Do people with an aptitude for courage have a higher maximum, or is courage superlative in the way you described willpower? Is creativity like this? What would "maximum" imagination look like? 😵‍💫)

[@PeteMandik]

@@ryanward6230 usually “second order desire” denotes desires about desires. Anyway, if there even is such a thing as “willpower” is a big “if”, but it’s usually seen as an oomf separate from desire. you and i can both desire to quit smoking, but you have more “sticktoitiveness”, resolve, or grit than i do. that’s willpower. so max WP means you never give up your dreams until you succeed or die

[@PeteMandik]

@@ryanward6230 anything variable is slideable. that doesn’t mean it has a common mechanism. we just slap a common UI on top of the mess.

[@alanjones5639]

“Knowledge-as a noun-is a misleading term, as there is never a finally fixed or finished state of knowing or body of knowledge. Knowing-as a verb-signifies the more or less successful reduction of indeterminacy in a problematic situation. As such, any claim to knowledge must always be subject to critical reconsideration, in light of newly arising conditions.” From the introduction of Mind in Nature: John Dewey, Cognitive Science, and a Naturalistic Philosophy for Living by Mark L. Johnson and Jay Schulkin, The MIT Press, 2023. Have naturalist philosophers noted that the creation of a "metaphysical gap" from a "knowledge gap" is a metaphysical argument? Any helping me understand why naturalist philosophers would wish to naturalize (redefine) terms like "metaphysics" (John Dewey's "empirical metaphysics") and "spirituality" (Robert Solomon)? How might such attempts be helpful?

[@hiker-uy1bi]

Two hour philosophical conversation with no timestamps. Brutal. What audience are you going for with this?

[@nyworker]

Inmates

[@real_pattern]

me 😈😈

[@briankayaker1]

I assume when he says “meditative states” around 1:25:00 he means shrooms😅

[@nyworker]

Everybody is a materialist even though materialism does not exist. Thats Russelian Monism in a Skullshell.

[@James-ll3jb]

Spacetime [therefore materialism] is dead.

[@James-ll3jb]

Sadly this conversation is 99% useless b.s. It's a pity they didn't have time to share lasagna recipes😅