RE: Civil Commentary on the R'lyeh commentary on Civil Discussion Threads
November 18, 2018 at 8:23 am
(November 18, 2018 at 6:43 am)John V Wrote: Just checked it out. It's pretty mild. I guess everyone got it out in the other thread.
We all sure got a lot out on that initial discussion thread.
(November 18, 2018 at 6:43 am)John V Wrote: The main problem in the other thread is that it was based mostly on incorrect conjecture of our motives.
I'm not sure we all do have the same motives but I at least am here to understand what can be understood.
Philosophy can be understood as addressing three big questions: what is real; how do we know; and what is important? Getting the facts right really does matter. Recognizing valid justification does too. But once you've got that somewhat sorted you have to discover what actually does it for you, what makes a difference to living a fulfilling life. You wouldn't want to get stuck at a low level job as a fact checker or fallacy identifier. Those are crucial skills but we're all on the clock here and time does run out. So what should we be about, if anything at all?
(November 18, 2018 at 6:43 am)John V Wrote: I posted for years at an atheist forum based in Denmark. I think it was atheist.net or atheism.net. I can't recall if it had actual rules about civility, but the threads were all civil. But, as time went by, fewer people wanted civil discussion, and that site died out.
I think this is the right approach - a civil section for those who want it, but an open section so the site maintains traffic.
I agree. I want both but not necessarily at the same time. But I don't think civility requires solemnity, do you? Ideally, civility should allow us to be more open and frank, while actually getting to understanding more about others. It isn't as though we're shopping for things we're missing. It is more about opening your eyes to who is here with you and not just running on assumption.
