suv

Matt! the ex-President of Nicaragua is naming ME as his heir. And as for the requirement of a large....well, I think you know why. And welcome to the board Jane. I, for 1, am very interested in the cognitive development of kids....and the way they learn to use a language. ~Suv

Then a schizophrenic's rights shouldnt't be violated. He should be left alone. Further, who is to decide whether a person is a "schizophrenic" ( a person who should be forcibly put in a mental institution) or not. It could lead to spate of State-arrests by bureaucrats. A person has every right to be a scizophrenic, but no right to take away other's rights. And till he has actually done that, he should be allowed to enjoy life as a schizophrenic. Ofcourse, the State and other people are free to post ads., spread awareness etc...I don't know...maybe have a patrol intercept every stranger, the man approaches, just to inform him that our dude is a nut-case ....w'ever. I said IF Schizophrenia is held as valid reason for mitigating justice, it will set an unwholesome precedent.

The issue here is of Justice, which in this case takes an almost cruel form (if it is really true that schizophrenics are sometimes volitional and sometimes not). Justice should be done to the man who rights have been violated by a schizophrenic. If murder is excused, in a court of law, under the excuse of schizophrenia, it won't be long before a host of other criminals, including inethical businessmen, will be citing schizophrenia to get lighter sentences or fines. Debate, discussion, expert-opinion as to whether one is a schizophrenic or not, is again futile. The issue, reiterating, is of Justice. An eye for an eye and ear for an ear.

I disagree with Poohat. The nature of space and time will not change whether further discoveries about them are made or not. ---- Changes give rise to the concept of Time. You measure some changes in relation to other changes. The change, which is chosen as a standard to measure other changes, should be permanently cyclical and constant among other things. The world is 3 dimensional. Even as a baby I implicitly knew that. So any element that exists in this world must occupy space, that is, have some length in each of the 3 dimensions. Both Time and Space are abstractions. Looking for time is akin to looking around for "boyishness"; you aren't going to find it as a concrete, but you can find many examples of it. But like you can spot a Boy, you can also spot a change, both as concretes... you form the abstractions in your mind.

Mine is Suv on MSN.

We all have an implicit sense of the 'future', but in Epistemology how is the word 'future' defined? Some people loosely use the word, in a sense that it has no connection to the present. As if the future is going to be set in a different universe. What is the future? And how can it be grasped, in terms of what one is concious of, till the moment? Another question: Is there a word for: 'what one is concious of', 'the items in reality that one is conscious of' ? Something like cognosants or something?

That might have more to do with the Internet than anything else. There are no Objectivism clubs; press references to Ayn Rand are few and far between; the dominant culture is strongly antithetical to Objectivism. Though almost everybody, ostensibly, has read Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead, they are like gems in their own intellectual diadem; most shrink away when you want to discuss the works. In fact, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are among the best sold pirated copies on the street; one can aquire one for as little as Rs 45/- or 1$. But when I went to buy the Virtue of Selfishness ( no dilledante would bother with that) the book was out-of-stock and the manager told me the book hadn't seen Activity for a long time. I sensed, it meant, there was some Activity previously. I cannot gauge interest on a macro level, but I haven't met another strongly-interested Objectivist.

Hey, I'm Suv from India. I stumbled upon Ayn Rand, when I was 15, in the midst of what I now know as "psycho-epistemological" confusion, caused by reading philosophers of the mystic-altruistic axis, and trying to reconcile their words to my conception of reality. ( They actually mean this is what I told myself...and paid a heavy price...last time I was trying to "understand"- 'The world is an illusion' ) I'm 19 now, and much happier, I play professional soccer, and would like to visit US for college. Since I was a kid, I knew there was something in the US- it was a kind of emotional connection- given the muck I live in. And when some US guys talk of one culture being as good as another and all that...it really is amusing. Which university has a strong Ayn Rand presence on campus? I mean has a strong commitment towards rationality in its outlook? 'Cause I'll apply there next fall. Thanks, Suv