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Shearer

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  1. Thanks for the suggestions, the reason I ask is becuase sometimes the definitions I get result in circular definitions. For example, in the Oxford Popular Dictionary (pint size) Love: warm liking or affection Like: find pleasant or satisfactory Affection: love, liking This tells me that love means affection, affection means love, they both mean each other and are derived from the genus like or liking.
  2. Can anyone recommend a dictionary either online or in book form that lists the genus, differentia and species of a concept? If not, can anyone recommend just a good dictionary?
  3. 'When exactly does a species earn rights? To answer the question you would have to define at what point an animal becomes a rational animal. What exactly qualifies an animal to such a definition?' Rights are not earned and they only belong to man, they are a recognition of the requirements of man's nature for survival, that in order to survive man must be free to choose his values, discover what is right and what is wrong etc and only apply in a social context. A rational animal is an animal that operates at the conceptual level of awareness, and as such cannot operate automatically like animals at the sensory and perceptual level. For animals at the sensory and perceptual level, their values are automatic and they cannot purposefuly act against their nature, their values are given by nature and they act to gain those values. A rational animal does not have automatic values, it does not know automatically what is right for its life or what is bad for it, what is good or what is bad, what is true or what is false. A rational animal uses its rational faculty to discover the answer to these questions for the purpose of survival. 'Will it be correct to call, for example, dolphins, "human" (since human means rational animal) if they were to develop a rational faculty?' No becuase it hasn't got any legs.....the essential distinguishing characteristic of a human being is its rational faculty, which is used voluntarily by choice, so any animal that developed this would be human, but since dolphins haven't then they are not human beings. A rational animal doesn't mean an animal that is rational all of the time, since there exists religious human beings who are irrational. A rational animal is an animal with the potential to be rational, a faculty that is excercised by choice.
  4. I've searched around to try and find the axioms of Existentialism, no luck, I then tried searching for Existentialist metaphysics and it's the same answer, no luck. However I've read some things about that philosophy such as: '..consciousness is not distinct from its objects, it is an emptyness' '..the being of consciousness is intrinsic nothingness' '..directedness of consciousness is not directedness of a thing, since it would have to be an object outside itself' 'Imagination, questioning and doubting are models of human freedom' '..consciousness is appalled at its own being, which is nothingness' None of this makes sense to me whatsoever, all but one of those quotes is contradictory, however I did find out that Sartre was a Communist, another Existentialist was a Fascist, some Existentialist philosphers believe in god and some are athiest. So it should follow that they are collectivist-altruist-subjectivist-mystic? Can someone please tell me its axioms, metaphysics and how they are using the concept of existence. It seems they are treating nothing as an existent and denying the axioms of existence, identity and consciousness.
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