tadmjones

hmm not sure what happened with posting a reply anyway Given the reason you stated I would suggest a broad approach to researching things like the Albany Plan, the Articles of Confederation the Federalist Papers, along with biographies and writings of the principal players ie Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Adams ect.

To what 'vote' do you refer? A citizen of a constitutional republic or a legislature of same?

...and gauged by the same measure

I think these are problems of distinguishing between metaphysical / epistemologic, yes?

If I were to pick a fictional character to emulate, I would pick Lazarus Long, and not just for the kilts.

A is A No sorry re consciousness I was addressing item A in StrictlyLogical's post.

Consciousness is not an entity for starters. It( the abstraction of consciousness ) is an attribute, without going through the rest of the post, would this observation change the logic of the argument?

I remember the OP, my point is that an act of killing can be either moral or immoral, but the morality is not based on the physical killing, it based on the reason for killing. Eg if you knew the person to be an aggressor intent on your destruction killing would be a moral action on your part. Are you suggesting that killing , or the reasons for killing, are amoral?

I think the problem is here: I choose to live, I kill the man who washed up on the beach You seem to treat the action of killing as having been 'choiceless'. Morality is a guide to action, thought precedes action. Why choose to kill?( in this situation), the reason for killing is either moral or not.

As to whether or not life is axiomatic, still not sure( not that my opinion matters) but I do see it as 'implicitly' axiomatic, perhaps a new category is warranted?

I must resolve to fix this personal problem, but be that is it may, my comment was directed toward the idea of AI as such. Or rather AI qua intelligence. So basically yeh me and grames are in the same boat, here

I actually didn't follow the testimony closely enough to know what TM's friend said in court, ver batim, and not being a legal scholar I would not be able to determine if her testimony was/is actually hearsay, but as to the legal case as put forth by the prosecution , how much weight is given to individual motivations? Of course as opposed to individual's reactions.

The OP is about the specific legal case, so .. I think your comments are literally 'off topic', but hypothecticals can always be fun

None of the above has anything to do with the specific legal case, the one in which Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder.

Who can say for sure that perhaps crystalline formation is not the ultimate self generated action resulting in goal attainment.

The only thing that matters in this specific case, and any others like it, is whether or not while being assaulted an individual has the right to defend themselves from an aggressor.

So you would have no problem with an American Nazi party , a group of individuals acting in concert to promote their ideology? Organizations based on antithetical views to western ideals , should be tolerated and allowed to proliferate in a rational society, until of course they commit a physical act of rights violation? Wouldn't this line of reasoning mean that it is okay to allow groups of individuals to conspire openly to circumvent established principles of the rule of law( in the western sense,obviously)? It would not be criminal for me to solicit individuals for the expressed purpose of armed robbery of a bank? or the overthrow through violence of the current government?

What 'kind' or 'type' of Muslim does not support Islamic law?

Muslims should not be allowed to congregate, for the same reasons that communists should not be allowed to run for office in this country. But of course these things could only happen in a society based on , and that followed consistently, rational principles.

On a just a chronologic basis, which comes first self awareness or the identification of one's being alive? or is it nearly simultaneous or the same thing?

Even a more 'secular' bent of Islam would not be comfortable with western ideals, so why do they come 'here'? And why for that matter is it 'ok' for there to be a communist party ticket on federal ballots in the US?! wtf