Posted by rpcman on August 05, 1998 at 13:36:52:
In Reply to: What is philosophy? posted by MEYER on August 05, 1998 at 12:56:07:
: So, rpcman in order for me to stay on topic would you please define ethics, philosophy, science (unless you're a NASA man), and what books I can talk about?
The books should deal with Science, Philosophy, or Ethics. I've spelled out in several posts what is not allowed (preaching of faith-based religions, spam--regardless of what it deals with, theology, etc.).
As to "what is ethics", I think several of the threads in the archives give example to what is appropriate. These include discussions on topics like the legalization of marijuana, cloning, the death penalty, and abortion. Notice that people who don't "see it as I do" have not had their posts deleted when they stick to these kinds of topics. In addition, critiques of books on the site that I have given favorable reviews to will certainly not be deleted.
"Philosophy" is more difficult to define. When I think of an applicable philosophy discussion, I generally think about something like John Dewey's writings. His discussions of the topic were practical. They dealt with how people should live based on the findings of scientific methodology. Many of the posts also deal with education which is certainly an aspect of philosophy. I don't find theological discussions to be useful since they deal with speculations on the unknown based on wishful thinking. Perhaps I should change the header from just philosophy to "Natural Philosophy".
This message may also be useful to help explain what this site's focus is about.
"Science" can fall in to two categories. Both are certainly welcome here. In fact the latter should be the basis for (almost) all posts. The first is the body of knowledge commonly referred to as "Science". This would include discussions of topics like the Big Bang, Evolution, etc. The second is thinking and reasoning based on the scientific method.