Can an omnipotent God exist?
11 hours ago
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Language
What is a 'moderate'?
I ask because....
In total, 185 Islamists trained in terrorist camps in central Asia had lived or worked in Germany in the past 10 years, the sources said.
New, young radicals were no longer recruited only through mosques, but also in universities, prisons and sports clubs, the report said.
The security sources wanted Germany to take a stronger stance in the future towards deradicalising young Islamists.
According to a separate report in magazine Der Spiegel, the Joint Terrorism Defence Centre (GTAZ) – a co-operation between various German police and intelligence agencies – will hold a forum in December to overhaul the country’s anti-terrorism strategy and come up with fresh approaches.
The efforts would be aimed at native German converts to Islam, as much as radicals with immigrant backgrounds.
Until now, anti-radicalisation measures had been piecemeal across Germany’s states, ranging from educational comic books to one-on-one conversations with violence-prone Islamists, the Spiegel report said.
The forum, organised by the Interior Ministry, would also study Jihadists who had already been convicted and imprisoned, as they posed their own danger in jail, where they could radicalise other prisoners.
To fight this problem, moderate Imams and Islamic organisations could be brought into counter the influence of radicals in jails, the Spiegel report said.
So, they're looking for moderates...but what is a 'moderate'?
The problem is that "moderation" is necessarily a relative term with respect to where the supposed extremes lie, not a measure of orthodoxy or heterodoxy. Hence, "moderation" can mean one or more of three things in the current context:
1.) the brand name for the authentic Islam that we're told has been hijacked and misunderstood by a Tiny Minority of Extremists, .........
2.) a lack of observance for the moment that may or may not translate into a lack of belief in the draconian aspects of Islamic law, or .....
3.) simply not appearing to be as bad a purported misunderstander/hijacker of Islam as the next guy: For example, "moderate Taliban."
I ask because....
There are about 90 combat-trained Islamists in Germany moving among underground networks, Focus magazine reported Saturday, as intelligence agencies and police prepare to overhaul the country's anti-terrorism approach.
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In total, 185 Islamists trained in terrorist camps in central Asia had lived or worked in Germany in the past 10 years, the sources said.
New, young radicals were no longer recruited only through mosques, but also in universities, prisons and sports clubs, the report said.
The security sources wanted Germany to take a stronger stance in the future towards deradicalising young Islamists.
According to a separate report in magazine Der Spiegel, the Joint Terrorism Defence Centre (GTAZ) – a co-operation between various German police and intelligence agencies – will hold a forum in December to overhaul the country’s anti-terrorism strategy and come up with fresh approaches.
The efforts would be aimed at native German converts to Islam, as much as radicals with immigrant backgrounds.
Until now, anti-radicalisation measures had been piecemeal across Germany’s states, ranging from educational comic books to one-on-one conversations with violence-prone Islamists, the Spiegel report said.
The forum, organised by the Interior Ministry, would also study Jihadists who had already been convicted and imprisoned, as they posed their own danger in jail, where they could radicalise other prisoners.
To fight this problem, moderate Imams and Islamic organisations could be brought into counter the influence of radicals in jails, the Spiegel report said.
So, they're looking for moderates...but what is a 'moderate'?
The problem is that "moderation" is necessarily a relative term with respect to where the supposed extremes lie, not a measure of orthodoxy or heterodoxy. Hence, "moderation" can mean one or more of three things in the current context:
1.) the brand name for the authentic Islam that we're told has been hijacked and misunderstood by a Tiny Minority of Extremists, .........
2.) a lack of observance for the moment that may or may not translate into a lack of belief in the draconian aspects of Islamic law, or .....
3.) simply not appearing to be as bad a purported misunderstander/hijacker of Islam as the next guy: For example, "moderate Taliban."
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Nikita and Lau
Nikita’s problem
Lau has learned from Nikita how to be a lawyer, under a very generous arrangement whereby he doesn’t need to pay anything for his tuition until and unless he wins his first court case. Rather to Nikita’s’ annoyance, however, after giving up hours of his time training Lau, the pupil decides to become a musician and never takes any court cases. Nikita demands that Lau pay him for his trouble and, when the musician refuses, decides to sue him in court. Nikita reasons that if Lau loses the case, he, Nikita, will have won, in which case he will get his money back, and furthermore, that even if he loses, Lau will then have won a case, despite his protestations about being a musician now, and will therefore still have to pay up.
Lau reasons a little differently however. If I lose, he thinks, then I will have lost my first court case, in which event, the original agreement releases me from having to pay any tuition fees. And, even if he wins, Nikita will still have lost the right to enforce the contract, so he will not need to pay anything.
They can’t both be right. So who’s making the mistake?
Welll.....
Please look at each others' blogs and comments - try and work out the answer. Read very carefully....
Meanwhile watch this, learn Philosophy - and Japanese!
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Philosophy of Language
Watch the rest....
Bryan Magee hosts (a younger) John Searle to discuss the history of the philosophy of language.
Section 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOlJZa...
Section 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC3vos...
Section 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMNMFa...
Section 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFX0wz...
Section 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpyKwY...
Monday, 23 November 2009
It's difficult to prove a species is extinct
"If there's one thing in my career I'd like to be proved wrong about, it's the baiji," said Sam Turvey of the Zoological Society of London, using another name for the Yangtze River dolphin.
Turvey spent almost 3 months this year interviewing Chinese fishermen in vain for sightings of the long-snouted dolphin, which has not been seen since 2002. Some colleagues in China are still looking.
The baiji was almost declared extinct in 2006 after an acoustic and visual survey of the river turned up nothing. Then, a blurry video gave experts pause, and it was rated "possibly extinct."
About 300 plant and animal species, including the Christmas Island shrew and the Venezuelan skunk frog are also "possibly extinct," the worst category short of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List.
If Turvey's study turns up no firm evidence, it will likely push the Yangtze River dolphin into the "extinct" column, said Mike Hoffmann, who manages a global project to assess species for the IUCN and Conservation International.
It would be the first "megafauna" mammal -- one weighing more than 100 kg (220 lb) -- to die out since the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s.
"To say something is extinct requires quite a lot of proof, of negative evidence, and may take many years to collect," said Craig Hilton-Taylor, who manages Red List.
Scientists working on the "possibly extinct" list rummage in the undergrowth for rare plants, frogs or rats, set up night-time traps for bats or moths, or scour the seabed for corals.
Some experts liken the difficulties to "proving" that the mythical Loch Ness Monster does not exist.
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