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The mystery of prostitution
 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 19:18 [#02518593]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker | Followup to Descent: #02518592



yes the dark moments of your life never leave you thats for
sure, ive had my fair share, not to the same level as your
describing perhaps, its good your still alive in that case.
At the least you have alot of life experience, its hard to
put a shine on things like that happening to you, but you
seem to be able to have a fair healthy perspective on
things, cant say id be as resilient in that sort of
situation


 

offline Descent from the salt of Satan's sweat. (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 19:23 [#02518595]
Points: 2298 Status: Addict | Followup to Hyperflake: #02518593



I don't know if I'd paint trauma as "life experience". but
it's only recently when my life is... well. Less trauma
filled.

After becoming street homeless, my advocate (provided to me
by a charity), after going to councils and being told to
fuck off, because I wasn't "vulnerable enough", got me
hostel places. A week or two of staying in churches
overnight! It was mighty bizarre.


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 19:31 [#02518596]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker



was all this taking place in london, did you family know of
your situation? where do you live now? and is your life more
stable?


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 19:32 [#02518597]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker



yes life experince probably doesnt sound like a suitable
phrase, if used in the usual context. It is experience
though it changes you being for the rest of your life for
good or ill


 

offline Descent from the salt of Satan's sweat. (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 19:42 [#02518598]
Points: 2298 Status: Addict



Well, to be honest, my experiences are also conflated with
the fact I'm transgender. I started working outside of
London, which is unfortunately where my first work-related
'event' happened. It was getting more and more difficult,
for a number of reasons, for me to remain in my hometown. I
moved to London, and continued working a job, with
prostitution as a sideline to fund medical expenses.


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 19:46 [#02518599]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker



you needed to fun money for medical procedures? sounds like
you have had a hell of a time, hows long have you been out
of it all~?


 

offline welt on 2017-04-29 20:20 [#02518602]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to mohamed: #02518557



I'd like to "defend" myself quickly here. (A) Nobody can
identify the 2 persons I mentioned in the original post. (B)
They are both very open about being/having been escorts and
their mental health issues. So I'm not passing on secrets.
The conversation I desribed in the original post also
happened in public with other people listenting in.


 

offline welt on 2017-04-29 20:28 [#02518603]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to Descent: #02518565



Monoid's answer that - leaving crimes such as rape aside -
"the problem" with prostitution comes from the fact that sex
- in "normal" circumstances - is connected to love and
friendship .. strikes me as quite plausible.

If you don't mind getting into it. Did you feel that having
sex for money interferred with your capability to form
loving or friendly relationships in general?

.. Also, glad to hear that you seem to have made some
progress regarding your traumatic experiences and hope
you'll continue getting better


 

offline Descent from the salt of Satan's sweat. (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 20:49 [#02518606]
Points: 2298 Status: Addict | Followup to Hyperflake: #02518599



Not for medical procedures, but for medication itself. I
haven't done it in maybe two years, and hopefully will never
have to, again. Circumstances made this the only viable
option, and I hope that circumstances will never once more
fall upon me where this is even considerable.


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 20:55 [#02518607]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker | Followup to Descent: #02518606



well I hope you benign afresh, and not let the terrible
things that have happened hold you back. The past doesnt
exist anywhere apart from your own mind now, I hope your
doing much better, never nice to hear about suffering even
if i dont know you what so ever,


 

offline Descent from the salt of Satan's sweat. (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 21:04 [#02518617]
Points: 2298 Status: Addict | Followup to welt: #02518603



Sex, does not necessarily tie to love and friendship, and
vice versa.

I am currently in a deep and loving relationship, and have
my strongest emotional bond with another being, and have
discovered how to correctly (for myself, and others) utilise
trust in a relationship.

Sometimes my PTSD can mean I cannot have sex, but I am with
someone who respects "stop", and "no".

I have had consensual sex with people who I have pursued no
additional conversation, I have had romantic relationships
and intense close friendships without sexuality.

Sex, for some, is something reserved for someone they are
comfortable with, in a relationship with, or trust
immensely. For others, sex can be an activity they pursue
with no need or want for emotional connection. Some don't
feel like sex is an activity or idea they would ever
pursue.

Sexuality is a wider spectrum than any one person can
dictate, but I have personally existed within these three
mentioned. Right now, I reserve my sexuality for someone of
whom I share intense trust with.

It's for the individual to decide what sex means to them,
and to communicate it with the parties involved, so there's
no misunderstanding.

Remember "normal" only exists to dictate a mass. Are you
blob, or are you being? What's normal for you, can be weird
for another. It's subjectif innit.


 

offline Monoid from one source all things depend on 2017-04-29 21:32 [#02518622]
Points: 11005 Status: Regular



Sex, love and friendship should be taken off the market in a
perfect world. That which is scared does not have a price
but an intrinisic value. The sancity of the human person,
sex and love. We must vest our love and desire in things to
which we assign an intrinisic, rather than an instrumental,
value, so that the pursuit of means can come to rest, for us
in a place of ends
I doesn't outrage me if people hire prostitutes or that
people work in such jobs. But personally i am deeply
conservative and sceptical about the whole issue.


 

offline welt on 2017-04-29 21:53 [#02518624]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to Descent: #02518617



Good to hear that your past experiences are no real
hindrance in forming deep and trustful loving relationships.
You can't get better things than love and trust, I feel.
Thanks for sharing your perspective


 

offline Descent from the salt of Satan's sweat. (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 21:57 [#02518626]
Points: 2298 Status: Addict | Followup to Monoid: #02518622



If you're skeptical, I'm happy to answer questions you may
have.

And thank you, Welt. It's not always easy to share things
like this, but this is an opportunity to divulge information
to people who may not have other means of attaining answers
to difficult questions.


 

offline welt on 2017-04-29 21:59 [#02518627]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to Monoid: #02518622



I remember you being a materialst atheist. Yet you describe
sex, love and friendship as sacred (which is traditionally a
religious concept ... and it's not clear if that concept can
survive without it's religious context).

.. How is it possible then that these things are "sacred"?
What's the ontological basis, so to speak, of that
statement?


 

offline Monoid from one source all things depend on 2017-04-29 22:20 [#02518636]
Points: 11005 Status: Regular | Followup to welt: #02518627



Yes it is. I used it merly because i am not aware of an
equivalent concept in non-religious ethics. The point tho
is, that socialists are not alone in pointing out the
corrosive effects of the market, and in emphasizing the
distinction between things with a value and things with a
price. Christian conservative share this scepticism to some
extent.


 

offline Descent from the salt of Satan's sweat. (United Kingdom) on 2017-04-29 22:30 [#02518638]
Points: 2298 Status: Addict | Followup to Monoid: #02518636



But within capitalism, or even socialism, who are you to
decide what the individual chooses to give? I don't see how
you can prescribe a tenet of sacredness to something that is
not a social property.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-01 15:31 [#02518743]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker



if I didn't think monoid was just a troll persona I'd say
he's the xltronic personality most likely to convert to
traditional Catholicism. Everything about him reeks of
frustrated traditionalism and a strong disgust response
towards the ostensibly "profane"


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-01 15:35 [#02518744]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to welt: #02518627



But sacredness is just about peoples' attitudes of reverence
towards this or that.


 

offline welt on 2017-05-01 17:01 [#02518753]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #02518744



I don’t think you can say that the concept of sacredness
refers JUST to the attitude of reverence.

Why? Because the attitude of reverence is not understood by
the devout person as something that springs up randomly and
subjectively in the devout person but as the correct
attitude towards external reality. So Muslims treat the
Kaaba as sacred because of the more fundamental belief that
God as an independent reality ordered its construction as a
place of worship. …

With your (re-)interpretation of the meaning of "sacredness"
the concern for external reality seems to drop out of the
picture. But people clearly are interested in measuring up
to an external reality. … Are they not?


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-01 18:05 [#02518757]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to welt: #02518753



I think sacredness and reverence always concern something
"external" that transcends the self, yes. And it goes beyond
subjective experience into cultural practices and norms, and
shared values.


 

offline RussellDust on 2017-05-01 18:28 [#02518759]
Points: 16053 Status: Lurker



I do like this place sometimes.


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-05-01 18:51 [#02518763]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker



still a mystery isnt it, i think perhaps due to it being
multifaceted in origin, kind of like how brown do you like
your toast, the reasoning can be anything


 

offline welt on 2017-05-01 18:52 [#02518766]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #02518757



So ... we agree here, so far so good .... but I sensed some
disagreement when you came up with that characterization of
sacredness ... you must have wanted to make SOME point, I
guess


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-01 20:14 [#02518779]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to welt: #02518766



I think we do disagree, because nothing in my expanded
description of sacredness and reverence conflicts with
naturalism.


 

offline mohamed from the turtle business on 2017-05-01 20:27 [#02518781]
Points: 31145 Status: Regular | Show recordbag



LAZY_TITLE


 

offline welt on 2017-05-01 20:49 [#02518783]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #02518779



I agree that your definition doesn't conflict with
naturalism. Even if naturalism is true the term "sacredness"
still has comprehensible meaning.

I'm not sure though if you agree with the following.

If naturalism is true, then all propositions of the form "X
is sacred" must be false. Why? Because nature merely is. If
you look at the world as natural then you can only describe
how it is, not how it ought to be. But things which are
sacred are things which you OUGHT to revere. So naturalism
means that it's false than anything sacred exists.

So ... anything you agree or disagree with here ?


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-01 21:39 [#02518785]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to welt: #02518783



What's weird to me is that divine command theory is a form
of subjectivism. I think if moral propositions are truth
bearers, they have to be objectively and necessarily true.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-01 21:50 [#02518786]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #02518785



(oh, I'm confusing subjectivism and noncognitivism, but you
get my point I think)


 

offline welt on 2017-05-01 21:54 [#02518787]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #02518785



I also find divine command theory strange and not entirely
comprehensible.

However, it’s not as if you have to choose between either
(A) naturalism or (B) divine command theory. These are not
the only options.

But, as I said above, I think that if naturalism is true,
then nothing sacred can exist and no absolute moral
obligations can exist (because understanding the world as
nature means looking at it as a collection of purposeless,
neutral facts). …

So if - for whatever reason - you don’t accept that a
proposition such as "You shouldn’t rape innocent children"
is not objectively true/only something like a social
convention, then you have to bite the bullet and accept that
a "supernatural“"realm exists (whatever it looks like in
detail).

And if - for whatever reason - you accept naturalism, then,
I think, you have to bite the bullet and accept that raping
children and so on is not objectively wrong.

…. I’m very open to arguments to the contrary, however.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-01 23:25 [#02518792]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to welt: #02518787



In order for you to believe that it's not wrong to rape a
child if naturalism is the case, you'd have to believe that
raping a child is only contingently / conditionally wrong.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-01 23:54 [#02518793]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker



(because understanding the world as nature means looking
at it as a collection of purposeless, neutral facts)


In the supernaturalist's caricature of naturalism, there are
only parts, never wholes, and certainly never supervenience.
It's something like Ryle's category mistake, except it
occurs in various domains, not just philosophy of mind
(where it also occurs).


 

offline welt on 2017-05-02 10:05 [#02518795]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #02518792



I think I might have some idea why you find the idea weird
that necessary moral facts are only true if certain other
metaphysical facts hold. Let’s see if what you have in
mind roughly matches the following.

If you look at a proposition like "You shouldn’t rape
children" [P1] and ( a ) assume that it expresses something
like a necessary moral fact and ( b ) further assume, that
the obligation is only necessary if the further seperate
fact holds that there is a "supernatural" entity which makes
the moral demand objectively true …. THEN it looks as if
P1 is ironically and weirdly not necessarily true, but only
contingently true, depending on whether that curious
supernatural entity makes it true or not.

HOWEVER, that only shows, I think, that "moral facts" are
NOT MADE TRUE BY OTHER MORE FUNDAMENTAL FACTS, but that
"Being Itself", for the lack of a better term, has an
inherently moral structure, form or shape. Why? If something
exists necessarily it can’t depend on anything else, so it
must be given due to "the very form of Being".


 

offline welt on 2017-05-02 10:07 [#02518796]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #02518793



So what’s the problem with naturalism and morality then,
if "Being Itself" has an inherently moral structure (and you
don’t need, let’s say, God as a law-giver)? Doesn’t
nature then just have an "inherently moral structure"? The
problem is that naturalism claims that "Being Itself" indeed
does have a specific form, namely, that Being Itself is what
is revealed by the natural sciences .. and these natural
sciences show the universe as an a-moral, neutral place,
which is free of value.

… So now you claim, it seems, that there’s in the end
not a contradiction between naturalism and moral obligations
because of supervenience.

So I actually agree that in principle supervenience could be
a way out. However, there’s such a deep flaw when it comes
to supervenience, that I personally find it difficult (even
though not 100% impossible) to see it as a serious
alternative.

If ( a ) naturalism means that the "basic stuff" of the
world is the material universe as described by physics and (
b ) objective moral facts supervene on the facts described
by physics, then ( c ) it seems you would need a BRIDGING
PRINCIPLE to explain how you get from the value-free
propositions of physics to objective moral facts. But do you
have an example for even a roughly plausible
bridging-principle? I’m open to hearing about them, but I
haven’t yet encountered one.

Maybe you think we DON’T need a bridging principle. But
then I’d like to hear, why you dont’t think so. Or maybe
you think my definition of naturalism is wrong. But then
I’d like to hear why an alternative definition would be
better.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-02 12:33 [#02518798]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to welt: #02518796



Here's a paper by noted theist Richard Swinburne talking
about necessary moral facts, which would be so whether or
not there's a God, and how moral facts supervene on
non-moral facts.


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-05-02 16:14 [#02518807]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker



money has made whores of us all, we all suckle at the devil
teat


 

offline RussellDust on 2017-05-02 21:38 [#02518812]
Points: 16053 Status: Lurker | Followup to welt: #02518796



I understand your point.

Is that bridge possibly even beyond the realm of our
understanding of quantum physics? What is the bridge between
the body and the mind?

Human morals differ from "nature's morals", maybe. But
what's important here is the mind that thinks the moral up,
not the moral. For me at least.

You could look at things from a point of view and say all
our morals come from selfishness. That the "don't do to
others what you wouldn't want done to you" is actually born
out of an act of selfishness. For survival possibly; as an
alternative to just beating the crap out of anything and
anyone for power.

Oh fuck I'm spouting shite again. I'll stop now.


 

offline RussellDust on 2017-05-02 21:40 [#02518813]
Points: 16053 Status: Lurker



Are you all instinctive people would you say?

Like when you go to see a prostitute, is it instinct
talking, or your mind?

Yes sure it's both. Goodnight!


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-05-02 21:41 [#02518814]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker



I think altruism is advantageous in an evolutionary sense.
It seems to me morals emerge systemically as a consequence
of natural cooperation


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-05-02 21:45 [#02518815]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #02518798



He should ask himself what makes god intrinsically moral in
the first place, but then his brain would end up in some
sort of freaky loop, im guessing his answer would be, cos he
is god


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-02 23:00 [#02518819]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to RussellDust: #02518812



Don't bother, his demand for a "bridging principle" is a
God of the Gaps tactic. It's like when a creationist asks for
a transitional form between two species. Does finding the
transitional fossil satisfy the demand? No, it just creates
two new gaps.

Saying that God accounts for something ostensibly mysterious
doesn't solve the mystery, because God becomes functionally
equivalent to saying "I don't know". In other words, they
are literally worshiping and celebrating ignorance.

As Spinoza put it, "...he who seeks the true causes of
miracles and is eager to understand the works of Nature as a
scholar, and not just to gape at them like a fool, is
uni­versally considered an impious heretic and denounced by
those to whom the common people bow down as interpreters of
Nature and the gods. For these people know that the
dispelling of ignorance would entail the disappearance of
that astonishment, which is the one and only support for
their argument and for safeguarding their authority."


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2017-05-02 23:02 [#02518820]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to Hyperflake: #02518815



Good point.


 

offline welt on 2017-05-03 00:14 [#02518821]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #02518819



So to sum up:

welt: Hey, it’s a really interesting question, how out of
lifeless matter there could arise something such as
consciousness and morality. Because matter, as normally
understood, is morally neutral and unconscious.

fleet mouse: The answer is supervenience.

welt: So how does it work then?

fleetmouse: It works, I don’t know how it works, but it
definitely works.

welt: So you don’t think it’s fair to want an
explanation?

fleetmouse: No, wanting explanations for Supervenience is
ignorant. You just have to accept it, otherwise you are
worshipping ignorance.

That’s just bizarre and seems very intellectually
insecure.


 

offline welt on 2017-05-03 00:19 [#02518822]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker



I actually feel like commenting more seriously on the other
raised issues. But I don't have all that much time and I
feel a bit like talking to a Social Justice Warrior, who
shuts down every rational challenge with "Sexist! Racist!
Islamophobe!"


 

offline RussellDust on 2017-05-03 10:32 [#02518828]
Points: 16053 Status: Lurker



Everyone's made interesting points. Bless us trying to work
it all out!

Welt: Fleetmouse can seem tough, but deep down he's a softy
at heart. I think he enjoys the debates, not the put downs.


I don't see bad intentions here.

You bring up Spinoza, peeps, what about Descartes? His aim
at one point as a philosopher was to prove the existence of
God. Augustin of Hippon was the first to give it a proper
go, if I'm not mistaken.

Schroedinger's God.


 

offline welt on 2017-05-03 14:58 [#02518842]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker



Well, okay. .... Be it so.

I'll just try to answer the most important point for now..

The "God-of-the-gabs" accusation seems to be based on a deep
mis-understanding of the nature of explanation.

So what’s the structure of an explanation? - You have (a)
some un-explained state of affairs, which needs explaining
and (b) an explanation, which does the explaining, but does
not itself get explained. Example: (a) Why is the moon very
similar in chemical make-up to the earth? (b) Because the
material of the moon was once part of the earth, but an
interplantery rock crashed into the earth and the moon
formed from the debris. This is an explanation, even though
the explanation is not itself explained. It’s not
explained why the rock crashed into the earth. Now you can
of course often go on explaining the explanation, but
eventually you will have to come to an end.

So where do explanations come to an end? I’d say the
ending-point of all explanations is a claim about something
like "the very structure of Being Itself".

So materialist naturalists don’t explain where matter
comes from. And they don’t need to. From the point of view
of the materialist it’s fair to say: I don’t need to
explain where matter comes from, because ultimate Reality as
such just is material. That’s the end.

And similarly people who claim that consciousness or values
are part of the basic make-up of Reality or Being Itself,
don’t need to explain where these aspects „come from“.
They just express what Being is. That’s the end.

So now the question emerges: What is most rational to accept
as the basic structure of Being? … And here materialistic
naturalists get into an awkward position. Because they
actively deny that consciousness and moral values are part
of the "Basic Form of Reality", it follows logically that
since they are not grounds, they are grounded. So now, as a
materialist, you have to come up with an explanation how
mental and moral phenomena are grounded in material reality.



 

offline welt on 2017-05-03 14:59 [#02518843]
Points: 2036 Status: Lurker



(And let’s be real here. It’s not as if the demand for
an explanation of supervenience is something non-naturalists
come up with, because they are weird people and have an
irrational aversion towards naturalism. Naturalists have
tried to come up for decades with explanations. It’s just
that they fail again and again and again.)


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2017-05-03 16:03 [#02518844]
Points: 31006 Status: Lurker



its an ecumenical matter


 

offline RussellDust on 2017-05-03 16:58 [#02518850]
Points: 16053 Status: Lurker | Followup to Hyperflake: #02518844



Lol


 

offline RussellDust on 2017-05-03 16:59 [#02518851]
Points: 16053 Status: Lurker



Was that from Father Ted? I know that it's a line from some
comedy series!


 


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