Philosophy on LiveJournal

Welcome to the LiveJournal Philosophy community! While participating in our community, please observe the following rules.

Violating the Following Rules Will Get You Banned Without Warning:

1. No trolling. Do not write posts or responses with the intent of disrupting rational discussion.



2. No fake accounts, troll accounts, multiple accounts, etc.



3. Do not sexually harass other users or attack a user for his/her race or sexual orientation.



4. Do not delete comments in order to hide the fact that you broke a rule. Deleting comments to correct typos, html errors, etc. is acceptable. Never delete other users' comments.



5. Do not post polls without a moderator's permission.

Violating the Following Rules Will Get You a Warning:

1. Posts must be about philosophy.
Examples of philosophically-relevant topics are ones involving:
• aesthetics (art, music, beauty, etc.)
• epistemology (reason, faith, logic, intuition, relativism, etc.)
• ethics (right and wrong, virtues, etc.)
• logic (syllogisms, predicate logic, logical fallacies, etc.)
• metaphysics (god, time, existence, being, etc.)
• political philosophy (fundamentals of state, law, rights, liberty, government, authority, etc.)
• semantics (meaning, language, numbers, etc.)


2. Put long posts behind a cut.



3. All posts should contain some philosophical content. A mere list of questions, or a hypothetical situation followed by a "What do you think?", is not sufficient.



4. No comments disabled posts. Make all posts public.



5. Trading insults and barbs is acceptable; flaming is not. A flame is any post or response sent with the intent of personally attacking the other person. Acceptable: “Your argument is stupid.” Unacceptable: “You are stupid.” Not all situations are this clear-cut, but whether or not something counts as a flame is left up to moderator discretion. If you feel you have been flamed, contact a moderator immediately.



6. Please, no whining about elitism. It gets old and it only serves to make you look petty. Yes, some people in here act superior. Very often it is because that person has demonstrated his or her capability. Shut up and learn.



7. If you have a problem with how another person is treating you, contact a moderator immediately. Do not retaliate in like manner. Do not write a new post about the person or the person's behavior. Do not write posts complaining that your posts have been deleted. Do not generate drama. Etc.

Application of these rules and punishment for violation of them are solely matters of moderator discretion. These rules ought to serve as a rough outline of how one should behave in this community. These rules are not a substitute for using common sense. The moderators reserve the right to decide if a certain behavior not covered by the rules is deleterious to the community and therefore worthy of punitive action. The moderators reserve the right to amend and expand these rules as needed.

K U M I T E

In September of 2006, in an incident concerning Objectivism, the members of philosophy overwhelmingly opposed efforts to improve community content, favoring a more laissez-faire approach to the management of activity on the forum. In recognition of popular will, the moderators decided to take a more hands-off approach to community management.

In April of 2007, however, it was decided that a minor adjustment was needed to further enable users to resolve philosophical disputes of especial rancor. After diligently watching the 1988 martial-arts film Bloodsport, the moderators decided to introduce a kumite clause in the community rules.

The kumite rule is as follows:

One party to a philosophical disagreement, wherein the representatives of each opposing side unreservedly maintain their correctness on the matter of dispute, may bring the disagreement to the moderators for the consideration and, if accepted, arbitration of a philosophical death match, in which the loser is permanently banned from the community.

The right of kumite is only granted under exceptional circumstances in which one or more moderators concede, on the merits of a plea tendered by the challenger, that the philosophical points of contention are clear, irreconcilable, and held without reservation by the respective parties; a kumite is an exceptional event, can not be granted regularly, and in the interest of peace and harmony, may not even be granted even if the aforementioned criteria are nominally satisfied. We ask that community members do not make frivolous pleas or issue challenges motivated by anything less than an absolute conviction in one's ideas.

If however the plea is accepted by a moderator, the defender may reserve the right to forfeit the challenge provided he or she makes a public and unconditional statement of concession regarding the matter in question.

If however the challenge is accepted by the defender, a philosophical melee to the death will ensue. Arguments will be evaluated on rational merit, rhetorical skill, demonstrations of scholarship regarding the disputed issue, evidence from relevant philosophical sources, and above all the ability of one party to clearly and convincingly dismantle the position of his or her opponent.

Given clear and unambiguous demonstrations to this effect, a winner will be declared, and the loser will be cast out of the community -- for eternity.

Please address all moderator inquiries via LiveJournal messaging:

felephant
unloveable (Inactive Reserve)
apperception (Inactive Reserve)
mendaciloquent (Inactive Reserve)
mirukux (Inactive Reserve)
zentiger (Inactive Reserve)
i_am_lane (Inactive Reserve)

Newcomers, please peruse the community's memories. Some topics have been beaten to death, especially ones involving free will. If you have something new to contribute on the issue, feel free to share though.

Philosophy Resources:

A Miniature Library of Philosophy
Meta-Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Philosophy Resources on the Web
Logical Fallacies
Online Ethics Library

Related communities:

real_philosophy - A strictly-moderated philosophy community, intended for more experienced philosophers. If you are a beginner and have questions about terminology or concepts, for example, you may be better off posting them in philosophy.
theism - A community for rational discussion of theological ideas.
determinism - A community for debating views on free will and determinism.
existentialists - Existentialism community.
cont_philosophy - Continental Philosophy community.
philo_majors - A community for students of philosophy.
spookythinking - A closed community for graduate students interested in continental philosophy.

This community is moderated by felephant, with perhaps occasional visits by some of the old guard: unloveable, mirukux, mendaciloquent, zentiger and i_am_lane.

apperception is Father Of The Community.