Poll: Theology Forum

[tiberry]

It seems that the Philosophy forum has become mostly a Theology forum. I do think that there is a need for both, hence this poll.

Would you like to see a separate TFP forum for Theology?

[asaris]

Even though I enjoy the theological conversations, I'm really here to discuss philosophy, not theology. The problem is that there are more than a few philosophical problems that have a tendency to turn into theological discussions.

[Lebell]

I can tell you now that it won't happen.

The philosophy board was intended to encompass all the "God" arguments as well as other philosophical musings.

[chavos]

i'd guess if a thread starter marks it philosophy, and requests that the problem not be discussed in terms of theology, that it would be respected. try that before deciding that campaigning for a new forum is the answer.

[bonehed1]

I say just make 2 forums and that would solve the issue of a thread being started by philosophy but ending with theology.

[CSflim]

The probelm is, in my opinion, is that people, when arguing in a philiosophical thread, tend to use their religious beliefs as part of an a priori assumption in one of their arguments. Then this assumption gets challenged, and the entire thread degenerates into pointless god talk.

[Tophat665]

Originally posted by CSflim
The probelm is, in my opinion, is that people, when arguing in a philiosophical thread, tend to use their religious beliefs as part of an a priori assumption in one of their arguments. Then this assumption gets challenged, and the entire thread degenerates into pointless god talk.

Good analysis. A suggestion would be that the starter of a thread could specify whether or not religious arguments would be acceptable or not for that very reason.

I actually enjoy the god talk threads; though I am not religious myself, I know a fair bit about a goodly number of religions, and I find it interesting. I also like to have folks like chavos around arguing religion in a way that retores my faith in humanity.

[tiberry]

The whole point is to distinguish between theology and philosophy. To say that one should mark the thread appropriately only demonstrates the need for a separate forum. I STILL hold, even though I've been outweighed by a "super moderator" that we NEED a separate theology forum. Do you agreee to let the poll run until 31 Jan 04 and act according to popular vote?

[Lebell]

Originally posted by tiberry
Do you agreee to let the poll run until 31 Jan 04 and act according to popular vote?

Knock yourself out with your poll, but no. This isn't a democracy.

Besides, I don't have the authority to make a new forum if I wanted to.

That authority lies with Halx, so the decision is really up to him.

Feel free to PM him if you like.

[Tophat665]

Originally posted by tiberry
The whole point is to distinguish between theology and philosophy. To say that one should mark the thread appropriately only demonstrates the need for a separate forum.

Actually, marking a thread to accept a certain kind of a priori argument is merely adding another optional assumption to the question posed, not changing in kind the nature of the discussion. Questions of religion are just questions of philosophy, with epistemology deleted.

[John Henry]

Religion, as a rich source of ridiculous axioms, can make for some good philosophical play. Of course for the same reason, it can lead to the whole game turning into a bit of a free for all.

I don't necessarily agree that all theological threads should be put on a seperate forum, because some of them are genuinely philosophical and as Lebell points out, that is a TFP issue, not an Academy issue, so it really needs to go in Tilted Suggestions. Perhaps this thread could be copied over to there.

What I do feel is a Philosophy Board issue is that there are a lot of posts/threads that are simply, as CS says 'god talk' and not actually philosophical at all. I'm not going to point any fingers, but I'm sure you've seen them. Perhaps it would be appropriate to move such threads to General Discussion. There are also a lot of religion threads that go over the same ground, maybe some of these could be merged.

There is, of course, the argument that a board is only made up of what is posted on it...if it's all religion, that's obviously what everyone wants...etc, etc. The problem with this argument is that it is much easier to post on a subject about which you are passionate, especially when your statements do not need to be based on impartial observation. A good philosophy post takes a lot of thought and time to put together, GodSpamWhoring does not. Quality not quantity, rermember?

Making a new forum every time you get upset about something is not a sustainable solution - The front page already looks confusingly crowded to me and some of the forums are pretty thin - but I do think this is a problem and one which we and the moderators can do something about.