Just state where you think you fall in the philosophical spectrum. Some loose definitions. Relativist- Reality and being is simply the perception of the individual. Materialist- Science is everything. Pragmatist- Not drawn to a particular philosophy, just kind of go with what works (DonnyMost, this one might be more like you) Nihilist- We believe in nothing. Moderate Realist- Aquinas, Scotus, etc. Basically a philosophy in which the mind is finite in what it can know through reason, the mind can reason back to first principles but cannot know them, revelation allows for us to see, but not necessarily know fully God/truth. Anti-Intellectual- Think of Rousseau, not a materialist, but often grouped with them. Essentially, man just kind of came together and this is what we got. Think of a cross between Materialist and pragmatist. Rationalist- Descartes, Kant. Essentially the human mind can know truth through the turning of time, etc. Other- You'd have to explain to me.
You are quick. I think that's covered as well. Strange that it would post the thread without giving the chance to get the poll up.
You should have made more than one option selectable, because many of these are not mutually-exclusive.
I did that intentionally. There are subtle differences. I'm really interested where most of the liberals will go, either relativists, pragamatists, or materialists.
A brief definition of each would be helpful. I am not a philosophy student (anymore) and really don't feel like going out of my way to research all of these terms.
So... why did you do it intentionally? Like I said, they're not mutually exclusive... I think I belong in about 2, if not 3 of those camps.
And, I must take issue with calling the traditional Christian philosophy "Moderate Realist"... I mean really? I don't see much moderation or realism in traditional Christianity. Then of course, there's wikipedia's notion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moderate_realism
My definition hopefully makes it make more sense. As you can see, Aristotle is listed as a moderate realist, and Aquinas is basically Aristotle with Christianity. I also hope they help you to choose which group you overlap more into. Also, Modern Protestant Christianity, as rimmy would describe it, is probably closer to relativism.
Same. What I remember from school was, with regard to the nature of matter and the mind-body problem, that I started out as a dualist, but am now a materialist... but I'm not sure that's the type of materialism you're polling for.
Just saw your edit, pretty sure Kant isn't a rationalist, at least from the way I understand the term. He's an idealist, and tries to reconcile rationalism with empiricism.
In the end though, he tries to fit reality, or being, into a nice and tight construct that is completely rational. That's why I put him there. If you want to call him and idealist, rationalist, fine.