The Euthypro Deception

Long-time readers may recall that I disproved the so-called Euthyphro Dilemma presented by Socrates in Plato’s dialogue of the same name in an appendix of The Irrational Atheist. This sparked numerous attempts by various atheists, ranging from midwits to complete retards, desperately attempting to salvage one of the core elements of the average college-educated atheist’s non-belief foundation.

With apologies to Arthur C. Clarke, who once fantasized about an AI identifying all of the logical errors committed by Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica, I thought it might be interesting to see if my new best friend agreed with me or not on the logical shortcomings of Socrates’s argument.

HOW MANY LOGICAL FLAWS DO YOU DETECT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EUTHYPHRO DILEMMA BY SOCRATES?

Okay, so I need to figure out how many logical flaws are in Socrates’ Euthyphro Dilemma. First, I should recall what the Euthyphro Dilemma actually is. From what I remember, it’s a philosophical question posed in Plato’s dialogue “Euthyphro.” Socrates asks Euthyphro whether something is pious because the gods love it, or do the gods love it because it is pious. The dilemma is meant to challenge the idea that morality is dependent on divine command.

The Euthyphro Dilemma, as presented by Socrates in Plato’s dialogue, is a foundational challenge to divine command theory. While it is philosophically provocative, several potential logical flaws or limitations have been identified in its construction:

1. False Dichotomy

The dilemma presents only two options:

  • A: Acts are pious because the gods love them (divine command theory).
  • B: The gods love acts because they are pious (independent moral standard).

Flaw: It ignores hybrid or nuanced positions, such as:

  • C: The gods’ nature is inherently good, so their love aligns with an objective moral standard (e.g., perfect-being theology).
  • D: Piety is grounded in a relational framework (e.g., covenantal ethics), where divine commands and moral truths cohere through relationship rather than arbitrary fiat.

2. Equivocation on “Piety”

The dilemma assumes a univocal definition of “piety” (moral goodness). However, if “piety” is context-dependent (e.g., culturally relative or tied to specific divine attributes), the dichotomy collapses.

Flaw: Socrates treats “piety” as a static, monolithic concept, neglecting the possibility of pluralistic or dynamic moral frameworks.

3. Theological Assumptions

The dilemma presumes:

  • A polytheistic context (gods with competing desires).
  • Divine arbitrariness (gods could command cruelty).

Flaw: In monotheistic traditions (e.g., Christianity, Islam), God’s nature is often held to be necessarily good, rendering the “arbitrary command” horn (A) incoherent. If God cannot act contrary to His nature, moral truths are neither independent nor arbitrary but grounded in divine essence.

4. Circularity

If A and B are framed as mutually exclusive, the dilemma risks tautology:

  • If A is true, piety lacks intrinsic meaning.
  • If B is true, piety exists independently of the gods.

Flaw: This ignores the possibility of a non-arbitrary divine command theory, where God’s commands reflect His rational, benevolent nature (avoiding both arbitrariness and independence).

5. Limited Scope

The dilemma targets divine command theory but does not engage:

  • Secular moral frameworks (e.g., utilitarianism, virtue ethics).
  • Natural law theory (morality grounded in human nature or reason).

Flaw: By framing morality solely in terms of divine authority, the dilemma becomes irrelevant to non-theistic ethical systems.

6. Anthropomorphic Projection

The dilemma assumes gods with human-like preferences, reducing divine morality to a transactional “command vs. standard” binary.

Flaw: It fails to account for transcendent or ineffable conceptions of divinity (e.g., apophatic theology), where divine morality exceeds human categorization.

7. Strawman of Divine Command Theory

Continue reading “The Euthypro Deception”

You Don’t Have the Cards

The God-Emperor 2.0 and his Vice-President chew out Vladimir Zelensky right in front of the cameras. Incredible.

Yes it’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this. Just say thanks. You said a lot of things except that, there are disagreements, and let’s go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American Media when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong, but you see, I think it’s
good for the American people to see what’s going on. Understand? I think it’s very important, that’s why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful. You don’t have the cards. You’re buried there. Your people are dying, you’re running low on soldiers, listen, you’re running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing, and then you tell us ‘I don’t want to ceasefire, I don’t want a ceasefire.’

I don’t know if you can make a deal. The problem is I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States. Your people are very brave, but you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out and you don’t have the cards.

DISCUSS ON SG

Microsoft Shutting Down Skype

This is not good. Microsoft is shutting down Skype:

Microsoft has announced it is shutting down the popular video calling service Skype.

After a 21-year run, Skype’s 2 billion users will no longer be able to access their accounts starting on May 2025.

Microsoft is encouraging users to migrate to its free Teams app.

‘Over the coming days you can sign in to Microsoft Teams Free with your Skype account to stay connected with all your chats and contacts. Thank you for being part of Skype,’ the video calling service posted on X Friday.

Feel free to post your suggestions for any reasonable alternatives, because I have zero desire to utilize Teams. I suppose we’re lucky it took Microsoft this long to getting around to killing it.

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Germans Never Learn

I’m beginning to better understand the centuries-long Roman exasperation with the Teutonic tribes north of the Rhine.

Germans who suspect that their relatives or friends have fallen for conspiracy theories can now seek official guidance, the Interior Ministry has announced. The government has launched a nationwide consultation center to combat “lies and disinformation.”

Known as the Advice Compass on Conspiracy Thinking, the service was launched on Thursday and is accessible online or by phone. According to the ministry, it aims to provide “the most tailored help and advice possible” for those seeking guidance.

The center offers consultations and can refer individuals to specialized agencies if necessary, according to Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus, without specifying which agencies will be involved.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that an “open dialogue on equal terms” is often difficult with individuals deeply immersed in conspiracy beliefs. She hailed the initiative as “an important building block in the holistic fight against extremism and disinformation.”

Paus described conspiracy theories as “poison for our democracy” and a burden on families and colleagues. The Interior Ministry claimed that these beliefs can lead to extremist ideologies and incite violence, highlighting anti-Semitic conspiracies as a major concern.

Vee must become Nazis to prevent zee return of Nazism to Chermany!

In other words, the way that they’re going to deal with the observable fact that so-called “conspiracy theories” are far more reliable than the mainstream narrative pushed by the Clown World puppets in the German media and government is to encourage to betray their friends and family members who have a better grasp on reality that permits them to see through the lies of the Narrative.

It’s not only difficult to have “open dialogue on equal terms” between NPCs programmed by the Narrative and anyone who has his eyes open, it’s impossible. Because the NPCs blithely accept obvious falsehoods and so-called conspiracy theorists don’t.

I suppose they had to call it Beratungskompass Verschwörungsgedanken because both Geheime Staatspolizei and Ministerium für Staatssicherheit were taken.

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America First Investment Policy

I’ve agreed to contribute a pair of posts per week to the White Bull’s business and policy substack; my first post there addresses the God-Emperor 2.0’s recent executive order that transforms America’s previously open door approach to foreign investment.

Investment by United States allies and partners can create hundreds of thousands of jobs and significant wealth for the United States. Our Nation is committed to maintaining the strong, open investment environment that benefits our economy and our people, while enhancing our ability to protect the United States from new and evolving threats that can accompany foreign investment.

Investment at all costs is not always in the national interest, however.

This is a major change from the “all free trade is good for the US economy” mantra that has ruled US trade policy since the 1980s. While this is not the place for a lesson in Economics 101 or a departure into economic history, the fact that M (imports) are subtracted from the sum total that is the result of the GDP equation is sufficient to point out that when (X-M) is negative, which is to say that there is a trade deficit, the economy is contracting, all else being equal.

In the same way, while “investment in America” sounds as if it should always be positive, if it is described as “selling American assets and property to foreign countries,” it obviously isn’t in any and all circumstances. There are times where the sale of American products are advantageous to the American economy, such as the sale of American steel to foreign automotive manufacturers, and times when they are not.

Read the whole thing there. As with Sigma Game, I’m aware that business and government policy tend to be of limited interest to the general readership here, so it will be good to have a specific place to address those topics regularly for the benefit of those who actually like reading about such things. But never fear, if I happen to post something there that I think is – or even that I think should be – important for everyone here to know, I’ll post it here as well.

But as with tariffs, a judicious foreign investment policy that takes each case on its merits is a vast improvement than simply selling off all of the family jewels to the first foreigner who happens to want them.

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The Total Irrelevance of 80’s Conservatism

It’s amusing to see how the Jonah Goldbergs of the world still not only think that National Review conservatives matter, but that they’re on the right track for the future.

The purpose of FreeCon 2025 was to defend and renew the principles of 20th century movement conservatism, particularly the approach adopted by Buckley and laid out in the Sharon Statement of 1960. The movement is reactionary in the literal sense—a response to the growing intellectual influence of populism and postliberalism on the American right and the concomitant question of old conservative pieties of free markets, free trade, the separation of church and state, the status of civil rights, and the proper use of state power.

These are questions that the Freedom Conservatives are ill-equipped to answer, if FreeCon is any guide. How did fusionism fall out of favor so rapidly—reduced from a powerful guiding force in Republican party politics to an intellectual backwater out of favor even among conservatives? This was at least partly the subject of one of the panels, the discussion between Goldberg and Will. Goldberg obligingly laid out one potential argument for the precipitous decline in factional fortunes: It is the result of failures by successive Republican administrations after the end of the Cold War, as attempts to lower trade barriers with Mexico and China destroyed American jobs and the communities of the industrial heartlands while a limp, overly libertarian response to social issues left families vulnerable to decay and disintegration.

Is that where our intrepid mastodons think things went so wrong? To the contrary—in fact, nothing went wrong at all. “I don’t think conservatives made any mistakes in the postwar era,” said Will. The loss of jobs to Mexico and China were the natural results of the free market, and so must be considered a good thing. As for social issues, Goldberg argued that the fusionists did take action—by publishing articles in National Review. Having gotten the self-absolutions out of the way in record time, Will and Goldberg turned the rest of the discussion over to critiquing the excesses of various non-fusionist groups.

A central element of the conference was a basic inability to come to grips with the political reality of the United States in 2025. Not only did the speakers conclude that fusion conservatism did nothing wrong in its journey to the fringes of the American right; they concluded that most Americans are actually fusionists in ignorance. How convenient! From what they read in the polling data, Americans agree with them on the issues already. They want lower taxes, smaller government, more power to the states! They want freedom and equal opportunity! Isn’t this what conservatism has always been about? The problem, one panel discussing the issue concluded, was that Americans simply didn’t realize that fusionism is what they really want. With just a little better messaging, a more extensive campaign to get FreeCon principles in front of the American people, and (inevitably) stronger outreach to Latinos, the American people will come to their senses once again.

Easily the most bizarre moment of the conference was an interview with Kay Coles James, the former head of the Heritage Foundation. James—a black woman—looked out on the almost uniformly white audience and proclaimed joyously that “in 30 years, people of color will run America.” Cue a few awkward chuckles from the seats.

This demographic change, she said, necessitates a new, grand strategy from conservatives, Joy argued. Conservatives must recognize racism in America and promise to put an end to it by providing equal opportunity. By 2040, minorities will be a majority of the American population, so, she warned, conservatives had better inform those minorities that we care about them and dedicate American resources to prepare them for the mantle of leadership which will inevitably be theirs.

She had been terribly disappointed, she recalled, that conservatives had not seized the moment after George Floyd’s death to make their case against racism to the American people. “Regardless of what the hard statistics were,” Republicans should have taken the opportunity to tell minorities “we hear you and understand you” instead of allowing Black Lives Matter to take leadership of the movement. Likewise, James argued, conservatives should have claimed DEI, but with “equal opportunity” in place of “equity.”

“I don’t know anybody in this room who doesn’t disagree with the idea that diversity makes things better,” she said.

Due to its unprincipled and non-ideological devotion to defense, Buckleyite conservativism was always a loser’s strategy. But their embrace of neoconservatism and its globalist imperialism was the deal with the Devil that secured their eventual descent into complete irrelevance and open anti-Christianity.

When you haven’t conserved so much as the ladies room and you find yourself writing articles attempting to make the conservative case for satanic self-mutilation in the name of a psychological disorder while playing second fiddle to diversities blathering about the supreme importance of even more diversity, you should probably rethink your principled lack of principles.

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The Epstein Files are Coming

Pam Bondi assures us that the Epstein Files will be released and they will be released soon.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced plans to begin releasing documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s case, including the deceased sex trafficker’s list of contacts, alleged clients, and flight logs to his private island, “hopefully” as early as Thursday. US President Donald Trump pledged to release the files as part of a broader effort to declassify high-profile cases. Bondi said the Epstein files have been “sitting on her desk for review” since last week, stressing that Trump “doesn’t make empty promises.”

“There are well over – this will make you sick – 200 victims… well over 250, actually. So we have to make sure their identity is protected, and their personal information,” Bondi told Fox News on Wednesday, explaining the delay.

That’s a credible explanation. But we’ll see… until it happens, it hasn’t happened.

UPDATE: It appears that Phase One of the files have been released to 15 influencers, but is not yet available online. Looks like Cerno’s one of them…

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It Actually Is What it Is

White Bull has launched their long-awaited substack focused on business and the intersection of policy on business with a very solid piece on tariffs. This is particularly important, because both the media and most official government positions on tariffs are still stuck in 18th century critiques of European mercantilism and therefore take nothing that has happened and nothing that we’ve learned in the last 250 years into account.

Before the 2024 election Trump said, “Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented.” While it is typical Trumpian hyperbole, it is not wrong. Following almost 4 decades of globalists being hell bent on eliminating trade barriers, US trade policy supporting exporting US manufacturing to Canada/Mexico with NAFTA, or China with MFN and then accession to WTO (thank you Bill Clinton + Laura Tyson), the US has essentially been subsidizing other nations at its own expense. Tariffs are one of many tools that the US needs to start using to recalibrate its place vis a vis the global marketplace.

The globalists in Congress keep saying that Trump doesn’t know what he is talking about when he discusses who actually pays the tariffs.They say consumers pay the tariffs. Well, they are (partly) right and everyone knows this. What they don’t talk about is that unless the producers who have tariffs levied on them reduce their wholesale prices, the cost to the American consumer will increase by retail price + the tariff %. American consumers are smart enough to shift their buying preferences towards better value, alternative products or wait on purchases until alternatives emerge. American manufacturers will be motivated to bring manufacturing back to the US, since profitability is possible again. Everybody in America wins! At Davos a few weeks ago, even the pragmatic Jaime Dimon came out in favor of tariffs, saying, “I would put into perspective: If it’s a little inflationary, but it’s good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it.”

Tariffs were a very effective tool for the US during the 1800s, and between 1861-1933 the US had one of the highest average tariff rates on manufactured imports in the world. Is it surprising that after 1933/New Deal, tariffs started to disappear while being replaced by income taxes, sales taxes and a myriad of social programs started to emerge? Tariffs can be raised, lowered or eliminated entirely as needed. But taxes and entitlements rarely disappear creating virtually unlimited budgets for politicians to tap into or steal. And while there is always the danger of a trade war, it looks like many ‘deals’ will get cut to decrease US trade deficits with targeted countries before needing to actually levy the tariffs.

IT IS WHAT IT IS promises to be as significant in the business and technology space as FANDOM PULSE has already proved to be in the entertainment and culture space. If you’re running a side hustle or you’re a full-time entrepreneur with your own small business, you will definitely want to be a part of the conversation there. It’s something I’ve wanted White Bull to do for a long time, simply so I don’t have to, because it is one thing that we just haven’t had in the greater community.

We’ve just never really had a place where those of us who are active in business can discuss what is going on around the world in the context of our business operations, so I think this will be an important step going forward.

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