LandoRamone30 Posted March 29, 2015 Posted March 29, 2015 Okay so I am reading Real Time Relationships. Stefan is using words I thought I knew but, he has different meanings for the words. Example: the word love. I would think. "Oh, love is when I like something alot." Stefan's meaning for love is my involuntary attraction to virtue. Virtue being truth , honesty, integrity, courage, and empathy. I am sure Stefan's list of virtues is much longer. These are just the ones that come to mind. With that said, my hiccups come about when Stefan uses the word soul and respect, respectively. Like any student seeking knowledge I first turn to a standard. In this case I was using Oxford English Dictionary. I am sure Stefan has his own meaning for these words. Has anyone tackled this and knows what Stefan is saying? Thank you, in advance, for reading my post.
Wuzzums Posted March 30, 2015 Posted March 30, 2015 Love as "the involuntary response to virtue" is not exactly a definition of love, it's more of an explanation as to why you love something. For instance, if you're a virtuous person then love is the feeling you get around other virtuous people. Or put in another way, when you're around virtuous people you will feel a certain way, and that certain way of feeling can be defined as "love" for lack of a better word. Thus when Stefan uses the word "love" he's implying a certain situation. Still, he's usually very strict on definitions. If he didn't define the words beforehand it's safe assume he's using the literal definition. 1
LandoRamone30 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Posted March 30, 2015 Thanks, I appreciate your assistance. I guess it's safe to assume then I was correct in my understanding of what Stefan meant when he use the words soul or respect. You see often I only hear and know the word soul in a religious context. I know Stefan could not have been using it in that way because Stefan does not believe in illusions. Also with regard to respect again often times respect is demanded as if it is owe to someone just because it is; my understanding was, just like love, respect can not be forced. It must flow outward involuntarily in response to virtuous actions.
MrCapitalism Posted March 30, 2015 Posted March 30, 2015 With that said, my hiccups come about when Stefan uses the word soul and respect, respectively. Could you go into more detail about what problems you're having with these words, and their use in RTR?
Tservitive Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Still, he's usually very strict on definitions. If he didn't define the words beforehand it's safe assume he's using the literal definition. Agreed. Stefan also has said on multiple occasions to watch out when other people invent words when there are so many good words out there. Okay so I am reading Real Time Relationships. Stefan is using words I thought I knew but, he has different meanings for the words. Example: the word love. I would think. "Oh, love is when I like something alot." Stefan's meaning for love is my involuntary attraction to virtue. Virtue being truth , honesty, integrity, courage, and empathy. I am sure Stefan's list of virtues is much longer. These are just the ones that come to mind. With that said, my hiccups come about when Stefan uses the word soul and respect, respectively. Like any student seeking knowledge I first turn to a standard. In this case I was using Oxford English Dictionary. I am sure Stefan has his own meaning for these words. Has anyone tackled this and knows what Stefan is saying? Thank you, in advance, for reading my post. Okay so I am reading Real Time Relationships. Stefan is using words I thought I knew but, he has different meanings for the words. Example: the word love. I would think. "Oh, love is when I like something alot." Stefan's meaning for love is my involuntary attraction to virtue. Virtue being truth , honesty, integrity, courage, and empathy. I am sure Stefan's list of virtues is much longer. These are just the ones that come to mind. With that said, my hiccups come about when Stefan uses the word soul and respect, respectively. Like any student seeking knowledge I first turn to a standard. In this case I was using Oxford English Dictionary. I am sure Stefan has his own meaning for these words. Has anyone tackled this and knows what Stefan is saying? Thank you, in advance, for reading my post. This is a direct quote from my MacBook Oxford Dictionary for the definition of love 1 an intense feeling of deep affection: babies fill parents with intense feelings of love | their love fortheir country. • a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone: it was love at first sight| they were both in love withher | we were slowly falling in love.• (Love)a personified figure of love, often represented as Cupid.• a great interest and pleasure in something: his love forfootball | we share a love ofmusic.• affectionate greetings conveyed to someone on one's behalf.• a formula for ending an affectionate letter: take care, lots of love, Judy. The reason why Stefan defines love differently than above is that the above definitions are too vague to convey any useful meaning in a philosophical proof or argument. That is why he defines love as our involuntary response to virtue since it is an objective measure, or at least more objective than an intense feeling of affection since once can define virtues but how do we measure comparative affections? Lando, I hope this was helpful. It took me a while to understand why love was thus defined for my own reading of RTR.
Paul Carassafro Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 When Stefan says soul, he means your consciousness and motivating values, not some immaterial entity.
LandoRamone30 Posted April 1, 2015 Author Posted April 1, 2015 Mrcapitalism thank you for your curiosity. My hiccup was Stefan didn't define soul or respect like he did with love. I was left to trying to use the dictionary definition s but was not sure if that was how he was using the words. I understood soul in a religious context as this thing incorporeal that we all possess. And I understood respect to mean not to be ill in your speech about me or in your action s around me. Example it would be disrespectful to not greet me when you walk by.
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