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Found 13 results

  1. "Am I a stick?" I want to discuss philosophy, and in particular what honor truly means, as that has been on my mind a lot. I don't really have anyone to talk to about philosophy since most of my friends/family don't realize I think about this kind of thing, cause I kind of act like Wayne a lot of the time.
  2. Does anyone else ever think about the Radiant Ideals when you're trying to decide what is right and wrong in real life? I sometimes wish Brandon would tell the rest of the ideals not out of curiosity about the books but because I genuinely wish I had some more guidance in life. I wish I knew which order of Knight Radiants Brandon would place himself in. I wish I knew what philosophy Brandon really believes.
  3. Hello! I’m Spideyninja (not really). I don’t exactly know what I’m suppose to do here, but the prompt said something about introductions and discussions, so I’ll introduce myself then start a discussion. I enjoy comic books and many comic book movies, though there are many I do not enjoy. I first started reading Sanderson when I was in highschool and found The Reckoners series. At the time I didn’t even know that the author had other books or series, and I didn’t really get into Brandon’s work until I started watching Shadiversity, and read his epic fantasy book, Shadow of the Conqueror (great book btw). After hearing Shad praise the Mistborn books, I dove into that series and from there eagerly explored the rest of the Cosmere. A big reason I’m so intrigued by the Stormlight Archive is that I myself suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder, and it’s fascinating to me learning about other people’s perspectives on the condition. As for the discussion I promised, I’ve recently been philosophizing about the nature of justice (probably largely due to the fact that one of my alters committed a heinous crime, and I’ve been struggling with what to think of myself since turning myself in) and I have reached a conclusion I believe to be true. However I love hearing other people’s opinions as they help me to define and strengthen my own beliefs, so I want to know; how would you define the word justice, or the concept behind it?
  4. I'm in the "can't decide" camp myself. It's a complicated issue.
  5. God What is God actually? Or what is a god? I think about that far too much but I enjoy the thoughts of others. And Brandon did put his thoughts into his books. Some things he did put there intentionally and some probably without thinking about it. I read a lot about similar topics in this forum and i assume that my basic idea was already mentioned but most things I found were older. I am thinking this through while writing it. There will be errors and I hope someone finds them. Gods throughout the history of mankind in the real world I've never met someone who actually believed in one of the ancient gods of the Greek, Egyptians, or Vikings in the way they are represented in the strategy game Age of Mythology. And by my Christian standard the gods in the game are not gods at all. They are not all powerful or all knowing. They are not good. They are more than one entity. They did take on physical forms and sometimes even impregnated women. As somewhat of a christian myself I have to think about Jesus when writing that sentence. He had a physical form, his father was God and he did not seem to be all powerful. But this discussion should not be about him. The ancient pantheons knew many Gods and all of them had a different purpose. The main Greek gods for example are known as the Twelve Olympians. And the ancient gods did always fight or party. There are many great stories about all of them. Gods in the Cosmere as seen by the residents To talk about all of them would probably be more difficult than talking about all of the gods in the real world, but I want to bring up my favorite examples. Blushweaver is called a god, but from my viewpoint she is a resurrected, highly invested, human. The Stormfather is a god for many Rosharans. He is basically a Spren for us. The Heralds are also gods for many Rosharans and I do not know what they are for me, but they are similar to Blushweaver and the Returned. For the Un-Kalaki all Spren are gods. And last but not least there are the Shards and Adonalsium himself. This is more difficult. For someone who believes in the divinity of one of the beings mentioned above the shards would probably be gods too. And Adonalsium as a combination of all of them would logically also count as a god. Many gods becoming one In our world it happened that one religion devoured others. Sometimes a polytheistic religion slowly focused on one of the gods at first and then integrating the aspects of the other gods into the main god. Multiple religions and multiple gods became one god as the only god of one general religion. This happened a lot and is related to other phenomena. If you think about the pyramid (hierarchy) of needs it makes sense to pray for food and shelter at the beginning stage of a developing society. But later those basic needs are fulfilled and love, esteem and self-actualization become more important. Those needs are more abstract than food. This leads to the god, responsible for this need, being more abstract. This is a complicated topic and you can spend years looking into it but my main argument is that in our world multiple religions and gods did unite to become one. The Shattering of Adonalsium In the cosmere the whole topic of religion currently begins with the Shattering of Adonalsium. Adonalsium, an (all-)powerful being was shattered into 16 Shards. Those Shards represent different aspects of the same being. And maybe something important happened with the 4 Dawnshards before that, but this is currently RAFOed as far as I know. Here is where part one of my conclusion starts. The Shattering of Adonalsium is the opposite of what happened in our world. In our world many gods become one. If we think of Adonalsium as a god then his shattering is one god becoming many. And not only Adonalsium did become many gods, but his shards did too. In Greek mythology divinity gets passed on to the children of the god. If both parents are gods, the child is a god too. If only one parent is a god, the child is born as a halfgod. If we use this theory on Roshar, then every Spren is a god. We can argue about how much divinity is needed to actually be called a god, but it is hard to draw a line. So let's just use the easy way and say everything that is pure investiture without a physical form is a god. This would be one easy way to define god in the cosmere. It is clearly not perfect but it is a definition. It is not the definition I would use from an out of world perspective but it would be fine as an inworld one for me. Socrates? What has Socrates to do with that? Socrates asked difficult questions. Imagine someone asking about honor. What is honorful? If you ask many people there will be a consensus on a lot of honorful behaviors. But some things will be contrary. And this thought of contrary views on honorful behavior can be represented by spren. Syl believes that Kaladin is honorful. Other Honorspren may agree or disagree, but no other spren agreed enough to make him a radiant. The part of Honor (and Cultivation maybe) that thought of Kaladin as honorful enough to become radiant is called Syl. So Sy is only a small part of the whole Adonalsium, but a part with power and an opinion. If we say that Adonalsium is the god of the Cosmere we can argue that he did split up himself, his will and his power into many little pieces but those pieces are still the will and power of the whole so every Spren is Adonalsium but Adonalsium is all Sprens and all the other Shards as well. A Spren is then a part of God. It is divine. If we accept that Adonalsium never was all powerful or willingly limited himself that every part of Adonalsium is still God in its essence and Identity. Are Humans Gods now? No. But as mentioned in the cosmere and the real world. There is something special about Humans. In the Cosmere we can add a lot of other beings to the list of special ones. But to keep it easy I´ll just talk about humans. Every human has some kind of divinity. We have souls or something. That's a complicated and abstract philosophical and religious idea. And I will not discuss all world religions at once but most agree that humans are special. The one above all The true God of the Cosmere So even if we do not agree on Adonalsium being a God there is something even deeper than that. If we define God almighty and something that knows everything, the past, the present, the future there is still one being that fits this description. Brandon Sanderson! He created the Cosmere. He created it out of nothing in his mind. He completely decides all physical rules. He can change them anytime, but it would make a worse story. He knows the past of the cosmere and also it’s future. He can do whatever he wants with it. He is almighty in the cosmere. He is God. Of course he is not the god of our real world, but no one in the Cosmere can prove that Brandon exists. He creates characters and tries to make them seem conscious. And he does it so well that they seem real or believable to all of us. But sometimes he has to intervene in the broader story. Intervene in what would normally happen. He creates coincidences that bring the important people together. Someone finds the right book at the right time. People meet randomly or due to mysterious reasons like Hoid. Hoid is somewhat the main way of Brandon to influence the story. And by influencing the story he changes the cosmere itself. And Brandon created the Cosmere in a way that Hoid seems to be real and not divinie. At least not much more divine than many other beings. Hoid can be everyone. He can be beggar on the streets, the king's wit, or just some random traveler you meet at a campfire. But Hoid is always Brandon’s influence. Hoid is in a way the inconspicuous hand of god. And have you ever met a Hoid in your life? Someone who did influence your path through life in a positive way without you noticing it at first? Maybe something that seems unimportant, like a stranger wearing a funny T-Shirt with a joke on it. You meet someone special years later and remember that joke. You tell the joke, one thing leads to another and you are happily married. This is a bad example but it is related to something that actually happened. So the true god of the Cosmere is Brandon Sanderson. He created it and tries to change as few things as possible, even though he knows everything and is almighty. But he influences the people in small but well calculated ways with his delegate that we know a Hoid.
  6. Hello everyone. I just read the forum rules and some things are unclear to me. And before making many mistakes, because I tend to walk on the lines that should not be crossed, I want to make sure where those lines are and what best practices I shall use? I am referring to these posts: So, I am from Europe and I do not understand the US concept of swearing. To use a Cosmere example: Galladon finishes his senteces with a specific phrase. He does not want to offend someone, but it seemed offensive to me at first. So in my experience the intent is the important factor. It is hard to talk about swear words without using them. But I can say " You are like an Apple" and I may use it to say that you are sweet, but I could also refer to the fact, that an apple is not sentient and I doubt the other persons kognitive capabilities. This is hard to be judged by others but the first thing mentioned in the best practice is "Assume the Best of People". So I think that kind of phrasing should be fine. I usually would not phrase it directly at a person but at his post/idea. But as far as I know swearing usually refers to some kind of specific words. I do not know which words are okay and which are not. In Europe we have actual free speech. There is only one thing you are not allowed to say, and that is denying the holocaust. The best example is poem by jan Böhmermann about the Turkish president where he just uses swear words and accuses him of extrem things like beastiality and pedophilia. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GBwQ4lPgo0) And this is perfectly fine because it is satire. But it would be forbidden here? I thought about a specific topic when this question came up in my mind. And due to my limited knowledge of the English language I do not know better or non swear words sometimes. The Topic is a RoW spoiler but i´ll still put it in here because it is the best example. Would this kind of swearing actually be blocked/forbidden? And what about swear words in quotes from the books or WOBs? because of this huge cultural difference between Europe and the US I just want to make sure. And I do not care about offending someone, but I try not to do it without a reason and there are a lot of Slur word I do not know about. E.g. "Anaconda" is a snake, and I may want to say that a specific spren looks like this snake but others might think about the Nikki Minaj Song and interpret the word as sexual or slur. And there are clearly a lot of examples that are less obvious. So how is that handled here usually and what factors a relevant? Another thing would be "Deliberate misgendering or misnaming other members." So, one of my basic rules is not to lie. What do you mean by gender? There is this huge discussion which is not politcs but philosophy in my opinion. What is truth. And for me truth is scientific truth. So basically XX is female and XY is male. Thats the truth for me. But if someone wants me to refer to them as the other gender and the definition of gender is not the topic of the discussion I deliberately use the gender they want me to use. But I assume that this is okay because a third party would have to complain? Usually I do not care about that when referring to a person but It is unclear to me. And if somehow this topic comes up, especially when we are discussing the gender of people not involved in the discussion, than again I should be allowed to state (my opinion) the scientific truth. That topic always confuses me and I assume people should accept the opinion of others and do not get offended by it. Has that ever been an issue here? The next thing i wonder is this(code of conduct): Deliberate revealing personal information of another community member (also known as doxxing) without their consent. What is consent? E.g. I revealed that I have ADD in my (new) "Introduce yourself" post. Is this now consent that it can be shared everywhere in this forum? especially as quote or something or a are others allowed to mention it outside of that topic? There is an ADHD specific topic and If I share somethinmg there I don´t feel like this automatically gives consent to everyone for sharing this. I´d prefer that a PN to ask for consent before sharing it would be best practice. But what are the rules (maybe i did not read it when reading the best practice and it is actually explained) And what about the mupltiple acounts rule. I personnaly do not care. But if I want to share something private, I would usually creeate a new acount and make it as anonymous as possible. So I am not allowed to do that? Next thing (from code of conduct): Hateful, hurtful, oppressive, or exclusionary remarks, including offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion. Does this also count if my remarks are against a fictional character especially if it is not my opinion but what I think is anothers character opinion? For example: (Way of Kings Spoiler) And if i quote her, I am actually posting a hateful remark, but it should be okay in my opinion because it is neither me actually stating that as a fact/my thought , nor attacking a real person. Next Thing(from code of conduct): Deliberate intimidation What do you mean by intimidation? E.g. "If you do not stop posting about Chiri-Chiri being dumb, I am forced to spam you with a dozen quotes from the book to prove you wrong" That would be an intimidation, but i assume it is not against the spirit ofthis law And Last but not least Spoilers. There are only rules for Book spoiler written? So What about movies, TV, comics, anime, .. And what about real life? Like the results of elections or sport events? And most impotantly. politics is forbidden, i usually see politics as the small area between law and philosophy. And only in the real world practical application. So I can compare a book character with a real life politician but I should not make the politicans agenda the topic. And philosophies like capitalism, marxism, nihilism, anarchchism, socialism are not politics in my opionon as long as you do not talk about an actual real life situation where this is implemented. And what about discussing the politics of Roshar? I am pretty sure that most of these things can be answered with links to other topics and general statements but if someone actually thinks about these topics specifically I´d like them to tell me if they want to discuss or not. So are you stating facts that chould not be discussed or are you sharing your opinion? Thank you very much for reading this and helping make this forum a place everyone likes to be in. (I hate the term safe space, but this is another topic )
  7. Guys, I have a pressing question that must be answered only by the wisdom of those upon the shard. What is the meaning of the universe? When does a boy band become a man band?
  8. So, I had an interesting question, and I wanted to see what people's answers would be. Is there such a thing as good and evil. And, if there is, why? And, if there isn't, why do we get so mad at people doing certain things, and so happy when they do other things?
  9. Hi everyone, I'm new here but I asked around a bit and found that my ideas on this are somewhat unique, so I thought I'd start this thread. There will be a lot of discussions I'm hoping to be a part of, but the one that interests me first and foremost is my interpretation of what he is trying to do with the Cosmere books. Specifically, it is my belief that each Cosmere world is Brandon's exploration of a specific ideological framework (perhaps not to be taken too literally, but definitely with a broad brush), its benefits as well as its pitfalls. For example, Scadrial would obviously be his exploration of Judeo-Christian ideology and its various denominations. Sel, I believe is an exploration of nationalism, patriotism, and various aspects of cultural identity and mythlore (the 'Shining City on a Hill', myth for example). The one I am most certain of, however, and have the most research to back up my theories with, is Roshar as an exploration of Buddhism and its philosophies. I am fairly certain that each of the orders of the Knights Radiant is centered on a keyword in each of the 10 Vows of the Amida Buddha. It also seems to me that the symbol for the Knights Radiant (or perhaps that is just the symbol for Roshar in general, I am unsure if he's ever given a clear answer on that) with the 5 swords effectively creating 10 points of intersection on a circle bears a striking resemblance to the Dharma Wheel (see attached image) and even the continent of Roshar seems suggestive of the Yin/Yang symbol to me. I have much, much more but I have to dig my notes out, something I absolutely will do, but in the meantime, any thoughts?
  10. It the life philosophy of the knights radiants based on any other? it seems like a weird combo of nihilism and existentialism with a whole lot of themes on morality. It also has a whole lot of heart. Any thoughts on the matter?
  11. I recently finished listening to Edgedancer and I was really intrigued by the Sleepless we encounter, Arclo. Specifically his very philosophical outlook, as I tender to ponder various philosophical issues as well. I was actually surprised when he mentioned to Lift an obscure philosophical theory that I myself had actually pondered several times, or at least something very similar to it. Namely the idea that whenever someone goes unconscious, they effectively die and a new clone soul comes to inhabit their body once they regain consciousness (for the record, while I admit that I've pondered things similar to this long before reading Edgedancer, I do NOT believe that this is actually true, though it is obviously completely unfalsifiable, but I digress). What struck me is how weird it seemed for him to just randomly mention something like this as literally the first thing he says to her once he sees her again in the alley, because while admittedly it does have some tangential relevance to his own philosophy that he's been developing, it seems more like just a random philosophical factoid he mentions on a whim. So I couldn't help but wonder whether there might be something more too it than that; whether it might be intended to be some kind of foreshadowing or hint relevant to either the current situation or future books. Honestly, I have no idea whether it does or not, but as far as I can tell, there have not been any WoBs asking about it, so I was just wondering what everyone thinks. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head which it might have some kind of relevance to is the Heralds, who each time they die during a Desolation they somehow return to Braize in presumably a completely new clone body, the exact mechanics of this process still being largely a mystery from what I've been able to tell. So might it be the case that the Heralds are themselves in some sense clones as well, both in body and in soul? There is at least some tenuous precedence for people getting new souls in The Emperor's Soul, albeit in a completely difference sense than what would be happening here, so that if nothing else makes me think that this idea is at the very least worth considering. Again, I'm not at all convinced that Sanderson didn't have Arclo mention that purely to further his desired image of him as being a highly abstract and philosophical thinker, but then again, it does seem like a very weird thing to put in there for no reason other than show (though I suppose that considering his species is called the 'Sleepless', that might also explain it). So I'm curious what everyone else thinks about this. Is this simply a strange but ultimately irrelevant philosophical factoid, or do you think there may be more to it than that? I definitely think that Arclo's own philosophy will probably have at least some kind of relevance later on, if only because he tells Lift that he'll be seeing her about it again, but what about this one? Any ideas?
  12. It is the start of a brand new year, and a lot of people (myself included) are still in a state of recovery from precisely what just it us. To aid my recovery, I recently listened to an open New Year's letter from Dr. Jordan Peterson. Dr. Peterson is a name that some people might recognize, he's an eminent professor at University of Toronto, active psychologist, and routinely gives lectures on various topics, mostly philosophical. I listened to his letter, and it blew me away. The video can be found here, and the text of the letter can be found here. Now, a slight word of caution. Dr. Peterson is an academic, and thus uses a high level of diction, but more importantly, he uses heavy philosophical concepts, and uses them without abandon. I didn't post this so much as to have a discussion, though, rest assured, I have no problems discussing it, I chose to post this because this is something I feel strongly that people should hear. Not necessarily to agree with everything, but it's a very valid viewpoint that I wanted to share with open minds. That being said, please listen or read the letter with an open mind, and if you find yourself agreeing with parts of it, Dr. Peterson has around one hundred and fifty similar lectures or discussions on YouTube. Also, for the moderators of this site. Let's try to keep all discussion (if any does occur) as calm as possible. And, if you have any other letters that you think the Shard would benefit from, please post them on this thread as well.
  13. What should be done, morally, for/to Epics of the sort that the Reckoners regularly kill? I refer both to the Epics that were criminals or bad people before becoming Epics and the Epics like Prof and Megan. Conflux has only one confirmed murder, and that was an accident, so he is out.
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