Since all decisions are made from our brains and we do not get to choose what brain we are born with, do we really have control over our decisions and are we really responsible for these decisions?

Is anyone ever truly an atheist? In extreme conditions someone who has never in their life prayed to, or believed in, a God of some kind or another will openly worship them. There is a very good quote that goes with this. "There are no atheists in foxholes and it isn't an argument against atheism, but an argument against foxholes." So can anyone ever truly be an atheist?

I recently considered getting a nose job. Whenever I told people this, they were horrified and started ranting and raving at me about superficiality, shallowness and vanity. The most frequent comment was, 'It's better to have a beautiful mind than a beautiful face.' What confuses me is that this seems just as shallow as only caring about physical appearances. So much of the world is based on physicality and aesthetics - why is finding a beautiful face more significant than a beautiful idea more shallow? In fact physical beauty can sometimes be a great inspiration for thoughts and ideas. Recently I have begun to think that judging people on physical appearances is no less shallow than judging them only on the contents of their minds. Is this valid at all? Should I go back to the 'better clever than ugly' camp? Thanks for your time.

I was hoping you could help me with something personal. My general question is, is there any philosophically rigorous defense for being lazy? Here are the specifics: I'm 20. My parents started me playing cello since I was 4: weekend music school, recitals, the whole bit. And I enjoyed it while I did it, and got good at it. Now I'd like to stop. Naturally, my parents are up in arms: "you can't stop." "why not?" "because 1) you've invested so much time. 2) you owe it to yourself to continue. 3) it's part of who you are, you like it, and it's in your best interest to continue. You shouldn't abandon a rewarding activity just because you're lazy. 4) you have the potential to bring others joy through your music". How do I respond to these claims? I feel like the ideas behind the claims traffic in philosophy, that there are equally philosophically defensible rebuttals, and that I don't know them. As another piece of information, and I think this applies to a lot of young people caught in this...

Within my grade at school, certain people seek out (I'm not sure if they do it consciously or unconsciously) the negative aspects of other people in the grade, without seeing any of their good qualities (which I believe they, like everyone, have). I was wondering why people do this, not only at school but in society in general? Why must so many people spend so much time (and I mean A LOT of time) focusing on such insignificant and often superficial aspects of people?

How do we know modern day math is correct? An example would be one is equal to zero point nine repeating. You can divide them both by three, and get point three repeating, but if you times point three repeating by three you can only get point nine repeating... another question could be, where does the rest of it go?

My name is Michael V. and this might be somewhat of a strange question. I have been interested in philosophy for about three years now and have done some reading specifically in existentialism. When I came across a book called "Nausea," by Sartre, I was blown away. The "nausea of the hands" he began talking about opened up so many perceptual doors to me. And even though he explained it well enough in the book, I can't help but notice that this "nausea" has become a curse. I know I am prone to anxiety from living my own life and stuff, so I guess I would like to have some knowledge dropped on me as to what exactly is the difference between plain neurosis and this "nausea"? mike.

Why bother living? Life is utterly pointless, meaningless, and futile. It's just an endlessly turning cycle of boredom and pain punctuated by brief moments of joy. What is the point of it all? Why bother?

What is the difference between a religion and a cult?

Could thoughts and thinking be considered as some kind of an element or energy source? If not then what exactly are thoughts and thinking; how do they come to be?