RE: Is 10,000 people suffering identically equal bad as one of them?
October 30, 2010 at 5:46 am
(This post was last modified: October 30, 2010 at 5:48 am by Edwardo Piet.)
The 'big picture' of the total sum of suffering is nothing but a fantasy because only individuals suffer.... out of all 10,000 individuals if they all suffer absolutely identically then not one of them suffers any more than any other. So to add all their suffering together is to act as if anyone or anything exists that suffers any more than them when that isn't the case because they all suffer identically.
Because we are finite beings we can't suffer or experience pleasure infinitely..... so if we are to illogically add up our sufferings and pleasures (as if any such being exists that experiences the total pain or pleasure of all such beings) that would mean that if we get enough people suffering the pain of a mere pin prick or gnat bite together they would outweigh the importance of one person being tortured severely ..... which is absolutely ludicrous because not one of the other people would be suffering anything worse than a pin prick or gnat bite. To add up the sheer quantity of tiny sufferings to act as if there is anything whatsoever suffering more than the one person tortured is to believe in a fantasy. Just because you can add up the sufferings doesn't mean any such being exists that experiences it. And of course they don't because individuals only suffer their own pain because if you are to say "No because they can also empahize off others suffering" that is only their own imagined pain of anothers suffering and obviously counts as their own suffering and not anybody elses.
No one exists who experiences the total sum of suffering of all others, so to care not just about the individual experiences of people but also the total sum is to care about a being who doesn't exist, it isn't caring about anyone real.
Because we are finite beings we can't suffer or experience pleasure infinitely..... so if we are to illogically add up our sufferings and pleasures (as if any such being exists that experiences the total pain or pleasure of all such beings) that would mean that if we get enough people suffering the pain of a mere pin prick or gnat bite together they would outweigh the importance of one person being tortured severely ..... which is absolutely ludicrous because not one of the other people would be suffering anything worse than a pin prick or gnat bite. To add up the sheer quantity of tiny sufferings to act as if there is anything whatsoever suffering more than the one person tortured is to believe in a fantasy. Just because you can add up the sufferings doesn't mean any such being exists that experiences it. And of course they don't because individuals only suffer their own pain because if you are to say "No because they can also empahize off others suffering" that is only their own imagined pain of anothers suffering and obviously counts as their own suffering and not anybody elses.
No one exists who experiences the total sum of suffering of all others, so to care not just about the individual experiences of people but also the total sum is to care about a being who doesn't exist, it isn't caring about anyone real.
