RE: Nihilism
January 13, 2018 at 6:26 am
(This post was last modified: January 13, 2018 at 6:30 am by GrandizerII.)
(January 13, 2018 at 4:42 am)vulcanlogician Wrote: I borrowed this line of thinking from Pereboom:
IMO hard incompatibilism does not necessarily lead to nihilism. Considering ethics, it compels us against "moral anger." Inasmuch as moral anger is misplaced when directed toward one who is not morally responsible, the actions that follow from moral anger are themselves unethical. Moral anger assumes that such and such agent freely chose to commit certain actions, and therefore should be treated accordingly. I wouldn't consider it counter to moral thinking that a much better approach would be to consider what caused a person to commit such an action, and (rather than concentration on punishment) use that energy to work on society. Find out what is causing people to make certain choices and focus on that. As a moral objectivist, I feel right at home with my incompatibilist metaphysics.
I actually agree with this.
Quote:Hopefully that demonstrates (in principle) how determinism/incompatibilism do not necessarily lead to nihilism--at least as far as ethics is concerned.
I must be thinking of a different kind of nihilism then. I agree that determinism does not lead to moral nihilism. I was thinking of the more existential type.
Quote:Lol. I wouldn't spend too much time worrying if your evil twin becomes Hitler. Just ask yourself two questions:
1. Am I the one with the goatee?
2. If so, is it well-trimmed?
Uh, did you mean mustache?
Seriously, though, forget doppelgangers, and assume Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics (where things happen randomly), doesn't it mean that the future is at least partly random instead of determined fully by antecedents?
(January 13, 2018 at 5:35 am)notimportant1234 Wrote:(January 13, 2018 at 2:41 am)Grandizer Wrote:
I don't believe change is actual (I think it's an illusion). Doesn't mean it's irrational to live life seeing that change does occur experientially (even if not metaphysically).
I do not understand where did this ideea of change came from ? I hear it almost every day. You realize that you change every day of your life no ? In every day you take in information and improve yourself , that means you change from the person you were before. Maybe you are saying that you can't change your personality but even that is not true , it is hard to do but it is possible.
Sorry, we're discussing different things here. I'm not talking about behavioral change only, but rather change overall at the ultimate level. I'm referring to one of the implications of eternalism (a philosophy of time) whereby flow of time is an illusion and nothing really is changing.