(April 28, 2015 at 9:03 am)thesummerqueen Wrote:(April 26, 2015 at 2:03 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Why would it be boring to know everything? When I go hiking someplace I have been before, and see the beauties of nature, I am not bored by it, even though I typically do not really see anything very different from what I have seen before.
You're not looking closely enough. I go back to the same place every season if I can help it to try and document. Every year, the season holds something different or new. It might not be something "unknown" but it's definitely different, and holds its own mystery by sheer virtue of that fact.
You should look again at my wording. I was very careful to not say that I saw nothing different. Just that it is not so dramatically different. Like I don't see Victoria Falls on my most usual hike; I just see the things that are there. The topography is not dramatically different from one week to the next. I also don't see zebra or other kinds of wildlife that I have not seen on my hike before, although with that, there is some variation, as I do not see precisely the same types of animals every time (not to mention that different examples of a type are different), and not just because the animals that are typically seen vary according to the season. But I do not see things that are "unknown" in the relevant sense of the word.
The point was, knowledge does not detract from the hiking experience, and does not make it boring, contrary to what was suggested by robvalue, that prompted my response.
(April 28, 2015 at 9:03 am)thesummerqueen Wrote:(April 26, 2015 at 2:03 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: I disagree. Becoming an atheist was unpleasant in the extreme. Being an atheist is comfortable.
Flying to Europe from the U.S. was unpleasant. Being in Europe was fun.
Going to the store to buy wine is a bother. Drinking the wine at home is good. (In this case, going to the store to buy wine is not generally unpleasant, but it does not compare favorably to drinking the wine. Relatively speaking, it is terrible going to the store, compared with drinking the wine.)
Also, I'd have to argue this point: he said the journey was important - not necessarily enjoyable. Being fit is enjoyable, but it's the journey of changing my habits and developing exercises that's more important than the end goal. You may not like the journey there, but it's definitely at least as important as the destination.
He said:
"The journey is more [emphasis added] important than the destination."
I did not say the journey was unimportant. I was disputing his claim that it was more important.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
