RE: If people were 100% rational, would the world be better?
August 19, 2021 at 2:06 pm
(This post was last modified: August 19, 2021 at 2:12 pm by LadyForCamus.)
@vulcanlogician
And this the rub for me. The former position seems impossible and the latter feels unsustainable. In the end, Meursault was comforted in his acceptance of reality’s indifference. I can’t imagine being at peace with absurdity. After some time thinking on it, I notice there is a difference between asserting “there is no reason to live” and “there is no reason for life;” no “why.” I concede to Nudger that I was wrong to say that there are no rational reasons to live, but my question then becomes: if it’s true that there is no reason for life, is that fact a rational basis for not wanting to live? Or is that irrational? Or am I just talking myself in circles, lol.
Quote:...blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself-so like a brother, really-I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.
Quote:Should a pigeon trapped in a Skinner box all its life feel any different? Is it better off being "rational" and trying to obtain a better understanding of its predicament? Or, if it had the faculties to realize it, why shouldn't it pronounce its circumstances absurd?
And this the rub for me. The former position seems impossible and the latter feels unsustainable. In the end, Meursault was comforted in his acceptance of reality’s indifference. I can’t imagine being at peace with absurdity. After some time thinking on it, I notice there is a difference between asserting “there is no reason to live” and “there is no reason for life;” no “why.” I concede to Nudger that I was wrong to say that there are no rational reasons to live, but my question then becomes: if it’s true that there is no reason for life, is that fact a rational basis for not wanting to live? Or is that irrational? Or am I just talking myself in circles, lol.
Nay_Sayer: “Nothing is impossible if you dream big enough, or in this case, nothing is impossible if you use a barrel of KY Jelly and a miniature horse.”
Wiser words were never spoken.
Wiser words were never spoken.