Starting with Statement #1

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Gary Childress
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Starting with Statement #1

Post by Gary Childress »

Statement #1: I believe I am here for a limited amount of time.
thedoc
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Re: Starting with Statement #1

Post by thedoc »

Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:05 am Statement #1: I believe I am here for a limited amount of time.
So far so good, Keep going.
Gary Childress
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Re: Starting with Statement #1

Post by Gary Childress »

thedoc wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:15 am
Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:05 am Statement #1: I believe I am here for a limited amount of time.
So far so good, Keep going.
Thank you. There seem to be an almost infinite number of different ways to go.
thedoc
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Re: Starting with Statement #1

Post by thedoc »

Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:27 am
thedoc wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:15 am
Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:05 am Statement #1: I believe I am here for a limited amount of time.
So far so good, Keep going.
Thank you. There seem to be an almost infinite number of different ways to go.
Then pick one and go, you have my permission.
Gary Childress
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Re: Starting with Statement #1

Post by Gary Childress »

thedoc wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:46 am
Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:27 am
thedoc wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:15 am

So far so good, Keep going.
Thank you. There seem to be an almost infinite number of different ways to go.
Then pick one and go, you have my permission.
Have you ever felt like keeping personal dignity sometimes comes at the sacrifice of being mean to others? And if it does, which is the better choice, keeping dignity and being a jerk or sacrificing dignity in order to be nice?
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Greta
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Re: Starting with Statement #1

Post by Greta »

Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 3:51 amHave you ever felt like keeping personal dignity sometimes comes at the sacrifice of being mean to others? And if it does, which is the better choice, keeping dignity and being a jerk or sacrificing dignity in order to be nice?
I don't think meanness ever brings dignity; meanness is inherently undignified. Those who accord dignity to meanness are being undignified themselves. It is more dignified to seek harmony, but not always the most useful.

After all, every time we eat meat we are being mean to animals, but nature has us animals wired that way. Most organisms need to kill, or at least harm or plunder, others to survive. Just living where we do deprives someone else of a home. Yet, say you gave your home to someone who needed it, do you think anyone would help you out from there? Being a saint amongst sinners is like being a cat in a dog pound.

I think it comes down to accepting that life gets dirty and not to worry too much about not living up to our own standards. Dust off, learn, move on, stumble again, swear, promise self to learn this time, move on ... :)

As for the world situation, I think everyone would be happier if the entire edifice just slowed down. The constant acceleration of events is strange. It appears that the Earth's surface is undergoing structural change. There will be redundancies ...
thedoc
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Re: Starting with Statement #1

Post by thedoc »

Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 3:51 am
thedoc wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:46 am
Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:27 am
Thank you. There seem to be an almost infinite number of different ways to go.
Then pick one and go, you have my permission.
Have you ever felt like keeping personal dignity sometimes comes at the sacrifice of being mean to others? And if it does, which is the better choice, keeping dignity and being a jerk or sacrificing dignity in order to be nice?
The choice depends on the situation, once the pro's and con's are weighed a choice can be made and action can be taken. For the most part I agree with Greta, meanness seldom brings dignity but sometimes it is necessary. If you loose a friend because you were mean to them, were they really your friend?

It reminds me of the statement, "If you lend someone $20.00 and never see them again, maybe it was a good investment." When I had it to give away, I would give money to whoever I thought needed it, and occasionally it came back to me, but i didn't expect it.
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HexHammer
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Re: Starting with Statement #1

Post by HexHammer »

Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:05 amStatement #1: I believe I am here for a limited amount of time.
What has this to do with philosophy (love of wisdom) ..........NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Impenitent
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Re: Starting with Statement #1

Post by Impenitent »

Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:05 am Statement #1: I believe I am here for a limited amount of time.
starting by limiting yourself says more about you than you may recognize...

-Imp
commonsense
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Re: Starting with Statement #1

Post by commonsense »

Gary Childress wrote: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:05 am Statement #1: I believe I am here for a limited amount of time.

OK, I’ll bite: Starting with Statement #1, where Statement #1 is “I believe I am here for a limited amount of time.”

Starting off, let me analyze the truthiness of Statement #1.
“I believe…” Only the speaker can know if the speaker believes something. For everyone else, it may be taken as a given and evaluated to be true.
“…I am…” That the speaker exists evaluates to be true. If the speaker does not exist, then the speaker cannot be speaking.
“…[believe I am] here…” The speaker is wherever the speaker is. This evaluates to be true because wherever the speaker is would be designated “here” from the speaker’s standpoint.
“…for a limited amount of time.” If the speaker is mortal, this is correct. It is also correct that if the speaker is human, the speaker is mortal. Whether the speaker is human or not will always be unknown to everyone other than the speaker. If the speaker is a bot or a zombie, its time here may be unlimited. If a bot were making Statement #1, by the Turing test the bot would be indistinguishable from a human. One could not determine whether the bot is a human or a bot. Similarly, in a zombie world there can be no way to know whether anyone other than oneself is a human or a zombie.
If “I believe…” is (assumed to be) true and “…I am…” is true and “…[believe I am] here…” is true and “…for a limited amount of time.” is true only for the speaker and only if the speaker is human, then Statement #1 is true for a human speaker and either true or false for everyone other than a human speaker.
It may logically be concluded that Statement #1 is trivial. For anyone other than a human speaker the statement is equivocal. A human speaker would a priori know it to be true, however making a statement about one’s self-knowledge to an audience who can only interpret the statement as ambiguous is beyond reason.
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