[lit-ideas] Re: Mike and Schopenhauer
- From: John Wager <john.wager1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 08:01:33 -0500
Robert Paul wrote:
. . . .I grant that if one attains a state of nirvana one will not be
troubled by what happens in the material world. This is true by
definition. But when S[chopenhauer]. complains, nay, asserts, in his
essays that life is a bitch, he's talking, as far as I can tell, about
human life as it is possible to live it. Noise would not have troubled
him had he attained a state of nirvana and no philosophical argument
which appeals to merely possible states will relieve us from suffering
in actual ones.
All writing is essentially optimistic.. One cannot write, and especially
one cannot PUBLISH, without thinking that somehow what one says will
make some kind of difference. Even when a philosopher seems entirely
pessimistic, there is still something about "the truth" (as they
conceive it) that prompts them to attempt to reveal it to others. This
epistemological optimism seems more fundamental than any partial
pessimism, and renders all pessimistic authors as suspect.
--
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"Never attribute to malice that which can be
explained by incompetence and ignorance."
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John Wager john.wager1@xxxxxxxxxxx
Lisle, IL, USA
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