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The Meaning of Life

sivers.org

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Re: The Meaning of Life

#121

Post by kafkaesque »

I'm late to this, but I thought we had some philosophers on HN that pretty actively participated in discussions.

Why wasn't there a discussion on how what Sivers is explaining is the concept of NIHILISM?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism

What Sivers said has an underlying message: there is a meaning to life: it is that there is no objective/inherent meaning. This is important to note because of the huge ramifications this has and has had in philosophy since Nietzsche.

Unfortunately, nihilism is circular and presupposes moral relativism.

Re: The Meaning of Life

#122

Post by cousin_it »

javert wrote: post #46
cousin_it wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the pleasure of others meaningful to you, or only to them?

Other people's pleasure is not inherently valuable to me, just neutral. However, I do value other people's pleasure when it increases my pleasure. It is pretty obvious why this applies to loved ones and friends, but it actually extends to all of society. A happier society is a better place to live, with more productivity, more to be inspired by (and not discouraged by), etc.

OK. Is the pleasure of you at a different time valuable to you at the current time?
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