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Category: suffering

Compassion and the Epistemology of Suffering Thresholds

Compassion and the Epistemology of Suffering Thresholds

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In an attempt to get clearer, and less hyperbolic, about the value of suffering, I earlier suggested the idea of a suffering threshold, which is the “point” at which suffering loses its (positive) value and warrants easing. The idea of easing suffering leads directly to compassion/pity and this passage from section 338 of Nietzsche’s the Gay Science: The whole economy of my soul and the balance effected by “distress,” the way new springs and needs break open, the way in…

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Buddhism and Aristotle on the Appropriateness of Suffering Grief: A Further Mark Against Buddhism

Buddhism and Aristotle on the Appropriateness of Suffering Grief: A Further Mark Against Buddhism

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In the well-known parable of the arrow, the Buddha responds negatively to the usefulness of answering certain metaphysical questions. The point that he makes is that they are not important for furthering the goal of alleviating dukkha (suffering/existential dissatisfaction): Whether the view is held that the world is eternal or not, Malunkyaputta, there is still birth, old age, death, grief, suffering, sorrow and despair – and these can be destroyed in this life! I have not explained these other things…

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Some Thoughts on Greatness

Some Thoughts on Greatness

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Nietzsche and Wittgenstein are not ends. They are variously fodder, grist, ports in the storm, and storms to be sailed into. The same for epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, logic—for philosophy. Living well is an end, a goal, though it is not a final point. It is more like a buoy in the open ocean—it can perhaps be reached, but vast openness, danger, and uncertainty lie beyond. Greatness means overflowing with a multitude. One must, for example, have a multitude of projects,…

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Nietzschean Buddhism: An Experiment

Nietzschean Buddhism: An Experiment

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I have long been drawn to Buddhism and to Nietzsche’s ideas. After much thought, I propose a reconciliation; I propose the creation of a Nietzschean Buddhism. How could this be a possibility? After all, the third noble truth of Buddhism is that there is a way out of suffering, and the fourth noble truth gives us the way out. Suffering is optional, as is staying in samsara, the eternal recurrence of rebirth and a life of suffering. How is that…

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The Value of Suffering and the Importance of Suffering Thresholds

The Value of Suffering and the Importance of Suffering Thresholds

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In an earlier essay I raised some questions about the value of suffering, especially the default assumption that suffering is to be avoided and brought to a quick end when it does occur. In Nietzsche’s writing we find claims that suffering has instrumental value and intrinsic value, or at least it will to the higher types of human beings who have the appropriate will. Here I want to consider the claim that suffering has instrumental value and what that means…

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Why Not Suffering? Buddhism, Nietzsche, and the Value of Suffering

Why Not Suffering? Buddhism, Nietzsche, and the Value of Suffering

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The cessation of suffering is Buddhism’s end goal. The Buddha has discovered how to do it, according to Buddhism and Buddhists who have achieved the goal. A supposedly central requirement for achieving the goal is to realize the truth of no-self: there is no substantial self that endures over time. Leaving aside what exactly this means, an important question regards why one should accept the doctrine of no-self. The Buddha gave arguments for the view and later Buddhists gave still…

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Some Thoughts on Living with Pain

Some Thoughts on Living with Pain

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Pleasure and pain are as intriguing as they are dangerous. They are with us from the beginning and experienced daily, yet I don’t think many of us understand them very well. Most basically they are tools, very primitive ones. If you feel pain, then that is often a good sign that you should try to stop what you’re doing. We can’t necessarily say the same thing reversed about pleasure. Pleasure is a less discriminating tool than pain. And that is…

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A Difficult Dilemma: Deny that Humanity is Fallen or Deny Evolution?

A Difficult Dilemma: Deny that Humanity is Fallen or Deny Evolution?

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I find Christianity (and Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc.) perplexing. I suppose Kierkegaard would want me to embrace this feeling (as regards Christianity). I admit my perplexity because I do not want to come across as angry or hostile in these essays. I really want to understand religion and humankind’s possible relationship with the divine better. One of the things that troubles me with Christianity is the claim that it is only through Christ that one can achieve salvation, which I…

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Three Attitudes Toward Suffering — Choices, Choices, Choices

Three Attitudes Toward Suffering — Choices, Choices, Choices

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If we can be certain of anything, then it is of death (of course) and……not taxes (for one might live where there are no taxes)…..but suffering: death and suffering confront us as part of what it is to be human.  Just as we must eat and drink to live, so too we must suffer and eventually die.  Much may come between birth and death—real love and fulfillment would be “nice”—but two of the most important questions we should ask ourselves…

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