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Old 03-04-2004, 08:29 PM   #53
Troubleshooter
The urban Jane Goodall
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Florida
Posts: 3,012
Quote:
Originally posted by Shattered Soul
"So the only measure of worth of an activity is usefulness? That seems incredibly narrow, and would result in a rather boring life in my opinion, if we only did those things we felt were "useful". .."
Yes. But to qualify that, if the usefulness is pleasure then it is useful.

And why does everyone say that boring is bad? In time boring becomes the norm and is no longer boring. We see it every day, but in reverse. Clothing, language, thought, all becoming more coarse every day. Why can't we reverse the trend towards higher standards?

Quote:
Originally posted by Shattered Soul

Right on, Zenchou. That, I think, is what TS doesn't understand. "Useful" to him, it appears, is what he himself deems so. Anything else is a waste of time, again, because he believes it to be so.
My standards are based on a desire for improvement and simplicty that is derived from the greatest thinkers if time, Kant, Plato, Epictetus, Epicurus, Hobbs, Socrates, and so on.

If I have one belief in this world it is that only humanity can save humanity.

People are migratind towards a degree of complex shallowness and venality that is truly staggering.
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I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law. - Aristotle
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