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Suffering matters. Because we all are capable of experiencing it. And it should be the basis for systems of morality, and therefore help guide our decisions.
by beebmam 7y ago
Suffering matters. Because we all are capable of experiencing it. And it should be the basis for systems of morality, and therefore help guide our decisions.
- Xcelerate 7y agoThis is sort of my thought process as well; the universe is unjust as long as suffering exists in any form at all. Whether this has any sort of inherent “meaning” is sort of beside the point, because suffering doesn’t have to have deeper meaning to be horrible in and of itself.
- AlexanderDhoore 7y agoSo you want to eradicate all suffering? You know the easiest way to do that right?
- Xcelerate 7y agoStop having children? I’ll admit, it’s a very nice idea in theory, even though I don’t plan to follow it myself.
- ralmeida 7y agoI believe parent comment meant that if all humans were to somehow stop existing at once, there would be no humans suffering.
- lostmsu 7y agoHe has a pretty weak argument though: green also exists. And most experience it directly.
- ralmeida 7y agoI’m not sure I follow - what do you mean?
- lostmsu 7y agoExistence and commonality of something does not make something an important topic.
- ralmeida 7y agoI don't mean to read minds here, but the only way I was able to parse your message is that "something" refers to suffering, and it seems you're implying that suffering exists and is common, but is not necessarily an important topic? Or did I misunderstand something?
- minblaster 7y agoTurn off simulations where the net amount of suffering vs joy is negative? Even if it’s barely a net positive it’s not necessarily worth the suffering.
- sushisource 7y agoThough I agree, I'd nitpick "unjust". Suffering could be called just or unjust depending on the situation, but I certainly think everyone can get on board with minimizing/eliminating suffering.
- bambax 7y agoSuffering exists so that you don't get burned twice. Remove suffering, die in a fire.
- kdmccormick 7y agoIf you take "only suffering matters" to its logical extreme, you get Antinatalism, which essentially says our goal as intelligent beings should be to stop existing in order to minimize suffering. Yes, suffering matters, but certainly it shouldn't be the sole basis for morality.
- pritambaral 7y agoNote that your parent does not argue "only suffering matters", only that "suffering matters".
- kdmccormick 7y agoFrom GGP (emphasis mine): > And it should be the basis for systems of morality...