3 ms·

Why do i care if i'm living well or not ? There's no absolute specification for it. Instead i care if i can get enough sleep, enough relaxing, enough studying,

Why do i care if i'm living well or not ? There's no absolute specification for it. Instead i care if i can get enough sleep, enough relaxing, enough studying, enough working to fullfill my life or not.

bhaak 3y ago
> Why do i care if i'm living well or not ? There's no absolute specification for it. There are many specifications for it. Religions also provide many blueprints for living a good life. The Greek philosophers were very interesting in what leading a good life (what they called eudaimonia) would entail. > Instead i care if i can get enough sleep, enough relaxing, enough studying, enough working to fullfill my life or not. What your refer to is on another level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs You have to remember that many of those old philosophers were rich or even nobles that didn't have to worry about the basic needs of life. Only the true enlightened people are able to meditate about philosophy while their stomach is empty.
- revskill 3y ago
  No, i don't think Maslow is the rule. All the needs (my above needs, not his needs) could/should be fullfilled at the same time, no need for "hiearchy". There's no such thing as "higher need" to me.
masswerk 3y ago
And this is, where the cooking parallel is that great: How do you become a decent cook? Well, there are recipes, but this is neither your judgement, nor your technique, or maybe art, you're just following along, hoping for the best. This is not you. But, eventually you'll have a dish. You may get lucky, but there my be room for improvement. The only way to tell and to improve is to eat what you've cooked… at least, eating was the general idea right from the beginning… next try, there may be things you like more, and other things that you had better avoided… you discriminate, too much of this, too little of that… this starts to be fun… and eventually, you may be able to produce a pleasing meal to your own standards and satisfaction. It's your meal and probably (still) a decent representation of the cultural standard. (And, as you learn to generalize on this, gaining sovereignty to express yourself while respecting the general idea of a specific dish, you may actually become a decent cook. At least, that's what your meals are telling you, and with a bit of luck your guests, as well.)
ttonkytonk 3y ago
>Instead i care if i can get enough sleep, enough relaxing, enough studying, enough working to fullfill my life or not. And that's not a desire to "live well"? I think your objection is key to understanding Socrates' denial of "weakness of will" (Protagoras 358d), an idea that Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics actually supports (book seven - 1174b-15). Maybe norms are ultimately guidelines to the good life for groups of people based on past experience, but they can't possibly account for every contingency of any particular existence. Btw I don't think the idea is to justify any behavior, but to establish that from a rational perspective everybody is making decisions based on what seems right at the moment.

bhaak 3y ago

> Why do i care if i'm living well or not ? There's no absolute specification for it. There are many specifications for it. Religions also provide many blueprints for living a good life. The Greek philosophers were very interesting in what leading a good life (what they called eudaimonia) would entail. > Instead i care if i can get enough sleep, enough relaxing, enough studying, enough working to fullfill my life or not. What your refer to is on another level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs You have to remember that many of those old philosophers were rich or even nobles that didn't have to worry about the basic needs of life. Only the true enlightened people are able to meditate about philosophy while their stomach is empty.

revskill 3y ago
No, i don't think Maslow is the rule. All the needs (my above needs, not his needs) could/should be fullfilled at the same time, no need for "hiearchy". There's no such thing as "higher need" to me.

masswerk 3y ago

And this is, where the cooking parallel is that great: How do you become a decent cook? Well, there are recipes, but this is neither your judgement, nor your technique, or maybe art, you're just following along, hoping for the best. This is not you. But, eventually you'll have a dish. You may get lucky, but there my be room for improvement. The only way to tell and to improve is to eat what you've cooked… at least, eating was the general idea right from the beginning… next try, there may be things you like more, and other things that you had better avoided… you discriminate, too much of this, too little of that… this starts to be fun… and eventually, you may be able to produce a pleasing meal to your own standards and satisfaction. It's your meal and probably (still) a decent representation of the cultural standard. (And, as you learn to generalize on this, gaining sovereignty to express yourself while respecting the general idea of a specific dish, you may actually become a decent cook. At least, that's what your meals are telling you, and with a bit of luck your guests, as well.)

ttonkytonk 3y ago

>Instead i care if i can get enough sleep, enough relaxing, enough studying, enough working to fullfill my life or not. And that's not a desire to "live well"? I think your objection is key to understanding Socrates' denial of "weakness of will" (Protagoras 358d), an idea that Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics actually supports (book seven - 1174b-15). Maybe norms are ultimately guidelines to the good life for groups of people based on past experience, but they can't possibly account for every contingency of any particular existence. Btw I don't think the idea is to justify any behavior, but to establish that from a rational perspective everybody is making decisions based on what seems right at the moment.