3 ms·
isn't it more that people cleave to magical thinking, archaic though it is, because they have trouble dealing with the despair of poor health and final death?
by markhahn 3y ago
isn't it more that people cleave to magical thinking, archaic though it is, because they have trouble dealing with the despair of poor health and final death?
one big support for this is the gradual decline of religiosity in areas of the world where life is improving. conflated, of course, with the hegemonistic aspect of organized religion.
- pas 3y agoOne argument is that we simply replaced the archaic (religion-focused) dogma with a modern (consumerist, individualist, hyperpoliticized) one, but their function is the same, to serve as complex death denial rituals.
- thfuran 3y agoThat doesn't sound likely to be a compelling argument.
- pas 3y agoHm, consider it the flaw of my botched paraphrasing/summarizing/application of it, and maybe give it another chance in a better form: https://www.philosophizethis.org/podcast/episode-158-the-creation-of-meaning-nietzsche-the-ascetic-ideal-f8k5h-k8xfx-6tyfj-xc8hy https://www.philosophizethis.org/podcast/episode-158-the-cre... (the URL is misleading, it's about Ernest Becker's ideas, there's a transcript too ... if for some reason that link doesn't work, you can listen to it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-43zh_za_eQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-43zh_za_eQ )
- ceasefire 3y agoPossibility remains that adverse conditions are not being masked by psychological devices, rather that these conditions are conducive to heightened spirituality (which may be present in varying degree in all humans). one big support for this is the fact that many saints came from affluent backgrounds and chose the device of asceticism ("harsh life", "corporal despair", "terminal denial of certain pleasures", "dying to earthly life") to heighten their experience of spiritual communion and worship.