That seems not to be quite right to me. It seems reasonable to say "I do prefer not to have existed.", but to claim that in case one had not existed one would have preferred it, is a step too far. That my existence is unhappy, does not entail that my non-existence is happy. — unenlightened
But as T Clark points out, one's own happiness and preference is unimportant; it's other people's happiness that makes a wonderful life — unenlightened
I think you're reading too much into it lol. — flannel jesus
It's a wonderful life.. — Hanover
One of my pet hates is the mawkish It’s a Wonderful Life school of personal significance, which fits neatly with our culture’s romantic obsession with individualism and the putative power of the lone actor to shape and improve the world for those around them. — Tom Storm
A high sense of self worth does not equate to feelings of grandiosity. It's a Wonderful Life did not portray George Bailey as someone who thought highly of himself or someone who felt entitled to more than others. Mr. Potter portrayed the Grinch like character, concerned only with money and power. You might decipher anti-capitalistic or anti-consumerist themes in the movie (as well as in A Christmas Carol), but that doesn't equate to an acceptance that human life is of less than infinite value. I'd argue that it shows just the opposite - that the quantification of life's value to dollar and cents is what is truly dehumanizing precisely because it reduces the worth of the self to numbers..The culture of individualism gave rise to an inflated sense of the worth of the self, even grandiosity. — Jack Cummins
The culture of individualism gave rise to an inflated sense of the worth of the self, even grandiosity. It came with an emphasis on personal expectations, demands an individual rights. This was accompanied by a philosophy of being able to master and create personal identity through autonomy.
However, in the twentieth first century the culture of individualism is receding into awareness, especially through the media, of mass culture. In many ways, this gives rise to a sense of personal insignificance for many, especially those lacking in power. Certain individuals are treated as mere numbers, and the vulnerable are often regarded as a 'nuisance' and burden unlike in traditional society, in which there was a spirit of community. — Jack Cummins
The information age is also a way of showing how small each person is in the scheme, with the exception of influential celebrities. The media have often looked to external signs of 'success' and not paid much attention to the inner life and the value of each unique person. — Jack Cummins
There is so much brutality and violence, and indifference to violence often too. — Jack Cummins
The point being that these laments about the value of humanity and our ethical reatment of one another doesn't track so nicely to general societal attitudes, religious orientations, or competitive spirits as it does just to old fashion adherence to morality. — Hanover
. You can be individualistic and egalitarian simultaneously. — Hanover
doesn't track so nicely to general societal attitudes, religious orientations, or competitive spirits as it does just to old fashion adherence to morality. — Hanover
If I did not exist, then this reply to your OP would not exist ... as the universe would have been (become) a different universe. Change any part of the whole, no matter how minute or ephemeral, changes the whole, no? :chin:What Difference Would it Make if You Had Not Existed? — Jack Cummins
It is likely that my experience is based on living in an area with more gang culture than I was used to in the past. — Jack Cummins
I do wonder from interaction with people from gangs if part of the problem is such people's lack of sense of any real.personal identity and significance, which is projected onto those being attacked. — Jack Cummins
I'd suggest that the identity between worlds couldn't possibly happen, as the scenario sets up, so there's no conflict to me choosing differently -- what else would another world be? — Moliere
But what if this particular form of determinism isn’t at the individual level, but at the level of reality itself? In other words, if I am not born, reality generates an alternative person who has the same impacts on the world around them, while each decision made by them is still made through free choice. Or something like that. I'm not normally one for speculative bullshit, but there it is. — Tom Storm
To go dialectical: The kind of determinism you espouse at the level of reality can (but not must) accommodate a libertarian free-will. If we are free, then any bounded ipseity -- no matter what they choose -- will also be free.
Depends on if you take a determined series of events as necessary or freedom as necessary: two kinds of causality that result in antinomy when thought upon. — Moliere
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