@TheMadFool
Hopefully I don't derail this too much, here goes:
I'm of the view that the abolishment of suffering is/should be our primary objective, first order of business, for the simple reason that it (suffering) is, among feelings, the most potent in terms of its capacity to hinder/impede our judgment and, that would basically gum up the works, every and all plans we make would be of such poor quality that it would've been better to simply let the chips fall where they may. Suffering is, I mean to say, incapacitating - our first port of call is to reduce/eliminate it.
I'll bite:
- Suffering impedes judgement.
Does it impede or does it shape judgement though? I'm neck deep in Nietzsche at the moment, I'm sure there are better references, but:
[A]lmost everything we call “higher culture” is based on the
spiritualization of cruelty, on its becoming more profound [. . .].
Consider that even the seeker after knowledge forces his spirit to
recognize things against [its] inclination [. . .] and thus acts as an
artist and transfigurer of cruelty [. . .]. In all desire to know there is
a drop of cruelty. (BGE 229)
- Our first port of call is to reduce/eliminate it.
So we want to reduce suffering, unconditionally,
in general. Is there no suffering that has value, at all? Worse: is there perhaps some pleasure that derives from suffering. How should we measure suffering
in general? What if my suffering is pleasurable to others, i.e. reduces their feeling of suffering. Some recent short story about it, I forget. Point is: suffering, like beauty, could be in the eye of the beholder.
How about "I hate myself because I am weak". To reduce suffering, I desire a feeling of strength (will to power). The most obvious (only?) expression of strength is the overcoming of resistance. How can I find reliable resistance to overcome? By causing suffering...
More generally, "reducing suffering" is prone to turn into redistributing suffering.
I'll leave it there. First post on here (second but who's counting) so don't hesitate to be cruel
:) Just in case mercy turns out to be finite.