Skepticism and Nihilism

[srpbritlit]

Hello all! I just think human existence is completely pointless and we are all mortal, so how can one ever know anything? How can one think they can ever know or learn anything when the authority from whom we learn is mortal as well? I want to start a discussion on these topics and I am hoping someone would be willing to help me.

[amanda_isabel]

well, yes you have a point. the source of our knowledge is produced by mortals as well. but did you hope to learn some other way? don't get me wrong, what we need to know about the cosmos is written in the skies and things like that but then people have to record things, given the planet we have now. and why do we have to write it down? the precise answer would be because we are mortal. we're not going to be around forever to tell others this stuff.

in other words, the only way to learn anything new is through mortals. oh sure, we could explore things on our own. but wouldn't that be a waste of time, considering that my grandfather would have discovered it too?

[thechampion]

the world is an illusion and all we have. learning or not learning are equally pointless

[MrBosnia]

the world is an illusion and all we have. learning or not learning are equally pointless


Articulate on your idea of it being "pointless".


If you originally were a bad talker with women, but greatly learned how to improve your talk, (knowledge) thus leading you to find a great woman amd marrying her and having children which ultimately increased your happiness and your self-worth, was it pointless?

[mukta581]

I self destruct every relationship so that i don't get hurt... but in truth i just hurt myself worse in the long run..

[B-Mental]

Well you start your premise biased... you must first go into the arguement with an open mind. Secondly why is there a problem learning from a mortal? You are doomed to fail if you don't remove the negatives from your arguements. Sounds like you are trying to get the answers you've decided you want.

[karo]

Isn't the point of knowledge to help us discover how to live and, for that matter, how to die? Are the authorities reliable? I don't know. I think I agree with Socrates "I know that I know nothing". I think it's true that the more we learn the less certain we become of anything, except a keen awareness of mortality. It's ironic.

[B-Mental]

Ok, Karo I think you are getting somewhere. 1.) Who is a better authority on your own life than yourself? 2.) Socrates was right, but knowing that you know nothing is a start to knowing yourself. I think really that awareness of mortality = fear of death. Why do you fear death? Can one not accept that it may be a great adventure? I think people forget that adventure is still possible in the world of the living, and therefore they fear the unknown. When you approach your fears and overcome them you are on the path to knowing yourself. Fear Nothing!

[Argyroneta]

I almost posted some spurious explanation of my thoughts about this question and also about B-Mental's offering about fear. However, it seemed pointless and I thought it better to answer the question bluntly:

Human existence is as pointless as you make it.

I got some questions too (they might have been mentioned already)

If human existence is pointless then does anything else have any point?

Does anything actually exist if knowledge is worthless?

How is knowledge constituted? (for example, does sensory perception count as a from of knowlegde?)

cheers,
James

[blazeofglory]

Hello all! I just think human existence is completely pointless and we are all mortal, so how can one ever know anything? How can one think they can ever know or learn anything when the authority from whom we learn is mortal as well? I want to start a discussion on these topics and I am hoping someone would be willing to help me.

I at times think this over and wonder at everything I do and the rest of my fellow beings.

At times I believe we are immortal in point of fact and indeed it is simply transformation from one state to another. Even if we are materialists we are still immortal for when we die our bodies will be decomposed into other substances and they will join with the earth.

Nihilism is something I do not subscribe to.Something of us will remain after death.

[Argyroneta]

when we die our bodies will be decomposed into other substances and they will join with the earth.

Totally agree with you, we will dissolve into constituent parts. It is not too nonsensical to suppose that what exists now came from what has always existed. Just atoms arranging themselves.

When the sun explodes and 'life' is destroyed, all the substance that comprised the earth and everything in and on it is not destroyed but rearranged.

Infinity is an amazing concept, and if that exists then life cannot because you cannot have infinity somewhere but not somewhere else.

[blazeofglory]

Yes, man is immortal and we can feel it without subscribing to any spiritual or religious ideas.

[Adopt]

Hello all! I just think human existence is completely pointless and we are all mortal, so how can one ever know anything? How can one think they can ever know or learn anything when the authority from whom we learn is mortal as well? I want to start a discussion on these topics and I am hoping someone would be willing to help me.

Can we not also learn from the world, and our environment?

[Jozanny]

Perhaps there are better ways to look at the problems of empiricism and epistemology?

I would argue that mathematics stand as proof against "the absence of perception" problem. A dolphin or gorilla may not be able to articulate the equation 2 + 2 = 4

but both a dolphin and gorilla know how to count, so if the number of things exist independently of our particular brain configuration, since other brain configurations have an understanding of number, then it is reasonable to assume matter, and the forces which govern it, exist, and operate according to certain rules, regardless of whether that self-same matter is living, and cognizant enough or not to discover facts which shape perception.

[Jozanny]

In simpler terms, I will try to help the OP this way. *Life* may not have a point, but it is a process, as I am now in the process of logging off and turning on NPR while I cook an omelet. Later.

[wordsinart]

I believe that we only exist within the matrix - I just can't prove it

[jgweed]

What if life were like a blank sheet of paper upon which you begin to write a novel, and you alone are the author?