What should be our GOAL of life ?

Discussion in 'General Philosophy' started by hansda, Feb 1, 2012.

  1. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,058
    For one, I think this is backwards.
    At any point in time, people have whatever empathy they have, and if they don't have it, they tend to rationalize that lack away somehow.

    For two, we tend to have the belief that all people are equal. This is not so in all cultures. In some cultures, they are quite open about the conviction that "not everyone has been created equal."

    And for all practical concerns, all humans are not equal. It's just not the case.

    It's why companies select candidates in job interviews, as opposed to hiring just anyone.
    It's why John marries Susan, and not Jane.

    Etc. etc.



    Are you obligated to believe everything you're taught?


    Ditto above.
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Arioch Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,274
    @wynn --

    Red herring, fallacy. This entire bit is entirely irrelevant to the point I was making(you know, the one you quoted).

    No, but then, I wasn't talking about adults, I was talking about children. Children are compelled(through various biological mechanisms) to believe what authority figures tell them, they literally can not help it(yes, this is true regardless of what you remember in your childhood). Teenagers are a different story in that their hormones are driving them to rebel, but even then the parental control over belief is usually strong enough to prevent the questioning of what has become a core part of their worldview by that point.

    Of course, in raising this argument you merely display your ignorance....again.
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. hansda Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,424
    Every desire can be a goal . Every ambition can be a goal . Every necessity can be a goal .

    But , what is the ultimate-goal ?

    Every river meets the sea .

    What is the sea for our life ?
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,620
    @ wynn - what is wrong with those is that they are not certainly true to any extent. A child will believe anything you tell them - that they believe in a fat man with flying reindeer delivering presents to millions of homes without being spotted once is a good example of the crap that can be feed to a child which the child you consider absolute truth. I bet that I could make many of my cousins [a couple of them were born in the last couple years] absolutely believe that the sun will not rise unless he punches a puppy before sleep and kicks a kitten on waking up.

    Something that cannot be demostrably proven to an adult should not even be suggested as being true to a child.
     
  8. keith1 Guest

    No, you were given the sea, then you wanted the sea that the sea runs into.

    You believe you're still rolling with this. when in reality, you're done, stick a fork...
     
  9. hansda Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,424
    Can you explain in simple terms ?
     
  10. keith1 Guest

    All harmless lies are constructive truth to children, and are equal with truth, as they are healthy food for their fantasies.
    It's a form of "purposeful, forced, controlled enlightenment". When a child outgrows a harmless lie, there is a moment of transition to a perspective more logical to the enlightened subject, and the brain wiring continues on those new growth pathways.
    But the old prescribed growth wiring, caused by thoughts of sugar-plum fairies, and other grottoes of protected childhood fantasy wiring, are still there, to enhance and to be used by the adult mind. Adult brain pathways that are damaged, can use "alternate pathways" to work around such damaged areas of the brain.
    Controlled harmless childhood fantasy can give those practitioner's an advantage.

    UPDATE: To outgrow the proven lunacy of a god belief (for instance) is likely to create a better functioning brain, than to not have thought of the fantasy in the first place.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 12, 2012
  11. keith1 Guest

    I gave you outer space, and an unlimited amount of "life cycle" to explore it, as a single goal requested in the OP...but somehow that wasn't you're intention.
    You obviously didn't think hard enough when you formulated the OP, that you left it open for my acceptable interpretation.
     
  12. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    33,264
    How can you prove this, what facts can you produce that substantiates your claim?
     
  13. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,058
    You didn't answer my question.

    Are you obligated to believe everything you're taught?



    Parents are by law entitled to raise their children as they see fit, within certain legal and other limits. People are also free to practice their religion or life philosophy as they see fit, within certain legal and other limits.
    If you have a problem with these principles, you need to contact your congressman or other politician, not a person on a discussion forum.
     
  14. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,058
    To you too - Parents are by law entitled to raise their children as they see fit, within certain legal and other limits. People are also free to practice their religion or life philosophy as they see fit, within certain legal and other limits.
    If you have a problem with these principles, you need to contact your congressman or other politician, not a person on a discussion forum.
     
  15. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,058
    Good question!
     
  16. keith1 Guest

    "...research on changes in the brain induced by placing adult rats in special, enriched environments. In one study this resulted in a 20% increase (roughly 2000) in the number of synapses per neuron in the upper layers of the visual cortex. Later research showed that such dramatic increases in synapses were not restricted to the rat's visual cortex**..."

    **-Black & Greenough (1986, p. 33). "...These experience-dependent changes in the mature brain are contrasted with the experience-expectant development of the maturing brain, the latter taking advantage of the great number of redundant connections already present in the postnatal brain..."
     
  17. hansda Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,424
    Your GALO concept as GOAL is a good idea ; but how to implement it globally . We have to decide a practical goal .

    I think to achieve any goal , three goals are to be decided . These three goals are 1) immediate goal , 2) intermediate goal and 3) ultimate goal .

    I feel your GALO concept falls in the second category ie it can be accepted as intermediate goal .

    If we can decide about ultimate-goal of our life ; i think that will be a better goal-setting decision .
     
  18. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,620
    Excellent. When a discussion cannot be won through a discussion of the ethics, epistemology or morality of a situation, turn it to the pragmatic problems underlying the actual implementation in current circumstances, much less considering whether this is even necessary - and for what reason? To point out that what we [I and Arioch] claim to be incorrect cannot be actually stopped? That isn't what this discussion was about, it was about whether or not its appropriate to do it in the first place.

    Dont like to agree with the arguer, do you?

    This was the point being made. Any thoughts?

    That is not a question relevant to a child, they will indeed believe whatever is told to them.
     
  19. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,058
    If you talk about the shoulds that pertain to other people, saying they should change, or that this or that should be so and not otherwise,
    then you should take proper political avenues to bring about that change.


    Take it to the US Congress. That ought to be interesting.


    How do I know you haven't read Hardwig's paper that I linked you to earlier?


    Except when they don't. In fact, children are so well-known for not believing what they are told that notions of stubbornness, throwing temper tantrums and wishful thinking are often considered typical signs of a child.
     
  20. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,620
    But it is not about what they should do, only about whether or not what they do is correct and proper.

    Yeah, they would smack me over the head with the first amendment.

    Which one? IDK what you are refering to.

    They are behavorially stubborn, not epistemically - the drive to knowledge and trusting adults' knowledge are two easily observable traits of a child.
     
  21. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,058
    Well, duh.


    In that case, it appears that you yourself are doing something that you yourself believe is not in accordance with the constitution of the country you live in.
    That oought to give you cause for alarm.


    It figures.


    The two cannot be separated.
     
  22. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    33,264
    That doesn't prove anything at all about what a human mind is capable of so why even use it as an answer? :shrug:
     
  23. keith1 Guest

    Just as one would not be able, in a 1950's world, to set "internet communications" as an ultimate goal, because such goal-setting takes a Nostradamus-like prescience, not practically available to the average decade-to-decade planner.
     

Share This Page