Animal Time

I don't know when I will have time to write the second part of my post on suicide, since my cold (or flu) left me rather behind in my graduate class where I have to simultaneously read both Kant and Hegel. (I'm still an undergraduate, but I decided to sign up for a graduate class my last semester as a challenge and to see if I might want to actually do this kind of thing for a Phd).

Oi.

So I may as well (since I am trying again to write every day) write out some of my thoughts on what I am studying....

Kant's main point in the critique of teleological judgment is: We humans, being the only species who can reason, are here in the world to give purpose to it. Because of this, we also have an obligation to be ethical.

(Heidegger seems to say - we don't give purpose to the world, purpose is already tied up with our being-in-the-world at all, but this seems to me to say the same thing, only swathed with mysticism. Purposiveness is just a fact of our existence, and to say that thinking of 'purpose' or 'meaning' as lost is a mistake doesn't actually help anyone who feels this way. Just like a religion, Heideggerians require that one believes their vague presuppositions about the world before one can actually be part of their 'school'.)

If everyone was like Kant, the world would be a much safer and happier place..... but that, sadly, is not the case. The next best thing is to ask - how do we secure happiness for the few who really aspire to high things?

The first step is to clean up this logic - happiness should not be the goal, but aspiration itself. A life that is dependent on external things is always subject to doom because it is based on the idea of securing happiness. A life based on high aspirations, however, always has at least the pursuit dwelling within...

Agh! Why does every philosopher always say something so unsatisfying? Perhaps I need to learn not to think on such a large scale... There are no universal solutions --- perhaps even no world-wide solutions. If there are personal solutions - do these need to be sought? One is either lucky, or unlucky.... right??

Oi! Back where we began...