On Sat, 12 Oct 2002, Shane Mage wrote:
> >...I think most people think death is a bad, in itself,
> >pre-discourse, for whomever it happens to...
>
> If that were so, you wouldn't have majorities supporting the right to
> eu[good]thanasia[death] for people suffering terminally painful
> illnesses.
Hmm. You're right. There are situations in which I would consider my own death a good.
But the exception proves the rule -- the reason for my change in view would still be mostly founded outside discourse, which was my point. We get some meanings through our body, through our perceptions and through our emotions. Language is not our only window on the world.
> But why should what "most people think" be a standard of good or evil?
Not a standard of good or evil Shane, but a standard of preference -- determing (what is usually considered) a good, not the good.
> Do *you* think the world today would be a better place to live in if
> death had been abolished (even if only for humans) a few thousand years
> ago?
I wouldn't have the faintest idea. I'd sure have time to learn a lot more languages though :o)
Get kinda crowded though, wouldn't it? :o)
Michael