On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 at 6:47 PM, Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
> John Clark wrote: > >> On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Evolution gave living things an instinct for self-preservation. But you >>>> can have such an instinct operating healthily and still not fear death. >>>> >>> >> Unrelated? Bob and Don are crossing a street when a large truck turns >> a corner and is heading straight for both of them. Bob has a fear of >> death but Don has a instinct for self preservation, please tell me >> about the unrelated and very different procedures Bob and Don use to >> get out of the way. >> > > They should both jump for safety! Don's instinct for self preservation > makes this jump instinctive -- and successful. Bob's fear of death leads > him to freeze in his tracks, and he is killed. > > >> It [death] is not something to be feared because no-one has ever >>> experienced it >>> >> > Your paraphrase is very telling. I said no-one has ever experienced > oblivion, not that no-one has died [death]. Plenty of people have died, and > many have suffered from the experience of dying. But since we all die at > some point, fearing death is scarcely rational. Fearing suffering is > rational, however, because we actually experience that and rationally try > to avoid it. > > I don't think John's motivations stem from a "fear of death" but from an "unwillingness to die". I see how your line of reasoning implies the former is irrational, but I think we're just taking the former too literally, where what we really mean is the latter. Jason -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
