Maybe in some cases suicide makes sense.
Here's what David Hume said about suicide:
>I believe that no man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.
>The life of a man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.
open.edu
Was he right?
second part definetly. first part, some humans might have miscalculated
>first part, some humans might have miscalculated
Really? People only usually seriously consider it, and go through with it, when their life is really shit. People don't just do it for no reason.
Why do you consider Hume a better thinker than any other of the philosophers? Unless one knows the point of Life, how can he judge of Man's importance within it?
>Unless one knows the point of Life
The point of life is to propagate your genes, even a cursory glance at biology will tell you this.
So if someone thinks they have no chance of doing this anymore (and who is a better judge of their opportunities than them?) then maybe they are rational in thinking there's no point to life anymore.
Sorry I should've put "than themselves"
Also:
>Why do you consider Hume a better thinker than any other of the philosophers
It's not so much about the source, I just think those two statements ring true.
By the way I'm not advocating suicide for others. Just considering it myself.
>Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone
>John Logie Baird, inventor of the television
>Adam Smith, considered "The Father of Economics", a.k.a. the most important economist of all time
>David Hume, one of the most important philosophers of all time
The question stands.
It's not a question, it's a Jow Forums-tier provocation.
Fuck off back there, thanks. Unless you actually want to discuss the topic at hand properly.
Your life isn’t important to the universe.
But it is important to you
Yeah you do have a point there.
The "purpose" of life is not to propagate your genes as something you can prove. The "purpose" of life is open to interpretation. If the purpose of life was to propagate your genes and you didn't, that would mean your life was "purposeless". It's a strange, on-the-nose Darwinian conflation with philosophy. There are incentives to reproduce and most will naturally feel better following reproduction.
I think his contention could be something like that throwing mental illness into the mix alters someone's perception and can cause said miscalculation.
>The "purpose" of life is not to propagate your genes as something you can prove.
Yes it is, anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of evolution knows this.
>The "purpose" of life is open to interpretation.
No, no it isn't. The realities of evolution don't stop existing simply because you want them to.
>If the purpose of life was to propagate your genes and you didn't, that would mean your life was "purposeless".
If you didn't reproduce yourself then the most logical thing to do would probably be to look out for your nieces and nephews, if you have any. And this is what many childless people do. Because they are the most genetically similar to you.
>Was he right?
Depends on whether they have family or not.
Makes sense I guess.
Where does this “purpose” exist? Is it only in your head or is it floating around in space somewhere?
It's within all living things. If they didn't have this purpose, this goal, then they wouldn't do everything they can to reproduce.
All organisms seek to reproduce, whether they're bacteria, amoebae, trees, lions, whales, whatever. You could say this purpose, this goal, is simply a series of biochemical reactions and processes. But it's still a real purpose / goal that organisms have. It's why animals will fight to the near-death for the privilege of reproducing with the best mates. It's why humans will drive themselves to work hard and accrue money and status so they can get an attractive partner and then have a big family that they can provide for.
>is it floating around in space
No. No it isn't.
Is eating/drinking/shitting/peeing a purpose too?
Those things are instrumentally necessary in order to propagate one's genes. Did you not study biology in school?
No, not really. And I didn’t know it was a religion
In what country is basic biology not a part of the school curriculum?
>religion
Er, what?
If I can’t reproduce, should I kill myself?
If you can't (which is quite rare by the way) then perhaps the most logical thing to do would be to support your nieces and nephews, or at least your closest living relatives' children, since their genes are the most similar to yours. And this is what many childless adults end up doing, supporting their nieces and nephews.