12-09-2017, 01:25 AM
This is a thread where I expound on things that people usually don't think about, as bizarre as that is for a Mario fansite. These things aren't quite Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, but they are probably Things Most Men Don't Want to Know.
Nonetheless, the unexamined life is not worth living--so join me, friends, on the path to true enlightenment.
Naturalism is the metaphysical theory that natural phenomena are the only things that exist. Everything is made up of matter and energy, governed solely by the laws of physics, and is utterly unaffected by any supernatural or spiritual agency whatsoever. There are no such things as souls and no such thing as an afterlife.
However, if I have no soul and there is no afterlife, then I have no alternative but to cease to exist when I die. I will be nothing but rotting meat 6 feet under the ground. My personality and memories will be gone forever. It would be as if every pleasure and sorrow I felt had never been.
My family, friends, acquaintances, and enemies will, at one point or another, also die. Their personalities and memories, too, will also be lost forever, including their memories of me.
When all is said and done, it will be as if I had never existed.
The same applies to all of humanity. Nothing in a natural universe is eternal, not even intelligent life. We could drive ourselves to extinction, perhaps through an engineered disease or mutually assured nuclear destruction. In billions of years, our Sun will expand into a red giant and reduce our planet to a charred husk--if it survives at all.
But even if we somehow avoid those things, there is no avoiding the death of the universe itself. Every physical action increases entropy, and the amount of usable energy in the universe decreases. Stars run by fusing lighter elements into heavier ones. There will be a time when too little energy and too little hydrogen exist to form new stars. The heat death of the universe will surely follow.
Or perhaps the universe will stop expanding and collapse in on itself. As that happens, the cosmos will heat up. We won't survive that, either. The strong, the weak, the wise, and the fool will meet the same bitter end.
Either way, all intelligent life will cease to exist, and everything we have accomplished will be all for nothing. Technological progress. Societal reforms. Artistic expressions. Culture. Political power. Riches. Fame. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Therefore, naturalism implies existential nihilism. If it is true, then our existence has absolutely no value or purpose. There isn't even a reason to make your own meaning for life as the existentialists do because you won't remember all those warm and fuzzy feelings when you die. It makes no difference. There's no reason to kill yourself or anyone else either--because again, it makes no difference. You dying 50 years from now will have the same effect as you dying right now.
But enough about that, let's talk about morality! How does that work if naturalism is true?
People have beliefs about what justice is and what it isn't. What is good? What is evil? Do you even know? Can you even know? People certainly think they do. They have all sorts of ideas on how they should live and how they should be governed. Pro-choice, pro-life, feminism, men's rights, LGBT, traditional family values, liberal, conservative, etc.
But if humans have no purpose--certainly not a divine one--what can you tell me what we ought to do? How we ought to live? Can you tell me what ought from what is, especially if what presently is will inevitably not be? Will my ethical choices matter in the grand scheme of things?
If there are no spirits nor afterlives, then they cannot possibly matter.
Therefore, naturalism implies moral nihilism. We cannot have any meaningful sense of good or evil if the end result for both in the grand scheme of things is exactly the same.
Thus have I reasoned. But is it truly reasoning? If natural things are the only things that exist, then everything is bound by the laws of physics. Thus, everything is predetermined. There is no free will. Your thoughts and actions are caused only by the interaction of particles in and outside of your body. Wikipedia defines reason as "consciously making sense of things"--but without any free will, I have no ability to consciously make myself do anything.
If you believe in free will, reason, morality, and/or purpose in life, you cannot logically be a naturalist. To do so is to engage in doublethink. If any of those things exist, then the supernatural must also exist, and must by necessity be interlinked with it. Fulfilling our purpose, then, begins by understanding the supernatural: to fear God (whoever He is), and keep his commandments (whatever they are), because this is the whole duty of man.
It is the only possible duty of man.
You literally have nothing better to do with your time.
Memento mori, ladies and gentlemen.
This concludes today's Philosophy with Cap'n Coconuts. To be continued...
Nonetheless, the unexamined life is not worth living--so join me, friends, on the path to true enlightenment.
Thoughts on Naturalism
Naturalism is the metaphysical theory that natural phenomena are the only things that exist. Everything is made up of matter and energy, governed solely by the laws of physics, and is utterly unaffected by any supernatural or spiritual agency whatsoever. There are no such things as souls and no such thing as an afterlife.
However, if I have no soul and there is no afterlife, then I have no alternative but to cease to exist when I die. I will be nothing but rotting meat 6 feet under the ground. My personality and memories will be gone forever. It would be as if every pleasure and sorrow I felt had never been.
My family, friends, acquaintances, and enemies will, at one point or another, also die. Their personalities and memories, too, will also be lost forever, including their memories of me.
When all is said and done, it will be as if I had never existed.
The same applies to all of humanity. Nothing in a natural universe is eternal, not even intelligent life. We could drive ourselves to extinction, perhaps through an engineered disease or mutually assured nuclear destruction. In billions of years, our Sun will expand into a red giant and reduce our planet to a charred husk--if it survives at all.
But even if we somehow avoid those things, there is no avoiding the death of the universe itself. Every physical action increases entropy, and the amount of usable energy in the universe decreases. Stars run by fusing lighter elements into heavier ones. There will be a time when too little energy and too little hydrogen exist to form new stars. The heat death of the universe will surely follow.
Or perhaps the universe will stop expanding and collapse in on itself. As that happens, the cosmos will heat up. We won't survive that, either. The strong, the weak, the wise, and the fool will meet the same bitter end.
Either way, all intelligent life will cease to exist, and everything we have accomplished will be all for nothing. Technological progress. Societal reforms. Artistic expressions. Culture. Political power. Riches. Fame. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Therefore, naturalism implies existential nihilism. If it is true, then our existence has absolutely no value or purpose. There isn't even a reason to make your own meaning for life as the existentialists do because you won't remember all those warm and fuzzy feelings when you die. It makes no difference. There's no reason to kill yourself or anyone else either--because again, it makes no difference. You dying 50 years from now will have the same effect as you dying right now.
But enough about that, let's talk about morality! How does that work if naturalism is true?
People have beliefs about what justice is and what it isn't. What is good? What is evil? Do you even know? Can you even know? People certainly think they do. They have all sorts of ideas on how they should live and how they should be governed. Pro-choice, pro-life, feminism, men's rights, LGBT, traditional family values, liberal, conservative, etc.
But if humans have no purpose--certainly not a divine one--what can you tell me what we ought to do? How we ought to live? Can you tell me what ought from what is, especially if what presently is will inevitably not be? Will my ethical choices matter in the grand scheme of things?
If there are no spirits nor afterlives, then they cannot possibly matter.
Therefore, naturalism implies moral nihilism. We cannot have any meaningful sense of good or evil if the end result for both in the grand scheme of things is exactly the same.
Thus have I reasoned. But is it truly reasoning? If natural things are the only things that exist, then everything is bound by the laws of physics. Thus, everything is predetermined. There is no free will. Your thoughts and actions are caused only by the interaction of particles in and outside of your body. Wikipedia defines reason as "consciously making sense of things"--but without any free will, I have no ability to consciously make myself do anything.
If you believe in free will, reason, morality, and/or purpose in life, you cannot logically be a naturalist. To do so is to engage in doublethink. If any of those things exist, then the supernatural must also exist, and must by necessity be interlinked with it. Fulfilling our purpose, then, begins by understanding the supernatural: to fear God (whoever He is), and keep his commandments (whatever they are), because this is the whole duty of man.
It is the only possible duty of man.
You literally have nothing better to do with your time.
Memento mori, ladies and gentlemen.
This concludes today's Philosophy with Cap'n Coconuts. To be continued...