rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (07/27/85)
I think I just realized what Paul Dubois was asking for. He persistently has complained about my bottom line answer to "why do we value survival" being "because we like it", saying that there is something "wrong" with that. (He has complained that "Rosen cannot explain this further" and he has exclaimed that it is "pro-found!") I couldn't for the life of me imagine what more Paul might want, until it struck me (OWW!): He wants me to justify human survival as an absolute, external to our "likes" and "wants". (Is that it?) Well, Paul, if that's the case, don't hold your breath. Our survival isn't absolutely justifiable. No one said it was. I have no basis for justifying human survival over and above other things. To claim that I did in the absence of such special status would be tantamount to anthropocentrism in viewing the universe: from our own perpsective we value survival, but to claim from a disinterested objective view of the universe at large that we have some special status in it other than our own self-value is vacuous. As I said, I see no basis for absolute justification of human survival. Do you? -- Providing the mininum daily adult requirement of sacrilege... Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr