salTUR t1_j68xf6w wrote on January 28, 2023 at 4:23 PM

Reply to comment by lizzolz in Cosmic nihilism, existential joy | Human consciousness, and our need for meaning in a meaningless world, is the source of both tragic pessimism and the intense joy we take in life. by IAI_Admin

I don't think mind-body duality makes life meaningless by itself, I just think it helps create the conditions for nihilism. It causes human beings to think of their subjective experiences as something separate and removed from the rest of reality even though those experiences are as inherent to reality as anything else. It's easy to drop into nihilism when the fundamental framework you use to think about your place in the world is built on the assumption that you're somehow removed from it. Descarte's mind-body duality is just another aspect of modernity that further removed the Western World from the innate, transcendent experience of being. Seeking objectivity in all things inhibits our ability to simply experience reality.

Jose Ortega says it best: "I am I and my circumstance."

lizzolz t1_j6c96pn wrote on January 29, 2023 at 8:18 AM

Interesting take. For me, mind-body dualism conjures up anything but nihilism. It suggests to me the excitement of the possibility that not everything can be described in materialist terms, though that may be incorrect. There are tons of arguments both for and against. But it's damn cool to ponder that perhaps consciousness exists outside that pink organ in the vault of our skull.