Towards a Fulfilling Life in This Splendid, Non-Purposeful, Planet

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Meaning of Life, Human Nature, and Delusions
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Abstract

In Peterson’s 2001 excellent book Being Human—ETHICS, Environment, and Our Place in the World she describes two main opposing “modern” positions concerning the “nature versus nurture” debate: the constructionist view of authors such as the anthropologist Clifford Geertz and the naturalistic view of scholars such as the sociobiologist Edward Wilson. As she noted, both views tend to fall in the teleological trap of considering humans to be “special beings”:

The world is a mirror of infinite beauty, yet no man sees it

(Thomas Traherne)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”

    (Epicurus)

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(Epicurus)

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Diogo, R. (2022). Towards a Fulfilling Life in This Splendid, Non-Purposeful, Planet. In: Meaning of Life, Human Nature, and Delusions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70401-2_9

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