[ExI] "Death gives meaning to life?"

[Antonio Marcos]

>I might be influenced by my professional training as a lawyer, but I
>strongly prefer ad personam rather than ad rem arguments, whenever
>they are promptly available.

And I might be influenced by my interest in logics and philosophy, but I find ad hominem (btw, is there any difference?) very dishonest and disrespectful. I prefer to subtly bring the individual to challenge his own incoherence.

[],
Mark.

--- Em qui, 12/6/08, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> escreveu:
De: Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com>
Assunto: Re: [ExI] "Death gives meaning to life?"
Para: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Data: Quinta-feira, 12 de Junho de 2008, 10:29

On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com>
wrote:
> 2008/6/11 Giu1i0 Pri5c0 <pgptag at gmail.com>:
> But note that the main selling point of much of this religious
> propaganda is that the faithful will gain eternal life, which would
> not be much of a reward if death really was such a good thing.

This sounds as well as a very good argument.

I might be influenced by my professional training as a lawyer, but I
strongly prefer ad personam rather than ad rem arguments, whenever
they are promptly available.

Nothing wrong in challenging other people's beliefs, especially when
we do not share them, but when somebody's claims are inconsistent in
the first place with the said beliefs, all sensible discussions are
quickly and elegantly put to rest, rather than ending in opposite
emotional rhetorics or, in a best and most honest case scenario, in an
agreement to disagree.

Accordingly, irrespective of the fact that "death gives meaning to
life" is or is not a stupid statement, the most important thing to
note, IMHO, is that such statement is strictly irrelevant as a ground
for an anti-transhumanist stance.

Stefano Vaj
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