Jeffrey Haber wrote:
>> mike wrote:
>> > Unfortunately, some people will never be satisfied with a comfortable
> > life....
> Is it possible to selfishly, unappologetically enjoy having material
> possessions and to have self esteem at the same time? I certainly think
> so. Why do you think that two are mutually exclusive?
He didn't say that, he said some people
> It is a good thing, that man's nature is to want to be happy, to desire
> to live in material comfort and to enjoy life.
> If you have done introspection and think that you are not radically
> different from a chimpanzee, that is your own admission, please speak
> for yourself and not for men. As for me, I proclaim my proper status as
> a rational, conceptual being whose purpose in life is the achievement of
> his own moral happiness.
Wait, your purpose in life? and what makes you think chimps aren't rational
and conceptual?
> What you describe applies to animals, not humans. One of the great
> things about being a rational being is that humans do not have to
> compete for limited resources.
so i guess what was going on in somalia wasn't competition.
> but use their minds to create new
> resources; that is, almost all wealth has to be created before it can be
> consumed,
are you talking about commodities?
> and the sacrifice of no one is required.
'cept all the farm workers who die or become disabled/year
> If humans were just chimpanzees, they would still be living in the trees
> competing for bananas, not engaging in agriculture, trading,
> manufacturing, inventing, and building comfortable dwellings.
If humans weren't very close to chimps they would have figured out
domestication of animals and plants long before 8000 bc.
