Thoughts on purpose

I think that nihilism is a performative contradiction. The last post has the wikipedia link, but we can just as easily explain it again here.

A performative contradiction is when performing the action contradicts what is said in the proposition. "All statements are false" is a performative contradiction in this way.

I think someone who believes in nothing, which is Nihilism, when they say, "I believe in nothing," and they believe what they have said, they have done a performative contradiction.

My friend says if we are looking for something truly fresh, then if we use the term new that because newness is only defined as what is not old, we have already lost the battle. Thus the endeavor to create something "new" might be self-contradicting, that is perhaps self-defeating.

If you want to build a better mousetrap, then you are all set for building a better mousetrap. But to prepare the mind for something that is not old or derived from the old, we might seek higher ground.

I read on the wikipedia page of Picasso that he did not consider imagery and meanings of what he was painting as he was painting. I remember seeing a video of Ray Bradbury where he described the process of writing as creating and then justifying later.

I know that most of people's actions, from Emily Yoffe's Slate article, are justified afterward, and I can't help but feel as though this sort of fits with Rick's theory.

That is, we do things and justify them after. I have said as much about Jared Diamond and Adam Gopnik's work before.

So we are deluding ourselves when we consider that we consider purpose in these terms.

I never hold purpose for motivation the way that someone holds a carrot as reward. It's just not how it's done.