A deficit of reason and nightfall’s revelation - Unsettled by this from youth onward, feeling dissatisfied and out of place, I fell into a restless search for what I lack. - Only now do I call it a search, in the past it did not seem one. - Sometimes a desired goal is so beyond reach that one can hardly take it as a goal unless a means of making progress toward it first presents itself. - So it was with me. Purposelessness seemed a thing embedded in society as much the consequence of a deficit in myself, and between the two I could resolve no clear object of desire. - It is only now, seeing a way toward it beyond society, that I can formulate that object as follows. X. A thing worthy in its own right. - Not knowing of such a thing, I have fallen into a search for what I lack: W. Knowledge of a thing worthy in its own right (X), which I might take as an end. - The possible existence of X is a condition of reason in its practical use. / Absent such an end, anything I might do outside of moral obligation is pointless. !! An unecessary implication that a moral end-in-itself is worthless. : join - Absent such an end, I am rationally bound to go in search of it — I must take W as my end. / The alternative lies outside the bounds of human nature: an ascetic state of pure moral animation — moved by duty alone, shorn of all sense of value — unto death. !! An unecessary implication that a moral end-in-itself is worthless. : join - I seek W in response to a demand of my rational nature. / Had I cause [even] to believe that the latter is worthy in its own right, as Kant thought, then my search would be over. : re `as Kant thought` see e.g. `^^Kant.+1785.+Groundwork` @ sources_boneyard.brec : ‘… suppose there were something *the existence of which in itself* has an absolute worth, that, as an *end in itself*, could be a ground of determinate laws … Now I say: a human being and generally every rational being *exists* as an end in itself, *not merely as a means* for the discretionary use for this or that will, but must in all its actions, whether directed towards itself or also to other rational beings, always be considered *at the same time as an end*.’ 4:428 - Having no knowledge of such an end — cognizant of nothing that would qualify, no X — I am rationally bound to go in search of that knowledge. I must take W as my end. - My desire for a sense of purpose stems from a deficit of reason — no X as my end — that I can satisfy only through W. - Counterpart to my desire is a fear of unreason. - W refers to what is commonly called ‘the purpose of life’ or ‘the meaning of life’. - These familiar phrases remind me I am not alone in desiring knowledge of it, and frequently it is a byword for the unknowable, the unattainable. ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ - What struck me then (and stays with me today|now) was … secure hold on … eternal and infinite possibilities|opportunity|promise, and an immediate escape from a care that had {pressed|weighed on | worried} me. - It was a time when a|my sense of purposelessness had long been pressing on me, more heavily than ever. - So much so that shortly before I had resolved to care nothing for purpose, and instead live day by day. + Explain how this moves me. / Taking in reverse the steps that follow. 5+ Relate how it originally struck me. + Outline it first with an eye to accuracy, recoursing to old notes. 4+ Relate optimal fit. : see notebook:2021-9-20a : note : this is an instance of cosmological fine tuning, but one that is immune from the anthropic objection : see https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fine-tuning/ : see https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fine-tuning/#AnthObje 3+ Tell in terms of the search how it seems to express a covenant. - If you have what it takes to reach me and do not discover what you seek along the way, then I will give you time and space unbounded in which to carry on until you do. : cf. notebook:2021-10-7a - It is hard to imagine what more we could ask for, what more we could hope to hold on to, and hard to imagine not reaching for it. 2+ Tack. - Bear in mind that ‘tack’ has (with revision) come to be an overstatement here: what precedes and what follows it are now closely related. - Unless something new enters above or below, this tack may collapse to nothing. - ‘… but if I reflect on what moves me in that direction, what has always moved me since the first instant …’ - Now the recession: 1+ Explain the recession of the formal, eclipsed by the material. : see notebook:2021-10-16e,f : see notebook:2021-11-4 ' … recedes beyond the horizon … - Refer not to the formula. - Bear in mind that what moves me (what matters) is that our natural striving forward is here given tangible hope of finding purpose, meaning, and ultimate value by something else that is rooted in nature, the apparently optimal fit and promise. : see notebook:2021-10-18b - This is no proud achievement to claim. : c.f. `^^d) A sense of dignity in seeking moral certainty moves me` @ rights_boneyard.brec - Do not fall, as there, into a trap of emptiness. - Nature’s push meets nature’s pull, as it were. - A motivating ground that spans the *past through present* here meets one that spans the *present through future*, fortifying a resolve to carry on as always. - Moreover the fit and promise cannot recede, be eclipsed or deprecated, as much is made of these later. : e.g. `^^\+ Begin with.+notebook’s powerful summary` @ ../precarious_conditions.brec : see notebook:2021-10-13f : e.g. `bridge.+between what nature.+bestowed.*\R.*and.+cosmos.*promises` @ ../rights.brec - Interpret no (further) meaning, simply draw a line under it. : cf. `^^.. What is the meaning of the revelation’s affect\?$` ?+ What is the meaning of the revelation’s affect? : see also notebook:2021-10-18b | let it be, and simply relate the experience : see `^^- Interpret no.+meaning, simply draw a line under it` - Then bridge in part on: • The lesson of going outside myself. - I cannot simply *figure X out*. • The lesson of looking to an environmental condition. • The lesson of an existential condition. !! Should I expect to begin this file with the fact of dissensus? / As its twin file begins, that is. | I find sense looking beyond the frontier of settled society - With this I have purpose and feel at home. !! How can this teach me to take what I lack as an *end*? | not as antecendant|prerequisite to action - It did, after all, inspire the default ethic. | The absense of a [necessary] ground for action is itself a ground [and necessary end]. | A ground lacking, taken as an end confers a (default) ground. - This the night tells me, because somehow what it offers satisfies my need without quite fulfilling it. | Take what you lack as your end, and it grants something of itself immediately, a kind of default. !! Does this apply to all normative deficits? | here it applies to grounds | frame enlargement - Purpose no longer appears to be what society gives. - It appears to be ever receding. - Home no longer appears to be society. - It appears to be ever expanding. - Then to bridge back, the object of my search is at present further on. - It might be ever further on, or it might be found, but either way it is (for the present) further on. | direction|orientation - No longer lost, I know the direction home. - Direction not only in space and time, but in means of motion therre. - It is something to hold on to. - And not only in the far distant future, but also in the present, for confirming my hold is what I do when I pause to look up at the stars. / As though my grip on the rope above [me] could not be established by feel, only by sight. - Reassured of it, I carry on. ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ + Bridge from material aside (above) back to continuation of formal (below). : see notebook:2021-10-17c,d : see notebook:2021-10-18c - The formal is just a formulation of what moves me. - It is open|amenable to elaboration by inference as opposed to introspection. - Now to its elaboration. - Seeing a way foward and being moved to take it is what finally enables me to give form to the search in which I am engaged. - Hitherto, I was not so much moved to the pursuit of an end as pushed about aimlessly for lack of knowledge of an end worth pursuing; whereas now, in light of what the clear night reveals, I have enough knowledge to formulate both my desired end and the necessary means to it. !! Incoherent: I still lack knowledge of X. - It is incoherent to purue an *unspecified* end. / Not only because there may be multiple X. - One must know *something* about it, enough to define it as a particular thing. - X is merely an abstract end on which I hang the revealed means. - W is still necessary, and with it C. + Explain that being moved by the means to an unknown end, I formulate that end sight unseen. … in light of what the clear night reveals … … seeing a way foward and being moved to take it helps give form to the search in which I am engaged … … the end that reason demands … X. A thing worthy in its own right, an absolute good. + Clarify: X is merely abstract. + Claim that nevertheless, I can obtain some knowledge of it. / Both analytic and synthetic. - Necessarily the attainment of X lies in the future. - Reason cannot (contrary to reason) demand an end that already is attained. - It follows that never can X be fully attained, or always the attainment of another X awaits. + Interpret the latter, plural possibility as one that would offer a choice of which X (or Xs) to pursue. : see notebook:2021-11-15e + Premptively dismiss (by choice) any X (of the plural possibility) unique to me. : see notebook:2021-11-15b !! Such choice is not *necessary* and thus cannot warrant H. | C still warrants H - Literally it requires H. / The plausibility that C’s attainment lies far in the future is enough to warrant treating it as such. ! Reason binds me only to my *own* knowledge. \ : cf `^^- No, duty binds me to my \*own\* moral certainty` @ \ http://reluk.ca/project/way/ethic/working_notes.brec \\ lost referent - Wrong, there is no such thing as my *own* knowledge. \ : join @ http://reluk.ca/project/way/ethic/working_notes.brec \\ lost referent crucial+ - Always knowledge (for us) depends on consensus and therefore exists beyond any single one of us. + Warrant H through C, as before. \ : re `as before` see ~/tmp/y/ethic/a_deficit_of_reason.brec : re `as before` see also notebook:2021-11-19g \ : re `as before` see ~/tmp/x/ethic/moral_uncertainty.brec : re `as before` see also notebook:2021-11-19c,i,j - Whether or not they are necessary to X, they are necessary to W and it is to W I am bound by reason. / I doubt that reason can steer me wrong. Even if it turns out that the only absolute good is one subjective and personally bound (e.g. pleasure), then still I commit no error in pursuing C and H as reason bids. \ | Yet this file serves the purpose of motivation alone, \ and the argument it gives for motivation remains strong. \ | Yet the want it speaks of, and the desire for purpose, and nightfall’s revelation, \ together move me to at least *hypothesize* an absolute good, \ while still acknowledging the need of W to validate it. \ - And the end must be commensurate with the means that move me; \ I could never accept a lesser one. \ go with one of these+ reworking the conclusion + Infer the consequences of such an X. - I could only guess as to what it consists in. - For knowledge requires a consensus to validate it. + State in the second file the principle behind this requirement, and refer to it from here. - I could only guess as to what means to take. - This might support a claim that no such X could be taken as an end. / A claim I might have no need of here. + Claim that I need never choose such an X. - There must always be an alternative. : see `It follows.+never can X be.+attained, or always.+attainment of another.+awaits` !! What are the implications of every other X *also* being unique to a person? / Or me being the last possible person alive? - Then no X could ever be taken as an end. : see `^^- This might support a claim.+no such X could be taken as an end` - It might then be unreasonable to pursue moral certainty (M), as it could serve no absolute end. \ : see `^^rationality of duty$` @ \ http://reluk.ca/project/way/ethic/working_notes.brec \\ lost referent ?+ Can I clear away the confusion with a claim that always it remains possible for us gain knowledge of an unproblematic X. - So I would at least relegate this bizarre stuff to asides. ∵ At least one plausible candidate exists. : see `^^\+ Use this to introduce my hypothesis \(or candidate\) for W/C` + Reject it out of hand (sight unseen). - So gaining synthetic knowledge of X by what remains, and with that a means toward it. !! Wrong, the only X might be something like pleasure, directly attainable *without H*. | counter with a postulate : see notebook:16,17 - So restricting the ethic to those who agree with the postulate. - X is unattainable unless we continue to exist. H. The rational nature of humankind extant through X. + Tell how I look to the night sky for reassurance about the means (H). + Tell how sometimes it is not enough: I want reassurance about the end, too. - Then it is silent, and once again I feel the same old need. - I do have a sense of purpose, but only a default purpose; it is clear enough to satisfy my desire, but not sure enough. + Use this to state that W is still necessary, and with it C. - The attainment of X requires knowledge of what it consists in. W. Knowledge of a thing worthy in its own right. !! Untrue, nor is it necessary that I *will* W. | untrue yourself, X being abstract cannot satisfy reason - It is incoherent to purue an *unspecified* end. / Not only because there may be multiple X. - One must know *something* about it, enough to define it as a particular thing. + Use this to introduce my hypothesis (or candidate) for W/C. - Namely that our rational macrocommunity is an absolute good. : see notebook:2021-11-15c,f : see notebook:2021-11-19a,20a-c + Quote Kant. + Indicate differences from my view, collective, untied to any particular rational nature or origin. - Bring in even the comforting conjecture that the revelation/covenant is a real communication, the refuge we hope to enter being the artifact of a prior macrocommunity we would thereby join. : see notebook:2021-11-15d,20c : even though I crossed 15d out - That knowledge, in turn, requires a consensus to validate it. C. A stable consensus on a thing worthy in its own right. - Such a consensus would be out of reach if X were a thing particular to me, though that seems highly implausible. postulate: Nothing of absolute worth is [necessarily] unique to one person. ?+ Must I not also postulate that it is a thing general enough (so accessible enough) to reach consensus on? - Meanwhile, none of these ends is attainable unless we continue to exist. H. The rational nature of humankind extant through C and W to X. - Reason binds me to an end of absolute worth, one that probably lies far beyond the span of my life, and informs me that nevertheless my own worth depends on its attainment. + Relate to my original experience of desire and subsequent interpretation of it as a felt need. : see `^^- Unsettled by this.+feeling dissatisfied` : see `^^- I explain my desire.+this way because I.+understand it as the felt need` @ a_failure_of_reason.brec ∴ I take X as my end, and with it W, C and H.