Bad bus bullies biker

Mary, this bitch is about the bus service in Halifax. I think your comment belongs on another service available to the public in Halifax.

Not bad, Mary, not bad.

DOES LIFE ACTUALLY SUCK?

An excellent question Mary, an excellent question. I see two possible philosophical approaches which might serve to clarify it since, as you no doubt know, as Wittgenstein once famously said, “Philosophy leaves everything as it is.” What he meant of course is that the function of philosophy, if one might put it in such brutally pragmatic terms, is to dissipate what the philosopher Gilbert Ryle once called “conceptual cramps.” Philosophical analysis, in other words, is rather like letting the air out of a distended balloon. So, how to go about clarifying the question, “Does life actually suck” which appears to be causing your conceptual cramps.

The first approach is to get clearer about what is meant by the expression “suck.” Assuming you do not mean it in the sense of our previous exchange, I think we can say that it means that life is depressing at least and horrifying at worst. But I think there is no general rule which has any general application in this context. In other words, whether life sucks or not is largely a matter of individual interpretation which, in its turn, appears to be largely a matter of the combination of nature and nurture or, in other words, of upbringing and genetic inheritance. So I think we can say that philosophy, “qua” (that’s Latin for “as”) philosophy, cannot pass on the question “simpliciter” (that’s Latin for “simply.”)

This leads directly to the second philosophical approach which turns on the meaning of the term “actually.” What is to be understood here is that the question “Does life actually suck?” is an empirical matter. In other words, by the use of the word “actually,” the demand is not so much for qualitative philosophical assessment but rather for quantitative, objective measurement. Of course, the question then immediately arises as to just how quantitative objective measurement is to be determined. What, in other words, is that “yardstick,” so to speak, by virtue of which one might secure such an objective measure. Indeed, the stronger counter-claim may be put forward to the effect that there IS no such yardstick in terms of which a question such as “Does life suck?” might be measured in any impartial, objective sense. One might say that to suppose that there were constitutes one of Gilbert Ryle’s “category mistakes” to which I have previously referred on this site.

I hope that this has aided in dissolving your conceptual cramps about the question, “Does life actually suck?” Do not hesitate to ask if further questions remain.

A pleasure as always.

Cheerio!

I’m glad you found it intriguing Mary but you must attempt to be more forthcoming. The question which initially arises of course is exactly WHY you found it intriguing. You might want to start with an analysis of what “intriguing” means and then move to a consideration as to how it is made manifest in the present case. Good luck!