John Carroll (1944) Australian professor and author
[describing the implications of Ehrenzweig’s theory] p. 95, note
Break-Out from the Crystal Palace (1974)
Left unqualified, that characterization is false. My view of cosmic meaning is indeed nihilistic. I think that there is no cosmic meaning. If I am right about that, then calling me a nihilist about cosmic meaning is entirely appropriate. However, my view is not nihilistic about all meaning because I believe that there is meaning from some perspectives. Our lives can be meaningful, but only from the limited, terrestrial perspectives. There is a crucial perspective—the cosmic one—from which our lives are irredeemably meaningless. In thinking about meaning in life, two broad kinds of mistakes are made. There are those who think that the only relevant meaning is what is attainable. They ignore our cosmic meaninglessness or they find ways either to discount questions about cosmic meaning or to minimize the importance of cosmic meaninglessness. The other kind of mistake is to think that because we are cosmically insignificant, “nothing matters,” where the implication is that nothing matters from any perspective. If we lack cosmic meaning but have other kinds of meaning, then some things do matter, even though they only matter from some perspectives. It does make a difference, for example, whether or not one is adding to the vast amounts of harm on earth, even though that makes no difference to the rest of the cosmos.
p. 32
The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (2017), Meaninglessness
John Carroll (1944) Australian professor and author
[describing the implications of Ehrenzweig’s theory] p. 95, note
Break-Out from the Crystal Palace (1974)
Keiji Nishitani (1900–1990) Japanese philosopher
Source: The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism (1990), p. 180
David Benatar (1966) South African philosopher
Source: The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (2017), Introduction, p. 14
Aldo Leopold book A Sand County Almanac
“August: The Green Pasture”, p. 51.
A Sand County Almanac, 1949, "August: The Green Pasture," "September: The Choral Copse," "October: Smoky Gold," and "October: Red Lanterns"
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
As quoted in "Obama arrives in Cuba; hopes visit will usher in change" by Kevin Liptak, at CNN (20 March 2016) http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/20/politics/obama-cuba-arrival-change/ <br class="br">2016
Baldur von Schirach (1907–1974) German Nazi leader convicted of crimes against humanity in the Nuremberg trial
To Leon Goldensohn, June 16, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004
“Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem—in my opinion—to characterize our age.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
"The Common Language of Science", a broadcast for Science, Conference, London, 28 September 1941. Published in Advancement of Science, London, Vol. 2, No. 5. Reprinted in Ideas and Opinions (1954), the quote appearing on this page http://books.google.com/books?id=OeUoXHoAJMsC&lpg=PP1&pg=PT357#v=onepage&q&f=false. <br class="br">1940s
“This is over. No way back for Japan, who in my view are lucky to make this final.”
Ian Darke (1950) British association football and boxing commentator
Twitter https://twitter.com/IanDarke/status/617837462409355265 (5 July 2015). <br class="br">2010s, 2015, 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup