(jeffhughes;60555)
To add a bit to Theophage's answer, I would say that it is not that we live or exist that is good or bad, but how we live or exist. I would have a difficult time saying that it is "better" that Hitler existed, but I would have no difficulty saying that it was "better" that someone like Mother Teresa, or any other person who has made the world a better place, existed. For those who contribute to the well-being of others, I think that we can say it was better that they existed. Of course, since all this must be done in hindsight, it may not make much of a difference, but I think it is intuitively how most humans perceive life, at least at a basic level.
How do we know that if there had not been a Hitler that we would have a Mother Teressa?Your correct in pointing out a difference. In my worldview it is good that things are the way they are, including the Hitlers. And we are talking in a universal/global sense, not for an individual life. It would be easy to look at a single life in WWII Germany and say it would have been better for that individual had Hitler never existed. However it does not follow that a better world would exist today had Hitler never been born. We cannot say or possibly know that.If this world were not good exactly the way it (as opposed to some other way) and the best possible world given what has past, then in my view things would be different (no Hitler for one example). Just because we cannot see the good that could come from something like a Hitler, does not mean it does not exist. Nor could we possibly say we know it would be "better" without a Hitler. Am not sure why "how we live" should matter if there is no basis/answer for saying it is good that we live at all. If I cannot look at others and say like me that it is good that they exist too, then what is the value of that life to me really, other than what that life can do for me or my interests? It just seems to me that there is no basis for saying there is a better way to live, if living/existence (including that of all others) has no intrinsic value to me. I can understand acting for self preservation and a desire to be happy, but am uncertain how those things alone would arrive at a better way for all of us to live. If I say how I live my life matters, yet existence is meaningless to me there seems to be a discord. Why does how I live matter? Does how I live matter to you?
To add a bit to Theophage's answer, I would say that it is not that we live or exist that is good or bad, but how we live or exist. I would have a difficult time saying that it is "better" that Hitler existed, but I would have no difficulty saying that it was "better" that someone like Mother Teresa, or any other person who has made the world a better place, existed. For those who contribute to the well-being of others, I think that we can say it was better that they existed. Of course, since all this must be done in hindsight, it may not make much of a difference, but I think it is intuitively how most humans perceive life, at least at a basic level.
How do we know that if there had not been a Hitler that we would have a Mother Teressa?Your correct in pointing out a difference. In my worldview it is good that things are the way they are, including the Hitlers. And we are talking in a universal/global sense, not for an individual life. It would be easy to look at a single life in WWII Germany and say it would have been better for that individual had Hitler never existed. However it does not follow that a better world would exist today had Hitler never been born. We cannot say or possibly know that.If this world were not good exactly the way it (as opposed to some other way) and the best possible world given what has past, then in my view things would be different (no Hitler for one example). Just because we cannot see the good that could come from something like a Hitler, does not mean it does not exist. Nor could we possibly say we know it would be "better" without a Hitler. Am not sure why "how we live" should matter if there is no basis/answer for saying it is good that we live at all. If I cannot look at others and say like me that it is good that they exist too, then what is the value of that life to me really, other than what that life can do for me or my interests? It just seems to me that there is no basis for saying there is a better way to live, if living/existence (including that of all others) has no intrinsic value to me. I can understand acting for self preservation and a desire to be happy, but am uncertain how those things alone would arrive at a better way for all of us to live. If I say how I live my life matters, yet existence is meaningless to me there seems to be a discord. Why does how I live matter? Does how I live matter to you?