Wed 15 May, 2024 04:21 pm
I was browsing lists of philosophers and ended up down the rabbit hole, browsing some pages, and I found this guy at the top of the list: Jack Abaza, and they cited his book under religion or spirituality. So, I clicked it, and it turned out he was actually arguing against religion, and I bought the book.
It turns out that the meaning of life can be solved by using an ancient form of reasoning dating to Aristotle's Categories. Apparently, we've been going about the question of life's meaning the wrong way. Instead of answering the question, we're supposed to know the meaning of the question first, since, in applying Aristotle's ontological priority, it's self-evident that the understanding of a question precedes its answer, and the question precedes the understanding of the question. But without the understanding, there cannot be an answer.
What Jack Abaza did was list all the competing philosophies in the philosophy of life and expose the erroneous reasonings, e.g., fallacies and indeterminate propositions, that confused the question "What is the meaning of life?" through the use of reductiones ad absurdum (it's pretty cool, huh? I learned this word from his book). I have never seen a Q.E.D. style of refutation since Max Black made a dialogue about the indiscernibility of identicals.
How many people here have seen an actual reductio ad absurdum get pulled off? Anyway, it's a really good book to read so I won't spoil the ending, but it's as if I were reading Meditations on First Philosophy by Descartes for the first time.
He just published this book, so I was lucky enough to come across it before it gets really big. Who is this Jack Abaza anyway?
@jespah,
I wish. I've always wanted to write a philosophy book, but it's pretty hard. What blows my mind is that, of all philosophy books, this one actually solves the meaning of life.
@jespah,
jespah wrote:
You, or a pal of yours.
Good one, Jespah! I suspect you are correct.
My 8-y/o granddaughter LOVES Pokemon -- but I think she hasn't seen the Jakabaza character yet...
His name comes from Jak based on the name Jack-o'-lantern and -baza the final part of Calabaza (kind of pumpkin).
(Yes, I am aware there is a Jack Abaza, there is a lot of self-promotional material available on Google.)
The meaning of life is Aargh. The minister of my church told me this just before he died. Called me to his bedside on a dark and stormy night, and said, "Son ... the Meaning of Life ... is ... Aargh...!"
And then he was gone.
I've carried that in my heart for all these years.
Sorry. Just HAD to share.
@Seizan,
Seizan wrote:
Sorry. Just HAD to share.
Never apologize. Love to see you share here.
@Seizan,
I wouldn't be able to keep that to myself either. Thank you
A book that definitively explains the meaning of life? What are the odds that this is real?
@Ragman,
Ragman wrote:
A book that definitively explains the meaning of life? What are the odds that this is real?
A book that does in fact explain the meaning of life would only have 1 page of text.
"42"
@tsarstepan,
That’s a very deep thought!
@Ragman,
Pero, Qué es el "significado de la vida"?
If any reader here actually has that book, please feel free to spoil the ending. Even anonymously. I mean, if it's the answer to the greatest question of all time, why not...?
The true Meaning of Life should be shared with everyone alive, dontcha think? It would resolve the world crisis, emotional and psychological problems, stop the war, help with your "little problem", etc.
I mean, this is better than Oprah's 30-day special diet plan! Has more impact than Chair Yoga! More meaningful than connecting with your Guardian Angel! This is even better than pot!
It should be set free! Released! Let it wave in the wind!
And be sure the book has a money-back garantee. I mean, if you tell me what the big secret is, and it lends no meaning to my life, can I claim some money on my life still being meaningless?
Wow, that would be better than welfare!
Unless the Meaning of Life is that someone bought the book and made the author a bit richer...?
@Seizan,
Sorry, brother, but I'm not going to spoil ten years of labour if you can't afford seven hours of reading. The book is extremely well-written; if you're a real philosopher, then, surely, your life's meaning would be more worthwhile than the $20 USD that is required by an honest academic labourer.
@neologist,
It's clearly someone who has never gained a deeper understanding of how philosophy works. Philosophy books are extremely time-consuming and pay usually under a dollar per copy sold. Philosophy books don't tell more than dozens at a time, and one's fortunate if they ever gain $1,000 USD, which is about the cost of a typesetter's work. I thought this forum was interesting.
@cavilando,
Conocerás el significado de la vida comprando el libro. No es caro. Vaya al sitio web de Wipf and Stock para obtener La respuesta definitiva al significado de la vida y léalo detenidamente. La persona que escribió este libro pasó diez años investigando cuidadosamente la respuesta.
@tsarstepan,
Douglas Adam or Adam Douglas isn't a good man. What his comedic book achieved was obfuscate a field of inquiry as old as Confucius' Analects. It may seem funny to scream '42' with the mention of the meaning of life, but during those hard times when you genuinely want to know what it's all about, it's not comedy that saves you but analytic philosophy. Of course, there are the bunch of hyenas harassing the man who sweated hard to solve the question, showing just how pretentious so-called "philosophy enthusiasts" are.
If you want to really reward a work so great that it would make Aristotle weep, order The Definitive Answer to the Meaning of Life by Jack Abaza (2023). There isn't a philosopher as capable as he is. (By the way, Russians killed 95% of his ancestors, so lay off the Russian language out of respect for him.)
@Ragman,
It depends on your understanding of philosophy. If you're a layman, it's going to be like the lotto ticket. But if you understand truth tables and the two types of truth-producing statements, it wouldn't be hard to figure out how to solve the meaning of life. Of course, I'm not here to do the labour for you for free. That's why I'm selling the answer for $20, of which I get 74 cents on the copy. Don't remind me why I hate people more than I already do; you're welcome—I solved a 2,600-year-old question. You can either pretend you give a damn about philosophy or retreat into your world that perennial problems are as mythically unreachable as the god of Abraham or the Homeric Gods. I just don't care anymore; I did my job.
And for reference, "odds" apply to two things only: first, you need epistemic constraints, thereby limiting your knowledge, making odds "possible," and, second, the statements carrying probabilistic truth values have to be empirical. Analytic statements proper are never probable. I just hate people confuse philosophy so much.
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