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Meaningness's profile
David Chapman
David Chapman
David Chapman
@Meaningness

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David Chapman

@Meaningness

Better ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—around problems of meaning and meaninglessness; self and society; ethics, purpose, and value.

meaningness.com/about-my-sites
Joined September 2010

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    1. Lulie‏ @reasonisfun 30 Dec 2019
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      @Meaningness I read your piece on specialness (and saw you intend to write an expanded version. Hopefully maybe soon? 🐶) — Seems important + counter-intuitive :o Why is it 'specialness is a broken concept' instead of 'everyone is special'? Can you make your own 'cosmic plan'?

      1 reply 0 retweets 17 likes
    2. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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      Replying to @reasonisfun

      Hopefully maybe soon, but I haven’t done any work on that page since 2007, so possibly not very soon. (I still care about all the parts of the book and “intend” to finish them, but get <10% time for writing, so most of it may never happen.) However, I can answer questions :)

      1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes
    3. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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      Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

      So a meta explanation first, addressing possible confusions… this is not “ordinary language philosophy” so it’s not analyzing how people use the word “special” (although that may be helpful). It’s pointing at a “stance” meaning a complex of thoughts, feelings, and ways of acting

      1 reply 0 retweets 11 likes
      David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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      Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

      The particular stance this “special” wants to point at is something like “chosen by Destiny,” although not always *quite* so grandiose as that phrase.

      8:59 AM - 30 Dec 2019
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      3 replies 0 retweets 9 likes
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        2. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          However, it’s inherently contrastive. There are those who are special, and those who are ordinary. Everyone cannot be Chosen, because then there’s no choosing going on. As the way the stance works in practice, it seems only a small minority can be special.

          1 reply 0 retweets 11 likes
        3. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          In practice, it seems that the claim “everyone is special” is rarely used sincerely. Typically it is patronizing. It is used by people in the “helping professions” who, in fact, see the people they are “helping” as defective.

          1 reply 0 retweets 21 likes
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        2. abecedarius‏ @abecedarius Jan 1
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          Case in point: my first-grade class hatched some chicks, an egg earmarked for each student. When mine was first to hatch, I was like "See, I knew it, I *am* special! Just goes to show you." At some level I knew this was unreasonable, but that felt like quibbling.

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness Jan 1
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          Replying to @abecedarius @reasonisfun

          That is a GREAT example!

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
        4. End of conversation
        1. Semaj ‘somewhat “civil’ servant”‏ @SeafaringJ 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          Apropos to all this: Emperors, despots, messiahs, and parents all find great utility in their appointment as “chosen ones”.. The concept is flexible enough to bounce off equals/adults and stick to underlings/children in a Pied Piper kind of way. [def not implying it’s perfect]

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