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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. 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
    2. 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.

      3 replies 0 retweets 9 likes
    3. 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
    4. 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
    5. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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      Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

      It’s probably often well-intentioned, an attempt to advocate for dignity for the marginalized, but it’s a transparent euphemism that doesn’t fool anyone, so it’s probably counter-productive.

      1 reply 0 retweets 13 likes
    6. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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      Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

      A related misuse is egalitarian: everyone is special “in their own way”, meaning that there is something unique everyone is best (or exceptionally good) at.

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

      This is probably factually false, and in any case doesn’t support its intended agenda, because no one cares if you are the best person in the world at sticking grapes up your nose with your tongue.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUN1jLH7dOQ …

      1 reply 0 retweets 12 likes
    8. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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      Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

      “Everyone is special” (a “muddled middle” in my jargon) shares with the actual specialness stance a confusion of factual and moral equality. People aren’t factually equal (a concrete and obvious fact). People are morally equal (an abstract, difficult, non-obvious claim).

      1 reply 0 retweets 13 likes
    9. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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      Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

      So then to specialness itself. In virtue of what are you special? When you adopt the stance, usually there is something factual that seems to confirm it.

      1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
    10. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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      Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

      For example, when I fall into it, there’s the fact that I am exceptionally smart. Or it could be that you are beautiful, rich, popular, famous, well-born, etc. If you find yourself mentally reviewing the evidence for one such, you know that you’re doing the stance.

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

      Perhaps for some that’s sufficient, for a while; but everyone knows those factors are transient, mostly a matter of luck, and anyway are external to your core self, rather than being about who you, uniquely, actually are.

      9:21 AM - 30 Dec 2019
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      3 replies 0 retweets 11 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          Being rich or whatever doesn’t make you feel special in the way that matters. Your core self is actually just the same as those of ordinary people. Ordinary people may treat you as special, which is nice, but you know you aren't, and feel fake. This is unsatisfactory.

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

          You may come to realize that no mundane facts, no matter how extreme, could actually make you special; they’re just contingent. What you need is transcendent, metaphysical specialness. You need to be Chosen by the Cosmic Plan.

          1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
        4. 14 more replies
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        2. Mike Elias  💡 📈‏ @harmonylion1 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          What if there’s a qualia, a souliness, that some people can sense about others — a sense of the “special.” I suspect the concept came from a genuine place and fell into more widespread, less honest use.

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        3. Mike Elias  💡 📈‏ @harmonylion1 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @harmonylion1 @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          Ie the extraordinariness of the ordinary

          0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
        4. End of conversation
        1. Prisoner‏ @favoredprisoner 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          Does everyone really realize that these factors are external to the core self? IQ is not transient, is a matter of luck but that’s OK, and seems very core to me. If I’m legitimately a super genius then that seems like just cause for feeling special.

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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