A thought
How do you know you are mortal? Mortality is defined by death. People die around us and because we are not impervious to harm, we assume that those properties that apply to others also apply to us.
But isn't there an inherent flaw in the logic? People are are not homogenous and what applies to the group may not apply to one. For example: When people around me run, their knees do not buckle forcing their bodies to collapse because their legs can no longer support their weight. This is a true statement for them. It is not a true statement for me. My knees will give out. What applies to the group does not apply to me. For any given human being, there is some trait he or she possesses or does not posses that the rest of the group either does not or does possess as the case may be.
We base almost everything off the assumption that human beings are basically similar. We have evolved to follow a group because if everyone else is doing it and they are not dead yet, it is probably a good idea for you to do it too.
No one can know if they are actually mortal unless they have died. For most people, once dead the point becomes moot.
So really, how do you know that mortality applies to you?
And are there other properties defined by events that have not yet happened which may be applicable to us?
Fragile, for instance. Fragile means breakable. You call a vase fragile even though you haven't broken it yet. It's fragile because of an event that will hopefully never happen.
Is the issue with language, knowledge or reality?
But isn't there an inherent flaw in the logic? People are are not homogenous and what applies to the group may not apply to one. For example: When people around me run, their knees do not buckle forcing their bodies to collapse because their legs can no longer support their weight. This is a true statement for them. It is not a true statement for me. My knees will give out. What applies to the group does not apply to me. For any given human being, there is some trait he or she possesses or does not posses that the rest of the group either does not or does possess as the case may be.
We base almost everything off the assumption that human beings are basically similar. We have evolved to follow a group because if everyone else is doing it and they are not dead yet, it is probably a good idea for you to do it too.
No one can know if they are actually mortal unless they have died. For most people, once dead the point becomes moot.
So really, how do you know that mortality applies to you?
And are there other properties defined by events that have not yet happened which may be applicable to us?
Fragile, for instance. Fragile means breakable. You call a vase fragile even though you haven't broken it yet. It's fragile because of an event that will hopefully never happen.
Is the issue with language, knowledge or reality?