Opposite
Congealed Blood: I'm about to torpedo your post.
noushiding: Nice.
noushiding: I assumed you would completely tear my post apart. I knew that when i pressed the button.
[. . .]
noushiding: What immediately bothered you about my post that led you to want to tear it up?
Congealed Blood: The fact that you're claiming apathy is an extreme. It's the middle.
noushiding: No way.
Congealed Blood: Yes.
Congealed Blood: Torpedo fired.
noushiding: Because I'm arguing that love is an action.
Congealed Blood: So what?
Congealed Blood: You are over-generalizing it.
Congealed Blood: An action's opposite is another action of the opposite extreme. It is not inaction.
noushiding: I disagree.
Congealed Blood: Inaction is the absence of action, not the opposite of action. Physics uses the same principles, although I don't need to rely on conventional science to logically delineate this.
noushiding: "Without action" is worse than negative action.
Congealed Blood: That's sophistry.
noushiding: I'm trying to think of a way to explain to you how you're wrong.
noushiding: You aren't understanding my definition of love.
Congealed Blood: I guess not.
noushiding: That's where the problem exists.
Congealed Blood: I can't argue against something that isn't defined.
noushiding: Yeah, but you damn sure always wish to try.
Congealed Blood: I did a good job, I think, of arguing against what you did define. It's not my fault.
noushiding: Actually, no. Because I didn't define anything (I never do), and therefore you just argued your points without much regard for meaning.
Congealed Blood: That's such a cop-out, it's not even funny. I argued against what you presented, and you are trying to fault me for taking you seriously.
noushiding: No, that's not it either. I'm about to define what I think is love, I'm simply stating beforehand that your arguments are not worth much of anything.
Congealed Blood: Ha.
noushiding: Strangely enough, I can't think of a proper way to describe my views on love without sounding cold. But to say the opposite of love is misery might be true for yourself, but I think the state of apathy is misery. In fact, I know nothing more miserable.
Congealed Blood: You're being poetic.
noushiding: No, I'm not.
Congealed Blood: Yes, you are.
Congealed Blood: Apathy isn't defined by misery. You're attaching that via poetic license. Apathy is the lack of emotion. It's neither good, nor bad.
noushiding: Apathy is not defined as misery, of course; "having absolutely no emotion" is the worst place possible, to me. It's as if it's the opposite of life.
Congealed Blood: Having absolutely no emotion is by definition neither happy nor sad.
noushiding: I'd chose life or death before apathy.
noushiding: No, it's not. You are completely insane.
Congealed Blood: Yes, it is.
noushiding: Have you ever been depressed?
Congealed Blood: Happiness is an emotion. Sadness is an emotion. Misery is an emotion. Having absolutely no emotion cannot be miserable.
Congealed Blood: I bet you like Nitzche. A lot. He is poetic. And sophistical.
noushiding: Asking me whether I like a philosopher or not is grounded on little.
Congealed Blood: You're right, it's not grounded on anything. Those questions were just my personal curiosity.
noushiding: riiight
Congealed Blood: If you don't believe me, you can scroll up and see my argument.
noushiding: I read it.
Congealed Blood: And you didn't respond to it.
noushiding: Exactly.
Congealed Blood: You attacked a straw man.
Congealed Blood: If you think of a response to my actual argument, let me know.
[. . .]
noushiding: In all seriousness, I still completely disagree with you. I understand your argument, but I think it's safe to say that nothingness can be the polar opposite of somethingness. In this case, love (in my understanding of the thing) has no opposite other than nothingness. Perhaps because in the eye of the receiver, nothingness is all the more worse.
Congealed Blood: I understand that you are saying "the opposite of existence is non-existence." But that is a misuse of the word "opposite." If what you say is true, then the opposite of everything is simply its lack. In your argument, the opposite of 1 is 0, not -1; and the opposite of 39 is 0, not -39.
Congealed Blood: So the opposite of good, is neutral? Bad is not the opposite of good?
noushiding: Yes, but when it comes to abstract ideas nothingness is the opposite when it can't be counted.
Congealed Blood: Good and bad are abstract. So answer my last question.
noushiding: Define good and define bad, or use a better analogy
Congealed Blood: No. Answer the question.
noushiding: I mean, when it comes to feelings... I did say the opposite of the emotion of love is hate.
Congealed Blood: Right, and your whole argument is contentious in my opinion. It's artistic, which I completely appreciate, but it isn't sound.
noushiding: Because you can quantify feelings in a way you can't quantify other things.
Congealed Blood: Ok, but you're stepping outside of the realm of philosophy. Which is fine.
Written in response to kimbloomston, on 2004-03-01:
if the bible was written by god, it would not be so that the bible would ask of the impossible--therefore, humans can be Christ-like.
Wrong. It asks you to imitate Christ. The implication is that you try your best; there is no expectation of success--and, in fact, the Bible makes it clear that you are born a sinner and you can't do a damn thing about it. Nevertheless you are expected to attempt to be without sin (and Christlike).
To me, the opposite of love, as I told her, is apathy.
No, that's the middle between two extremes.
Erich Fromm writes, "Love is not a feeling: it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise."
Sophistry.
The act of being apathetic is the extreme opposite of the act of loving.
define opposite. That is like saying "destruction is the opposite of passivity." No, the opposite of destruction is creation. Passivity is a lack, it is not an extreme. It is the middle of all extremes, and it applies to most binary relationships. Apathy, in the case of love-hate, is passivity.
The emotion of love is the opposite of the emotion of hate.
You are making a distinction between "being in love" and "the emotion of love," but it doesn't matter. In either case, apathy isn't the extreme. The opposite of being in love is being in misery. The opposite of the act of loving, is the act of hating.
Who told them that you could ever be "on fire" for anyone, anything constantly?
Hollywood.
In the end though, I think my teacher and I were just discussing semantics.
Saying that apathy is an extreme goes beyond semantics.
noushiding: Nice.
noushiding: I assumed you would completely tear my post apart. I knew that when i pressed the button.
[. . .]
noushiding: What immediately bothered you about my post that led you to want to tear it up?
Congealed Blood: The fact that you're claiming apathy is an extreme. It's the middle.
noushiding: No way.
Congealed Blood: Yes.
Congealed Blood: Torpedo fired.
noushiding: Because I'm arguing that love is an action.
Congealed Blood: So what?
Congealed Blood: You are over-generalizing it.
Congealed Blood: An action's opposite is another action of the opposite extreme. It is not inaction.
noushiding: I disagree.
Congealed Blood: Inaction is the absence of action, not the opposite of action. Physics uses the same principles, although I don't need to rely on conventional science to logically delineate this.
noushiding: "Without action" is worse than negative action.
Congealed Blood: That's sophistry.
noushiding: I'm trying to think of a way to explain to you how you're wrong.
noushiding: You aren't understanding my definition of love.
Congealed Blood: I guess not.
noushiding: That's where the problem exists.
Congealed Blood: I can't argue against something that isn't defined.
noushiding: Yeah, but you damn sure always wish to try.
Congealed Blood: I did a good job, I think, of arguing against what you did define. It's not my fault.
noushiding: Actually, no. Because I didn't define anything (I never do), and therefore you just argued your points without much regard for meaning.
Congealed Blood: That's such a cop-out, it's not even funny. I argued against what you presented, and you are trying to fault me for taking you seriously.
noushiding: No, that's not it either. I'm about to define what I think is love, I'm simply stating beforehand that your arguments are not worth much of anything.
Congealed Blood: Ha.
noushiding: Strangely enough, I can't think of a proper way to describe my views on love without sounding cold. But to say the opposite of love is misery might be true for yourself, but I think the state of apathy is misery. In fact, I know nothing more miserable.
Congealed Blood: You're being poetic.
noushiding: No, I'm not.
Congealed Blood: Yes, you are.
Congealed Blood: Apathy isn't defined by misery. You're attaching that via poetic license. Apathy is the lack of emotion. It's neither good, nor bad.
noushiding: Apathy is not defined as misery, of course; "having absolutely no emotion" is the worst place possible, to me. It's as if it's the opposite of life.
Congealed Blood: Having absolutely no emotion is by definition neither happy nor sad.
noushiding: I'd chose life or death before apathy.
noushiding: No, it's not. You are completely insane.
Congealed Blood: Yes, it is.
noushiding: Have you ever been depressed?
Congealed Blood: Happiness is an emotion. Sadness is an emotion. Misery is an emotion. Having absolutely no emotion cannot be miserable.
Congealed Blood: I bet you like Nitzche. A lot. He is poetic. And sophistical.
noushiding: Asking me whether I like a philosopher or not is grounded on little.
Congealed Blood: You're right, it's not grounded on anything. Those questions were just my personal curiosity.
noushiding: riiight
Congealed Blood: If you don't believe me, you can scroll up and see my argument.
noushiding: I read it.
Congealed Blood: And you didn't respond to it.
noushiding: Exactly.
Congealed Blood: You attacked a straw man.
Congealed Blood: If you think of a response to my actual argument, let me know.
[. . .]
noushiding: In all seriousness, I still completely disagree with you. I understand your argument, but I think it's safe to say that nothingness can be the polar opposite of somethingness. In this case, love (in my understanding of the thing) has no opposite other than nothingness. Perhaps because in the eye of the receiver, nothingness is all the more worse.
Congealed Blood: I understand that you are saying "the opposite of existence is non-existence." But that is a misuse of the word "opposite." If what you say is true, then the opposite of everything is simply its lack. In your argument, the opposite of 1 is 0, not -1; and the opposite of 39 is 0, not -39.
Congealed Blood: So the opposite of good, is neutral? Bad is not the opposite of good?
noushiding: Yes, but when it comes to abstract ideas nothingness is the opposite when it can't be counted.
Congealed Blood: Good and bad are abstract. So answer my last question.
noushiding: Define good and define bad, or use a better analogy
Congealed Blood: No. Answer the question.
noushiding: I mean, when it comes to feelings... I did say the opposite of the emotion of love is hate.
Congealed Blood: Right, and your whole argument is contentious in my opinion. It's artistic, which I completely appreciate, but it isn't sound.
noushiding: Because you can quantify feelings in a way you can't quantify other things.
Congealed Blood: Ok, but you're stepping outside of the realm of philosophy. Which is fine.
Written in response to kimbloomston, on 2004-03-01:
if the bible was written by god, it would not be so that the bible would ask of the impossible--therefore, humans can be Christ-like.
Wrong. It asks you to imitate Christ. The implication is that you try your best; there is no expectation of success--and, in fact, the Bible makes it clear that you are born a sinner and you can't do a damn thing about it. Nevertheless you are expected to attempt to be without sin (and Christlike).
To me, the opposite of love, as I told her, is apathy.
No, that's the middle between two extremes.
Erich Fromm writes, "Love is not a feeling: it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise."
Sophistry.
The act of being apathetic is the extreme opposite of the act of loving.
define opposite. That is like saying "destruction is the opposite of passivity." No, the opposite of destruction is creation. Passivity is a lack, it is not an extreme. It is the middle of all extremes, and it applies to most binary relationships. Apathy, in the case of love-hate, is passivity.
The emotion of love is the opposite of the emotion of hate.
You are making a distinction between "being in love" and "the emotion of love," but it doesn't matter. In either case, apathy isn't the extreme. The opposite of being in love is being in misery. The opposite of the act of loving, is the act of hating.
Who told them that you could ever be "on fire" for anyone, anything constantly?
Hollywood.
In the end though, I think my teacher and I were just discussing semantics.
Saying that apathy is an extreme goes beyond semantics.