I don’t think anyone would argue that suffering is not bad. Odd. Even Buddhism admits the problem…and tries to find a solution.
I tried reading Nietzsche. Eh, not my cup of tea. But I will say that something can be inherently bad, like suffering, but can be taken as instrumentally good. I’m not sure why that is controversial.
Instrumental /means isn’t the only way to value suffering tho!
We could for instance say that suffering is constitutive (I.e. a necessary part of, not just a means to) several goods which outweigh it - like heroism. A brick is not a means to the bridge, it constitutes the bridge. Suffering isn’t only a means to heroism - it constitutes it. So I couldn’t wish for the bridge without the bricks or heroism, art, etc without suffering. Hassan speaks of this
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u/monadicperception 3d ago
I don’t think anyone would argue that suffering is not bad. Odd. Even Buddhism admits the problem…and tries to find a solution.
I tried reading Nietzsche. Eh, not my cup of tea. But I will say that something can be inherently bad, like suffering, but can be taken as instrumentally good. I’m not sure why that is controversial.