What does it mean? What qualifies and what does not?
The abolition of institutional slavery for the first time in history by the House of Commons in 1833 is life affirming.
And sending the Royal Navy into the Atlantic with orders to sink all American slave ships was life affirming.
And emancipation of women for the first time in history in Australia and New Zealand in 1901, was life affirming.
And the Judicial Enquiry into Child Abuse in Ireland in 2009, and the Royal Commission into Child Abuse in Australia in 2013 are life affirming.
But not only do we want to free the slaves, women and children, we want roses as well. We also want to dance, make love and poetry.
They way i noticed affirmation used usually refers to agreeing, complimenting and pointing out the value in ones choices and beliefs.
Not sure about the context here.
The abolition of institutional slavery for the first time in history by the House of Commons in 1833 is life affirming.
And sending the Royal Navy into the Atlantic with orders to sink all American slave ships was life affirming.
It's not that I don't agree with you, I do- abolition was life-affirming. I'm having trouble with this second line, though. Sinking the slave ships was life-affirming? Didn't it.. you know, kill a bunch of people, including slaves? Maybe death would be more life-affirming than living in slavery, but wouldn't it be more life-affirming to allow the individuals to make that choice for themselves? Maybe some of those people could have lived to escape or be emancipated after the Civil War.
I agree and hence the thread.
Which is making the anwers to thread so far a lot more confusing. Is life affirming anything the user views as positive to life?
Which is making the anwers to thread so far a lot more confusing. Is life affirming anything the user views as positive to life?
I think it's an inherently subjective term. So, yeah, probably.
I think it's an inherently subjective term. So, yeah, probably.
Victor you are living evidence of Dawkin's "mind virus" or "meme" theory.
Or perhaps you believe it and want to personify it with singularity of purpose.
It's not that I don't agree with you, I do- abolition was life-affirming. I'm having trouble with this second line, though. Sinking the slave ships was life-affirming? Didn't it.. you know, kill a bunch of people, including slaves? Maybe death would be more life-affirming than living in slavery, but wouldn't it be more life-affirming to allow the individuals to make that choice for themselves? Maybe some of those people could have lived to escape or be emancipated after the Civil War.
I think the term "life affirming" was coined by Nietzsche in his criticism of Xtian values and how they placed value in "another life" than this one. There is some good segments on this in Nietzsche's The Antichrist, where he explains that all values are "placed on their head" when one begins to value "the spiritual", "nirvana", "the next life", "the ideal", "the soul", all, according to Nietzsche, opposed to the palette of sensory experinces (and thus experience, he would say, is the only one worthy of being lived). So "life affirming" originally means pertaining to living one's earthly life to the fullest, as opposed to hoping for reward in and fearing punishment in the next.
The abolition of institutional slavery for the first time in history by the House of Commons in 1833 is life affirming.
And sending the Royal Navy into the Atlantic with orders to sink all American slave ships was life affirming.
And emancipation of women for the first time in history in Australia and New Zealand in 1901, was life affirming.
And the Judicial Enquiry into Child Abuse in Ireland in 2009, and the Royal Commission into Child Abuse in Australia in 2013 are life affirming.
But not only do we want to free the slaves, women and children, we want roses as well. We also want to dance, make love and poetry.