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Is there a name for this stance on existence and incomprehensibility? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Not sure how to ask this properly, so I’ll just put it plainly.

I (the subjective self) may or may not exist

That doesn’t mean anything, it just is

We can’t really comprehend this, not because we’re missing something

But because the self can’t get outside itself to understand what’s beyond it

Any attempt to do so is already shaped by being a self

I’m not saying this is profound, or depressing, or enlightening

I’m not looking for meaning in it

I just want to know if there’s a name for seeing things this way?

If this kind of stance has ever been named or written about, I’d love to know. The closest Ive found is things like quietism or madhyamaka Buddhism, yet these are very intertwined with belief and meaning.

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[–] Initiateofthevoid 3 points 4 weeks ago

The No-self theory

That's philosophy for you. We either name it what it is, or we name it what it is in a different language.

[–] Scipitie 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

The second part of your text I'd classify as nearly textbook subjectivism ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjectivism ).

The first part is more complicated. If I recall that debate got kicked off by Descartes with cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am.

Then Hume followed up with questioning if a stable self exists at all and later Nietzsche who stated that what we call "I" is only a bundle of instincts and enjoying that we are too overcome.

The English names for those teachings I don't know though, sorry.

A philosopher arguing for the complete non existence of self is not known to me and it would be hard for me to follow to be honest. To freely quote a whale: who is that I that does the thinking and asking anyway?

Edit: language