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Single Idea 23071
[filed under theme 20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 4. Responsibility for Actions
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Full Idea
The problem of responsibility would have a meaning only if we had been consulted before our birth and had consented to be precisely who we are.
Gist of Idea
We could only be responsible if we had consented before birth to who we are
Source
E.M. Cioran (The Trouble with Being Born [1973], 06)
Book Ref
Cioran,E.M.: 'The Trouble with Being Born', ed/tr. Richard Howard [Penguin 2012], p.82
A Reaction
The question could still be asked retrospectively, like agreeing to be in an army into which you have been conscripted. People gripped by deeply anti-social desires would probably welcome the chance to become different.
The
17 ideas
from 'The Trouble with Being Born'
23064
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So-called wisdom is just pondering things instead of acting
[Cioran]
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23062
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It is better to watch the hours pass, than trying to fill them
[Cioran]
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23063
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The first man obviously found paradise unendurable
[Cioran]
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23067
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Suicide is pointless, because it always comes too late
[Cioran]
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23065
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If only we could write like a reptile, of endless sensations and no concepts!
[Cioran]
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23068
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People who really believe anti-realism don't bother to prove it
[Cioran]
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23066
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Negation doesn't arise from reasoning, but from deep instincts
[Cioran]
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23069
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Fear cures boredom, because it is stronger
[Cioran]
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23071
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We could only be responsible if we had consented before birth to who we are
[Cioran]
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23070
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We morally dissolve if we spend time with excessive beauty
[Cioran]
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23072
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Systems are the worst despotism, in philosophy and in life
[Cioran]
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23073
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Convictions are failures to study anything thoroughly
[Cioran]
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23076
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If people always acted without words we would take them for robots
[Cioran]
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23075
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A text explained ceases to be a text
[Cioran]
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23074
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In anxiety people cling to what reinforces it, because it is a deep need
[Cioran]
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23077
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The word 'being' is very tempting, but in fact means nothing at all
[Cioran]
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23078
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Opinions are fine, but having convictions means something has gone wrong
[Cioran]
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