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Who is responsible for one's faith in humanity?

baker November 28, 2021 at 21:59 3300 views 14 comments
Who is responsible for one's faith in humanity?


See options, with some further clarification. Discuss your answers. Thanks.

Option 1
You, and you alone. Even if other people treat you like shit, you're still solely responsible to have faith in humanity.

Option 2
Other people. It's on them to show you that they're worth having faith in.

Option 3
Both you and other people. Every person's faith in humanity is a mutual project. People depend on eachother to have faith in humanity.

Option 4
Nobody. You either have such faith, or you don't. Nothing can be done about it either way.

Comments (14)

TheMadFool November 28, 2021 at 22:17 #625249
Quoting baker
faith in humanity


Globally, I see tremendous strides made in the moral sphere. Local conditions may vary. So yeah, I'm gonna wait a little longer before I cast my vote lest I have to eat my own words, adding insult to injury. :grin:

Maybe think globally, act locally! :lol:
180 Proof November 28, 2021 at 22:24 #625259
Both. We're an eusocial species à la "no one is an island" (i.e. natality refutes solipsism).
baker November 29, 2021 at 19:57 #625607
Reply to 180 Proof But some (many) don't want to be eusocial with others, they don't want to eusocially build eachother's faith in humanity with them.
For example, just look at the upper class: they don't want to eusocialize with the lower class.
Tom Storm November 29, 2021 at 20:21 #625615
I'm a little puzzled by the term faith in humanity. Does this mean a trust in people to do the right thing (however this looks)? I don't generally have faith in anything. But in some instances I have 'reasonable confidence' that something is the case or is not the case.

I have no real answer to whether humans are good or bad. I wonder if the question is meaningful given all the variables and potential descriptions of this vast territory.

Probably it comes down to: do you like people or not? And depending upon your personal experiences and how you have made sense of them, you are likely to respond emotionally and instinctively to this kind of poll. I went with option 3.

180 Proof November 29, 2021 at 21:14 #625643
Reply to baker Like empathy, eusociality is an adaptive species trait, or functional defect, and not an individual organism's "preference".
Tom Storm November 29, 2021 at 23:14 #625697
Reply to 180 Proof I feel like having this put on a T-shirt and sending it out to Christian apologists of the motherfuckin' presuppositional variety.
Janus November 30, 2021 at 00:47 #625731
Quoting baker
Who is responsible for one's faith in humanity?


"Faith in humanity" is too too general, too abstract. Faith in humanity's what? Faith in humanity's love and compassion? Not everyone is loving and compassionate. Faith in humanity's honesty? Not everyone is honest. What about faith in humanity's ignorance, inability to learn from mistakes, arrogance, viciousness, complacency?

These and other negative traits, particularly in humanity acting en masse, may be even more widely encountered than positive traits, but again not everyone (and who can tell what the percentage is?) manifests these traits.

Reply to 180 Proof :up: Although I believe positive traits may be cultivated.
Paine November 30, 2021 at 01:16 #625737
Humanity scares the crap out of me.
I do think our shared experiences of being human is more evident than many other things. Is 'faith', in this context, an acceptance of a certain kind of report or an anticipation of some result?
180 Proof November 30, 2021 at 04:52 #625770
Hermeticus November 30, 2021 at 07:47 #625795
Reply to baker

Having faith in humanity, as so many things, I deem a matter of experience.
I chose Option 3 because it's the most inclusive - but essentially I think all 4 options to be correct.

(Disclaimer - Godwin incoming)
Imagine you're a jew in WW2. There are people hellbent on destroying you. There are also people risking their own life in trying to help and protect you. Are you then gonna have faith in humanity or not?
There's many factors - the depth and intensity of both positive and negative experience, our own world view, the philosophies we accept and adapt into our life, psychological resilience, etc.


Here's a question to you all: Do you have "faith" in humanity? If yes; do you generally consider yourself an optimist? If no; do you generally consider yourself a pessimist?
baker December 02, 2021 at 22:02 #626993
Quoting Janus
"Faith in humanity" is too too general, too abstract.


It's a term like "world peace". You're not supposed to think about it too much, but you're supposed to have "faith in humanity" (and you're supposed to desire "world peace").

See this.
baker December 02, 2021 at 22:04 #626995
Quoting Tom Storm
I wonder if the question is meaningful given all the variables and potential descriptions of this vast territory.


"Faith in humanity" is what makes the difference between being "normal" and being "antisocial".

Edited for typo.
Tom Storm December 02, 2021 at 22:13 #627000
Quoting baker
"Faith in humanity" is what makes the difference beteen being "normal" and being "antisocial".


Wow - I never had you as a feel good New Age thinker, B. :razz:
baker December 05, 2021 at 18:40 #628116
Reply to Tom Storm It's quite ironic, because the people because of whom one loses one's faith in humanity can sometimes be the same people who demand one to have faith in humanity and who maintain that one is solely responsible for one's faith in humanity.