Overthrowing Eastern and Western Economics: Economics by Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán (Chapter 12)

2006/8/16 13:39:28

So now, let us look at the reality within this soap bubble and ask: what axioms can we state about humans? So-called axioms are nothing but the soap bubble's reality making itself real within the reality of the soap bubble. Some say humans are selfish, humans are social, humans are good, humans are evil, and so on—these so-called axioms are merely the trembling results of certain people's brainwaves. Their premise must always be: humans are alive.

Without the premise that humans are alive, any axiom about humans is nonsense. If there truly is any axiom about humans, the only axiom is that every human will die! That is to say, being alive is the sole premise for any human being a human, and this premise is a premise precisely because every human will die. If no human ever died, or even if just one human could not die, then being alive could no longer serve as the sole premise for humans being human.

Apart from being alive, no premise about humans can be axiomatic. Selfishness, sociality, goodness, evil, and so on are all non-axiomatic—they can only be additions built upon the axiom "every human will die." Without the axiom "every human will die," all realistic statements about humans are nonsense. Therefore, any theory about humans that violates the axiom "every human will die" can only be a garbage theory!

Of course, some may object. The response is simple: produce a person who doesn't die. Until such an immortal person is found, all theories about humans must obey the axiom "every human will die"—there can be no dispute about this. Of course, dispute doesn't matter either, because humans will always die, and your objection will certainly vanish with your death. Some might say that others share this objection too, but that is their objection, unrelated to you—and they will also die. And any person's death merely continues to repeat this premise: "every human will die." This premise will not vanish with any person's death, because it is the sole axiom for any theory about humans—even including human death itself!