It is fair to say that much of antinatalist thought is underpinned by a rejectionist philosophy, a nay-saying attitude towards life, a pessimism about the state of human life and the world at large. The line between such pessimism and antinatalism seems logical: if you believe existence is – overall – a bad deal, an…
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Ageism, a form of prejudice and discrimination based on age, was originally formulated by the psychiatrist Robert Neil Butler in 1969 to refer specifically to prejudicial attitudes towards older people, old age, and the ageing process; discrimination against older people; and the stereotyping of older people. Nowadays, ageism applies as a general term for prejudices…
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During personal, guided, or group psychedelic sessions, people will often confront a range of issues, from trauma to depression to addiction (sometimes all three together since these problems are often linked). One of the most interesting aspects of the psychedelic experiences, to me personally, is how they can feature confrontations with the key existential concerns…
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The symptoms of depression and anxiety can have many causes, including genetics, personality, childhood experiences, environment, and circumstance. Moreover, multiple contributing factors may be present in an individual’s life, increasing the risk of a depressive episode or chronic depression much more than one factor alone. My interest in the link between philosophy and mental health,…
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Being a happy pessimist may sound like a contradiction in terms, but really, there is nothing inherently incompatible about being both happy and a pessimist. Here I should make a distinction between philosophical pessimism and what can be called dispositional pessimism. The former is a philosophical worldview, which proponents believe is an accurate perception of…
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