"The crux of the terror management answer to the question, "Why do people need self-esteem?" is that self-esteem functions to shelter people from deeply rooted anxiety inherent in the human condition. Self-esteem is a protective shield designed to control the potential for terror that results from awareness of the horrifying possibility that we humans are merely transient animals groping to survive in a meaningless universe, destined only to die and decay. From this perspective, then, each individual human’s name and identity, family and social identifications, goals and aspirations, occupation and title, are humanly created adornments draped over an animal that, in the cosmic scheme of things, may be no more significant or enduring than any individual potato, pineapple, or porcupine. But it is this elaborate drapery that provides us with the fortitude to carry on despite the uniquely human awareness of our mortal fate."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Jeff Schimel et al., Why Do People Need Self-Esteem? A Theoretical and Empirical Review
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philosophical_pessimism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Philosophical pessimism
352 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Philosophical pessimism →
Related Quotes
"One can regret not having done something and one can also regret having done something. Doubt, dread, and fear of dec…"
"If one finds it. If the meaning of life is to seek meaning in life, then to find meaning in life is to remain without…"
"Better to be an animal than a man, an insect than an animal, a plant than an insect, and so on. Salvation? Whatever d…"
"Everything that is engenders, sooner or later, nightmares. Let us try, therefore, to invent something better than being."
"If everyone had seen through everything, if everyone had "understood," history would have ceased long since. But we a…"
"Above all, we cannot expect the state to make people happy. Even if it effectively protects the rights of everyone, i…"
"We laugh, but inept is our laughter, We should weep, and weep sore, Who are shattered like glass and thereafter Remol…"
"Consider the capacity of the human body for pleasure. Sometimes, it is pleasant to eat, to drink, to see, to touch, t…"
"Sadness, more than an emotion, is a discovery. It is the discovery that we have no power over the world, that we are …"
"The only thing the young should be taught is that there is virtually nothing to be hoped for from life. One dreams of…"