Delve
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I have chosen to create this article with the name "Delve" as it refers reasonably accurately to the quest into the philosophy of humankind that shall be attempted in this document. This is written primarily out of my personal interest in humanity and understanding the world, as opposed to informing or convincing the public.
Contents |
I shall begin with a few basics followed by my interpretation of the physical and social world.
What is life
Life is defined in many ways, depending upon the source you investigate. Typically, dictionaries and encyclopaedias refer to a state in which a body (not necessarily an organism -- this is the topic of another document... I believe NASA has carried out various experiments to prove that viruses are actually 'alive' but not organisms) can act autonomously and carry out the many things which we as humans associate with living things (mating, metabolising, adapting to surroundings etc). This definition seems to me to be quite obvious.
A very literal definition of life can be found by reading Erwin Schrodinger's What is Life?, which gives his scientific and somewhat philosophical view of life. As I have yet to read this book in full myself, I will have to comment later upon its appropriateness or similarity to this document.
My interpretation of life, or at least human life, is a condition whereby a consciousness is able to observe and interact with what they perceive as reality, and where various unconscious decisions are made to maintain this state. The adaptations and interactions that allow for these decisions to be made can be somewhat quirky but are scarcely related to philosophy, so if you would like to read about them, look up Biology on Wikipedia.
What is important is that a human life has vastly differing composition depending upon the alertness and focus of the individual. Here is where many people who think about this issue become detached from society, because it can be argued that society homogenises individuals into mundane creatures who carry out mundane tasks that have been programmed into them by society. And when I say mundane, I do not mean mundane in the sense of not challenging, but mundane in the sense of lacking originality; of lacking the potential true genius to be expressed. For instance, a brilliant musician may want to follow their amazing natural ability and play in a band. However, the very act of playing in the band is diluting their creative potential through requiring them to conform to societal expectations of bands. If the individual does not keep motivated and alert throughout their playing in the band, they may lose their ability to express genius temporarily, or even permanently, through accepting or being satisfied (or having to feign satisfaction for so long that pseudo-satisfaction sets in) that there will be no more drive to create something truly magnificent in that field. The individual will have had a very minimal impact.
The dissatisfaction with the present and the desire for self-betterment and the betterment of the world is something that distinguishes humans from animals. In fact I believe it is the only thing. The more we suppress our animal instincts, the more human we become. Animals are evolutionarily programmed to desire survival, and nothing more. By survival I refer to perpetuation of the life of the individual as well as the life of the species. Many humans exhibit the characteristics of a complicated animal, but not the characteristics of a human. Hedonists are typical examples of this: they appeal to their physiological gratification for momentary "ecstasy" (the ecstasy being created by chemical changes in the brain which were originally "designed" --not truly 'designed' but acquired over time through natural selection-- to reward animals for doing something evolutionarily useful. An example is the orgasm, a boost provided by dopamine and endorphins to reward a potentially successful sexual reproduction.
However the truly human human life is characterised not by maintaining an instinctual state of apathy, of being satisfied with gratification of animal impulses, but by the positive and stubborn quest for betterment of the self through original work, breakthroughs and discovery. In the words of a well-known stoic, "true happiness is not achieved by the fulfillment of desire, but by the removal of desire". I interpret 'desire' to refer to animal-like compulsions or addictions which occupy the minds of drug addicts, gamblers, computer-game addicts, alcoholics, etc. The human mind is a tool that, unlike all other tools, becomes sharper with use. This is a gift which should, nay, needs to be used and mastered; not for competition or acquisition of material wealth, but for self-gratification on a highly intellectual or spiritual level (for when I say mastery, I also mean mastery of the human body in all forms of sport and athletics as well as mental exercise).
Self-betterment
The memories which punctuate our otherwise vague recollection of youth and childhood can all be attributed to
- discovery of new things or experiences
- an intuitive and original breakthrough by the individual
- gratification or reward received when either of the above occurs.
I thus believe that human betterment occurs through improvement of knowledge and understanding of the world, as well as of the individual (for instance, a sprinter would find gratification in the knowledge that they can run 100m in under 9 seconds, whereas a once-crippled person may find gratification in the knowledge that they can again run 100m at all. Achievement is only absolute for the individual, and could loosely be called relative with respect to an outside observer, though different achievements have different weightings for individuals. I, for one, would not be overjoyed if I became the world champion at Synchronised Swimming, though I'm certain that a self-respecting Synchronised Swimmer would.)
Society
Society is seen by some to be a negative factor in the self-betterment mentioned above. This may be true, but it is also true that society is a direct result of individuals undergoing such self-betterment and so can be seen, fundamentally, as a guide for how to improve one's own condition. It then becomes necessary to distinguish the animalistic parts of society from the humanistic parts. This is usually quite simple: the animalistic parts are generally looked down upon or are illegal (for instance prostitution, drug dealing and so forth) or clearly do not benefit the psychological state of the individual or the value of their life (mundane activities carred out for long periods of time such as collecting rubbish to sell for a living). Mundane activities can be carried out by the self-respecting for a short period of time in order to gain finance for a more worthy activity in the future or present (for instance education fees or to buy a musical instrument) but should not be considered as a way to survive. Again, we return to the self-satisfied going no further -- satisfaction with the garbage-hunting job will only lead to more garbage-hunting in the future, until that is all there is. Time and intention are thus both important issues in self-betterment within a societal context.
Sometimes identifying animalistic facets is somewhat difficult. For instance, people who buy and sell houses, cars or other estate for a profit are, in my opinion, following animalistic behaviour. They do not add value to themselves or society (which vaguely represents a vehicle for human discovery and self-betterment), but act only as a parasite. They measure their value not through the value of their life, but through the volume of their bank account, and so that is their only ambition. They are satisfied with buying and selling, and so once they have reached a certain income threshold, they shall have no more ambitions and therefore may as well cease to exist.
The mundane
Mundane tasks which should be avoided if we are to lead meaningful lives punctuated by self-improvement and greater insight into the world seem to me to be congruent to tasks which do not provide us with any knowledge or understanding outside of our--already somewhat developed--conscious or unconscious interpretation of our surroundings. That is to say, any task which does not lead ultimately to an improvement of our understanding of the unknown (a typical analogy is a path not yet walked down... but could include a path that has been walked down without full realisation of the path's meaning of fully grasping the finer details of the path and its surroundings) can be deemed to be mundane, and therefore a philosophical "waste of time". However, a consciousness should not consider time as an object in discovery, for people should continue growth up until their deaths: time should only be used as a benchmark for the change in the surroundings which we observe, and the changes in ourselves and our minds which we can celebrate. It is our requirement as human beings to avoid mundane and repetitively animalistic exploits, if we are to improve evolutionarily (or, more importantly for the individual, philosophically, mentally, and physically).
Discussion on 4chan
Further reading (for me)
- Being and Nothingness by Sartre.
