who are we? we are the most and least advanced living organism. we are a species that made up a reality that is inconsistent with the true reality.
what are we? a paradox
when are we? there is no when
where are we? falling through gravity delicate web
why are we? evolution
I suppose you can deal with this question philosophically and as I think Socrates said, an un-examined life is not worth living, but I tend to think too much examination results in opportunity lost to actually live.
I am becoming more and more of an “it is what it is” Life liver. Deal with it and move on. This could be the result of trying too hard to figure things out with the knowledge of my own mortality looming, as it will for everyone.
“We” or not anything. We are a collection of “I’s” and “we” are all different. Trying to create a common denominator, in my opinion, is impossible. There may be some associated I’s, but I really don’t think there is a collective we, beyond our physical commonalities.
I want to mention a bias I tend to have and it may be inappropriate, especially in the eyes of a person searching within the world of academia to find greater meaning. I have always believed that those who can do and those who can’t teach. That is a very broad brush stroke to be sure and Indiana Jones is probably an exception. I would only respect a teacher who has done first and shared afterwards. Not a person who understands the theoretical. A person who has experienced the practicalities. I’m sure there are plenty of teachers in different fields that are exactly that. However, philosophy is really just an examination of opinions. More than anything, it is just asking questions that sound like statements.
Maybe we don’t need to find greater meaning? Maybe we need to just interact constructively with each other and be the result of that. Whatever it is.
@spitfire3dc I agree to a degree. I like a balance.
I think it is good to be aware of our biases. We all have them. In fact, in my social justice practice class just yesterday we were talking about bias and we had to identify how we are biased. We also had to identify the ways we are privileged and the ways we are oppressed. many don’t realize the two can intersect. I have heard something similar before about doing and teaching, and maybe I don’t understand the quote. I feel like I am largely in a teaching role now in my quality assurance role, but I can certainly do social work, and did so for 24 years before this falling into my lap.
@spitfire3dc
You are right that balance is the key. Too much time in the gleaming halls of academia can make one loathe to dig in the dirt of pragmatic reality!
My current thought is that finding a pragmatically functional “we” is next required evolutionary step so we don’t go extinct as a fragmentation of “I”s, assembled in ridiculous little “power groups” trying to do battle with any and all opposing “tribes” — even if they are just a threat in principle or imagination.
Indiana Jones was a true “Renaissance Man”!
I measure a difference between “opinion” and “supposition”. An opinion just sits there like a turd in the punchbowl of life: an often odiferous thing of no positive value. A supposition (particularly a philosophical one) is more like a working theory that needs far more than just one Human lifetime to work out.
Plus classic “philosophy” now breaks down into bona fide scientific disciplines like behavioral and structural psychology. Many of the “new” renaissance men in these fields are practicing psychologists, statistical mathemeticians and even practicing engineers. They produce findings far more reputable than just opinions or even suppositions.
So is the detour out of the muddy fields into the gleaming halls of academia “worth it”? Only time will tell.
(But at least I get to leave some awesome muddy footprints there!)
We are our biggest problem.
We are our biggest hope.
We are living in the before-time.
We are past the point of no return.
We are because somebody has to.
@immortal_pirate
Some synergy in the Human spirit does seem to keep kick-starting us. (Perhaps what Jung called “trait-openness”? [the creative, the artistic, the willingness to embrace chaos]. None of the other animals seem to have it?).
Unless the species was JUST so energetic 190 million years ago that we can still just be winding down?
12 responses to “who, what, when, where, why?”
who are we? we are the most and least advanced living organism. we are a species that made up a reality that is inconsistent with the true reality.
what are we? a paradox
when are we? there is no when
where are we? falling through gravity delicate web
why are we? evolution
I suppose you can deal with this question philosophically and as I think Socrates said, an un-examined life is not worth living, but I tend to think too much examination results in opportunity lost to actually live.
I am becoming more and more of an “it is what it is” Life liver. Deal with it and move on. This could be the result of trying too hard to figure things out with the knowledge of my own mortality looming, as it will for everyone.
“We” or not anything. We are a collection of “I’s” and “we” are all different. Trying to create a common denominator, in my opinion, is impossible. There may be some associated I’s, but I really don’t think there is a collective we, beyond our physical commonalities.
I want to mention a bias I tend to have and it may be inappropriate, especially in the eyes of a person searching within the world of academia to find greater meaning. I have always believed that those who can do and those who can’t teach. That is a very broad brush stroke to be sure and Indiana Jones is probably an exception. I would only respect a teacher who has done first and shared afterwards. Not a person who understands the theoretical. A person who has experienced the practicalities. I’m sure there are plenty of teachers in different fields that are exactly that. However, philosophy is really just an examination of opinions. More than anything, it is just asking questions that sound like statements.
Maybe we don’t need to find greater meaning? Maybe we need to just interact constructively with each other and be the result of that. Whatever it is.
@spitfire3dc I agree to a degree. I like a balance.
I think it is good to be aware of our biases. We all have them. In fact, in my social justice practice class just yesterday we were talking about bias and we had to identify how we are biased. We also had to identify the ways we are privileged and the ways we are oppressed. many don’t realize the two can intersect. I have heard something similar before about doing and teaching, and maybe I don’t understand the quote. I feel like I am largely in a teaching role now in my quality assurance role, but I can certainly do social work, and did so for 24 years before this falling into my lap.
@spitfire3dc
You are right that balance is the key. Too much time in the gleaming halls of academia can make one loathe to dig in the dirt of pragmatic reality!
My current thought is that finding a pragmatically functional “we” is next required evolutionary step so we don’t go extinct as a fragmentation of “I”s, assembled in ridiculous little “power groups” trying to do battle with any and all opposing “tribes” — even if they are just a threat in principle or imagination.
Indiana Jones was a true “Renaissance Man”!
I measure a difference between “opinion” and “supposition”. An opinion just sits there like a turd in the punchbowl of life: an often odiferous thing of no positive value. A supposition (particularly a philosophical one) is more like a working theory that needs far more than just one Human lifetime to work out.
Plus classic “philosophy” now breaks down into bona fide scientific disciplines like behavioral and structural psychology. Many of the “new” renaissance men in these fields are practicing psychologists, statistical mathemeticians and even practicing engineers. They produce findings far more reputable than just opinions or even suppositions.
So is the detour out of the muddy fields into the gleaming halls of academia “worth it”? Only time will tell.
(But at least I get to leave some awesome muddy footprints there!)
We are our biggest problem.
We are our biggest hope.
We are living in the before-time.
We are past the point of no return.
We are because somebody has to.
@luftballooneyegouge
Wow.
Did you have a big bowl of Philosophered Flakes this morning?!
That was frosted with all kinds of good stuff!
Love
Deep, my friend!
We are either the smartest stupid, or the stupidest smartness on the planet.
We are where conundrum meets paradox.
We are where the finite and infinite meet; the point where order and chaos either do battle — or find peace.
We “are”.
Human Being.
Which includes, but is far more than just Human Doings.
Mankind is the epitome of entropy…
@immortal_pirate
Some synergy in the Human spirit does seem to keep kick-starting us. (Perhaps what Jung called “trait-openness”? [the creative, the artistic, the willingness to embrace chaos]. None of the other animals seem to have it?).
Unless the species was JUST so energetic 190 million years ago that we can still just be winding down?
who are we: Sentient beings who have a heart.
Flawed. Human. About a few milliseconds in the past. Earth, milky way galaxy. Evolutionary proccesses.