Since the beginning of Philosophy, people have wondered why we are here. Considering the fact that very wise people have been debating this for ages, I have no problems admitting that I can’t answer this question. I can, however, explore some possibilities for what exactly “our meaning” in this world is. And since we just finished it, why not start off with a quote from Candide?
I read this book last year and throughout both of my readings, this has stayed one of my favorite quotes. It comes from one of the many philosophical discussions Candide and Martin have.
“ ‘But what was this world created for?’ said Candide.
‘To drive us mad’, replied Martin.” (p. 95).
Martin has a very pessimistic view on the world, making his idea that the world was not made for any good reason expected. However, I don’t think that his view has to be taken negatively. Put a positive spin on Martin’s statement. Perhaps this world was created to make us question and investigate it, a task that would drive many people “mad”. However, to enlightened philosophers (which we are all striving to be) this is actually a rather interesting task. It would be as if everything that we know and experience was created just for us to ponder about. An intellectual jungle gym for philosophers, if you will.
And now that we have identified a possible reason that the world exists, we can tackle why we do, what our meaning in life is. So for the purposes of this blog, the world was created to be questioned. Therefore, our duty as people living in the world is to explore all the questions that are offered, from “Why is grass green?” to “What is the purpose of genocide?”. A very wide range of topics, for sure. If you think about it, the infinite options of what we can question could be quite maddening. But maybe that’s the point. If you will.
I couldn't agree with you more on your opinion that the world was created to be questioned. That is an excellent view on the subject. "What is our meaning in this world?" is perhaps the most mind boggling question to ever be pondered. Due to the fact that there have been so many theories and views on this matter, each so different in nature, it is seemingly an inconceivable question. For that very reason, it has been repeatedly attempted to be conceived. And what can be more fascinating than a question that has no rightful answer?(But those scholar's love a challenge, don't they?)
ReplyDeleteSo the question remains: "What is our meaning in this world?"
To me, the answer is found by putting together a series of puzzles and analyzing them. Each puzzle represents a person that lives or has once lived in this world, and consequently, each piece represents an idea, a thought, or an emotion that makes up that individual's memories and experiences. After assembling all these puzzles, the answer will be found by recognizing which traits each puzzle/person has in common. The problem is that we have no way of gathering this tremendous amount of data.