Were You Dropped On Your Head as a Child?

I am often asked this question. The answer, of course, is yes. Repeatedly. But no, in all seriousness, there are only a few documented cases of me being dropped on my head, so really not too bad. Now, you may be asking yourself, why on a blog about the meaning of life would I discuss my prior cranium incidents? I will tell you why!

I am currently reading Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche, who, in addition to having one of the finest mustaches of all time, was also an enjoyable writer who was quite critical of philosophy. Nietzsche does something that I think is important, which is to question philosophers, the people who come up with this "philosophy." I don't mean he questions their philosophy - although he does that, too - but he question them, the individuals, these people out of which this philosophy springs. More from Nietzsche...

"It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy has hitherto been: a confession on the part of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir. To explain how a philosopher's most remote metaphysical assertions have actually been arrived at, it is always well (and wise) to ask oneself first: what morality does this (does he -) aim at? I accordingly do not believe a 'drive to knowledge' to be the father of philosophy, but that another drive has, here as elsewhere, only employed knowledge (and false knowledge!) as a tool."

We tend to think of the great philosophical systems as arising through the "cold" and "pure" faculties of logic, but what Nietzsche is saying is that all philosophy is anthropological, and not just anthropological, but distinct to the very individual and his or her prejudices and emotional structure. Basically, philosophy is simply a way to vindicate ourselves and get people to act the way we want them to act.

What does this have to do with me being dropped on my head? Basically it was just a cute way for me to emphasize the point that perhaps before we search for the meaning of life, we need to understand the context in which this search is taking place and who is searching for it. It also serves to augment what I mentioned in yesterday's post about science and religion being the two main ways in which man has searched for meaning. Philosophy has often been seen as a third way, a hybrid of the two - it seeks to answer the questions of religion using methods that are more scientific. Nietzsche would say that philosophy is really no different than religion; it's superstition in a different cloak. The same insecurities and drives for order and authority that create religion create philosophy. And saying that philosophy is scientific is rather misleading.

Yet I personally am not satisfied with this. I feel there is something in me that wants to know what is going on here and might even be able to get at it. Nietzsche has something to say about this:

"What really is it in us that wants 'the truth?' - We did indeed pause for a long time before the question of the origin of this will - until finally we came to a complete halt before an even more fundamental question. We asked after the value of this will. Granted we want truth: why not rather untruth? And uncertainty? Even ignorance?"

As mentioned, knowing the truth - or thinking we know it - provides security, comfort, and perhaps more pragmatic functions: every society has to have some measure of "truth" or else chaos ensues. We have to believe in certain standards or else how do we wake up, go to work, plan, in short: survive (think about if we just stopped believing in the need to earn a living, or stopped believing the subway was still running, and think about what would happen if everyone stopped believing these things). But the "truths" needed to survive in this world seem different than this desire to know "truth" about what this world is about.

But again, do keep in mind that I was dropped on my head at least a few times as a kid, so all of this is probably horribly wrong.

SUMMARY OF ISSUES
-Philosophy is perhaps just an autobiography of the philosopher, not some rational system of thought
-Philosophy, just like religion, might simply be a way to feel better about the world and control how other people behave
-We do seem to have the desire for truth, but does this desire have any value and why?
-Are there different kinds of truth - pragmatic truths that allow us to survive in the real world, and spiritual or philosophical truths?