Last class our group spoke about whether we think it would be possible to communicate with an alien whose mental "spectacles" may not perceive things the same way as ours do. Most of our group agreed that we believe an alien would indeed have a different set of mental spectacles, and it would most likely be very difficult to communicate on the same level. Some of us believed that an alien would probably be a higher life form and much more advanced, however some of us disagreed and though why couldn't an alien be a lower life form that is not on our level. Some of the universal categories that we pondered would be time, relationships, and need to survive.
Even though our specifics about time could be different, such as whether or not it can be altered or is counted in the same way, we did believe that time is a constant. In addition, we thought that every living being would want to have a relationship, with what we do not know, but we believed this to be a constant category as well. Lastly, we thought that the instinct to survive would be universal, because why waste being created by being destroyed?
The opening lines to Schopenhauer's chapter portray the pessimism and negative views on life that were his. I think that this is such a sad view, because even if humans are constantly chasing a new want everyday, this is something that we cannot change. It is in our human nature and I am sure that Schopenhauer was guilty of it himself! Why not live life being happy and upbeat about the things that occur? That is the outlook on life that I would prefer to have, and because of this I like the philosophies of Hegel who at least is happy about his beliefs.
ReplyDeleteFQ: T/F Hegel's writing has a nice flow and is easy to read.
DQ: Do you believe that history is a series of random events or is there some end point in the future?