Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Why Does the World Exist?

One thing that I have personally taken away from philosophy is that philosophers ask a lot of questions. Their entire life's work is composed from a stockpile of questions from things of simplicity like James's squirrel story: whether they were circling the squirrel, or the tree, or both; or things of a very complex nature like why the world exists. Many of the recent philosophers that we have talked about in class, such as Wittgenstein and Leibniz, have contributed to this proposed question in many different ways. Leibniz, specifically, stated that the answer to this question was simple: the world exists because God created it and from nothing at all at that. Therefore, he was saying that God plus nothing equals the world but that may not satisfy some people. Many people have different looks at this proposed question whether they believe that God created the world, or that asteroids collided in the atmosphere to create the world and that eventually humans derived from apes. However, does anyone really know for sure WHY the world actually exists. Yes, we may know who did it or how it came about, but specifically why.
Jim Holt talks about three different aspects of reality that could possibly be what we live in today. The first being that it was created by God and nothing else which is spoken of as the simplest of the realities. The second being the most complex and full of life that the world could have possibly derived from that everything that could possibly be living is in fact living. This would also be known as the most elegant reality where people would hold themselves to the highest standards they could which might be a great idea, but that would also be exhausting never being able to come down from the highest standard that you could uphold. However, in between those first two mentioned is basically a chaotic mess or pointless reality that could possibly be why the world exists today. Jim Holt basically says that the third in between kind of reality may be the answer to the well-known philosophic question that has been proposed since the late 17th century. If this is so, then it does not need an explanation like all of humanity is wanting to hear because it is chaotic and messy and ultimately has no point.
The next question that you seem to think of after you think of why the world exists is most likely: why do you exist, why do I exist, why do people exist in general. For some, they may go back to why the world exists and give the same explanation that they believe. However, I don't believe there is any real answer that is satisfying to me other than that God created the world and created human beings. Why he did that, I may not specifically know, but I do believe that everything and everyone has a purpose, we as a culture must figure out what that purpose may be before we are fully satisfied with life.
I know all of you have thought about this question before you can just admit that to yourself now.
Philosophy

1 comment:

  1. "God did it" is, from most philosophers' points of view - even Leibniz's - not a curiosity-satisfying response. Plus, it inevitably raises the question of God's own provenance. Hence, all the metaphysical speculation overlaid upon the simple explanation.

    So the world is "chaotic and messy" - does it follow that it "ultimately has no point"? Ultimacy is a long way from here, and in the interim we all have an opportunity to do something pointed.

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