i have so many questions.

Forums: Philosophy, Life, Ethics, Morals, Why
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ok. im 15, and this is driving me crazy.
i wake up every morning.
average kid: "mooom, did you wash my jeans?"
me: "why are we here? what is the meaning of this life, and other ones? why is our generation so materialist?"
hey, i have a 1995 nintendo 64, and thats all i need. apart from my longboard and trusty accoustic.
so many questions.
i attempt to answer them, but it just amounts to more questions.
my goal in life is to get a Ph.D in philosophy.
can anybody help me with these questions???

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Type: Discussion • Score: 7 • Views: 5,456 • Replies: 71

@whyisitso,

whyisitso wrote:

can anybody help me with these questions???

That's what we're here for, although if you ask someone what the meaning of life is, for example, you're bound to get a lot of varied answers.

I'll give it a shot.

What's your first question?

Oh, and welcome to A2K, by the way.

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my first question is: why do we keep fighting so hard just to stay alive? just to keep our species going? i know its our survival instincts, but why do we have that instinct. we shouldnt care if we're alive or not. cougar who kills another cougar wont care that he's dead. but you try to killthe first cougar, and he'll try to live.

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@whyisitso,

instinct. we fear dying, and go our whole lives preparing for it. if we dont die how we want to, then we lose the very last wish we have, and that would kind of tick me off...

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@whyisitso,

whyisitso wrote:

ok. im 15, and this is driving me crazy.
i wake up every morning.
average kid: "mooom, did you wash my jeans?"
me: "why are we here? what is the meaning of this life, and other ones? why is our generation so materialist?"
hey, i have a 1995 nintendo 64, and thats all i need. apart from my longboard and trusty accoustic.
so many questions.
i attempt to answer them, but it just amounts to more questions.
my goal in life is to get a Ph.D in philosophy.
can anybody help me with these questions???

I know the answer to everyone but the first... Is your arm broke??? Wash your own damned Jeans...

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@whyisitso,

I would agree with hamilton. That was a good answer.

Next question?

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@whyisitso,

Quote:

why is our generation so materialist?

That one is easy. Because you/we have been raised that way.

The other two questions you ask are not so simple to answer. An answer that might satisfy one person may be entirely unacceptable to another. I do know one thing though, from experience.
I was a lot like what you describe when I was 15. I'm 32 now, and I am on my way to discovering my own answers. But what do these answers do? Why do we need to know?
There is, as far as I can tell, only one issue that is truly important, and that is happiness. Which answers do you need in order to be happy? And I don't mean happy as in deliberately ignoring everything that makes you miserable. I mean, how can you live your life, accept your responsibilities and maintain a positive outlook through it all? Tailor your questions to that end and you may save yourself a lot of problems.

As for why we are here and what the purpose of this life is, I have my own answer to it: Find out what you love doing. What comes as naturally to you as breathing? That's what you are meant to do. If you don't know what it is already, figure out what it is, and then work on how you can do it for a living.

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@whyisitso,

whyisitso wrote:

why is our generation so materialist?"

have you read the gospel according to larry? it was on my reading list a while ago... its all about anti materialism, and i heard theres some romance as well (i didnt read it. those books arent really for me.)

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@whyisitso,

"Why is our generation so materialist?"
Almost most generations living in the developed world have some kind of materialistic bent to them.

Material goods and wealth are a salve of sorts. It also is tied with instinct for survival ... but to the extreme end of the survival range.

Materialism holds (if only by delusion) a sense of greater security for the individual who forever pursues the luxuries within.

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@tsarstepan,

"almost most" doesnt that mean less than half?

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

"Why is our generation so materialist?"
Almost most generations living in the developed world have some kind of materialistic bent to them.

Material goods and wealth are a salve of sorts. It also is tied with instinct for survival ... but to the extreme end of the survival range.

Materialism holds (if only by delusion) a sense of greater security for the individual who forever pursues the luxuries within.

All good points. Another answer the question, "Why is our generation so materialist?" - Because every generation before was materialistic. whyisitso: Be wary of 'simpler time syndrome'. Romanticization of the past is really just another sales pitch. Humans - and other animals -really haven't changed all that much.

1 Reply

@thack45,

thack45 wrote:

tsarstepan wrote:

"Why is our generation so materialist?"
Almost most generations living in the developed world have some kind of materialistic bent to them.

Material goods and wealth are a salve of sorts. It also is tied with instinct for survival ... but to the extreme end of the survival range.

Materialism holds (if only by delusion) a sense of greater security for the individual who forever pursues the luxuries within.

All good points. Another answer the question, "Why is our generation so materialist?" - Because every generation before was materialistic. whyisitso: Be wary of 'simpler time syndrome'. Romanticization of the past is really just another sales pitch. Humans - and other animals -really haven't changed all that much.

What say??? We are materialistic, but only because of the spiritual satisfaction of having and denying material to others...

It is all about spiritualism... We gamble... We toss the dice... Certainly, we are devoted to the ancient gods of fate, and luck; but to win is to see others lose... Our exhaltation is the defeat of others, and that is the lure of winning such that it draws fresh victims to their demise... We cannot enjoy good as a thing in itself, but always with the reminder of evil close beside...

One man's gain is anothers loss, said Montaigne... We want that loss for them fully as much as our gain... Look at universal health care... We cannot enjoy what we have unless we see others in an agony of antagonisms... What is our freedom if all are free??? We must have thousands thrown into the pit of despair living like animals among animals to enjoy this freedom so far short of freedom...We can only tell the virtues from the vices... We can't see white on a field of white... The spritiual and moral goods we know we cannot define we can only know in contrast, and for that reason we do not have good because we wish for good and evil with equal ferver...

1 Reply

@Fido,

...which is an extreme way of saying we need bad to have good.

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@hamilton,

We have THE CONCEPT of "bad" in order to have THE CONCEPT of "good". The ACTUAL ACTIONS that we may label "bad" are not necessary to have the ACTUAL ACTIONS we may able "good." An important distinction.

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alright. all good answers. thank you all. but what motivates the human brain to want more, need more, when all animals have what they need? what pushes us to create, in other: fire, weapons, and order in our civilization? why DON'T we have anarchy when centipedes eat each other alive, and wolves fight to become the new chief?

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@JLNobody,

your right. my mistake.

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@JLNobody,

although, the concepts come from examples set from previous action(s)

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@whyisitso,

well, once again, instinct. society is built on manipulating those instincts. i dont rape girls, despite being around the right age for that sort of things that animals do. our instinct is to survive, and to make sure our species survives. thats why we progressed from apes (if thats what you think we evolved from), because it suits our needs for survival better. society was created to further those needs, by creating the illusion of safety, that if we get sick, others help, and nothing more. we have evolved to the point at which we recognise and can suppress certain instincts (mating) and bolster other ones. (making our species last longer(altruism))

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@hamilton,

hamilton wrote:

...which is an extreme way of saying we need bad to have good.

Maybe; but perhaps closer to the truth is that we have bad because we cannot conceive of good except in stark and contrasting terms; and because with no true conception of good, we wish evil everywhere only to find so little good left... Mark Twain wrote about people in church wishing evil on others... Do you think they do not desire their neighbors wife there, or his money???...

I know that I often suffer a pessimistic view of humanity; but what really bothers me is that I am so often proven right in that regard... I think: Maybe there would be no death if we did not so earnestly desire it for others who earnestly desire it for us.... You know, I know the magic number, the one that can change almost at will the equal of which might mean happiness or death depending upon the wind, or the day... The name of that number is ENOUGH... If we cannot find enough of good to wish away bad, or find enough of danger so we wish peace then we will always be at odd with humanity, always trying to take our meal out of some one else's mouth...I think we can have good easily enough... With or without a definition we can all find some example of good...We can all enjoy some examples of good... As long as we desire good only for ourselves we will suffer evil for all...

1 Reply

@Fido,

Fido wrote:

hamilton wrote:

...which is an extreme way of saying we need bad to have good.

Do you think they do not desire their neighbors wife there, or his money???...

yes.

1 Reply

i have so many questions.

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