RE: Why am I me?
February 15, 2012 at 12:38 pm
(This post was last modified: February 15, 2012 at 12:41 pm by Perhaps.)
(October 12, 2010 at 5:58 pm)R-e-n-n-a-t Wrote: Being conscious individually, as I assume everyone else is, the question comes to mind; why do I exist from a 1st person point of view? Obviously I couldn't exist from a 3rd person POV, but when I die it'll seem to me as if the world ends; MY world will end. How can I explain this... When you sleep without dreaming everything is nonremembered, and seems 'black'. If death is the same, then it'll be lights out for eternity, and therefore I'm wondering why I'm conscious to begin with. Why me? Why here? Why now? Why at all? etc.
Any answers or ideas? I've asked my friends and family, but they don't really grasp the concept of the question.
A beautiful string of thoughts. The answer is your own. Just as each person's purpose is self defined, so too is their answer to 'why'.
To view sentience as merely evolutionary is rational but non-intimate. We are limited by our knowledge and we ascribe reason to occurrences in the world which we perceive.
Nietzsche developed this branch of skepticism thoroughly, implying that there will always be a barrier between absolute truth and reality. That barrier is the human species. All things are perceived and all truths are based on their utility to the human conscience. To provide a human truth such as evolution to explain away why we exist at all is simply to provide a contingent explanation.
Take these questions seriously and reflect on them. The answer will never be definitive, but that's alright. It's often difficult to balance human arrogance with human naivety. Sometimes knowing that we can never know is the most humbling truth of all.
[Edit] Perhaps something which may be easier initially is to answer the question of do I exist? and is there a reason?
The question of 'is' is often easier and less complex than the question of 'why'.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
