There is mostly a difficulty in defining or explaining fundamental concepts, for they form the basis for a plethora of things, whilst lacking their own. A physicist is yet to find out the building block of sub-atomic particles, a biologist, despite having a vast and extensive understanding of life’s working mechanism, would find himself wrestling with the concept of life’s origin, and a philosopher with the questions related to the temporal dimensions he resides in.

What are the questions I referred to in my most recent statement? They are, certainly, embedded in the social and cultural context one is a denizen of. What’s life and its purpose? How did life begin? What is the normative framework for life? These questions have, since humanity’s inception, troubled them. And as if it is some natural law, wherever there is an intellectual vacuum, a variety of forces come in to fill the void. That has happened in the aforementioned case.

The Realms Of Knowledge:

There have historically been two major forces trying to fill the vacuum, with each of them trying to degrade the other while standing on solid ground. These two are, namely, science and religious myths, forming two distinct realms of knowledge. Since the beginning of humankind, myths have enjoyed an absolute monopoly over the fundamental questions, with each one being addressed against the backdrop of metaphysical sayings. Science, sed contra, emerged initially as a peripheral force, beginning the conquest of the realm of knowledge, and now enjoys a predominant position. That is to say, even religious myths and explanations are now subjected to scientific scrutiny. However, the ultra-rationalistic position of science has created an existential and spiritual void in recent times, which has produced the result of the populace retreating to religion, and the former force is enjoying a resurgence.

However, in the middle of these two realms, therein lies a no-man’s land which derives spirituality from religion and rationality from science, serving as an exemplary “golden mean”, to employ Aristotle’s terms, who happened to be one of the pioneers of this no-man’s land called philosophy. This no-man’s land has the honour of being the mother of all disciplines, since every discipline commences with asking questions, which happens to be the brain-child of philosophy. Science answers the fundamental questions in the form of information; religion explains the form of myths; while the third invisible yet powerful force, namely philosophy, consistently interrogates both, the former on humanistic grounds and the latter on rational ones.

Moreover, as previously mentioned, the two forces of science and philosophy are on a quest to occupy the realms of knowledge, creating hostility between the two. This hostility compels them to employ tools to undermine each other, with the former instrumentalising reason to debunk religious myths and the latter, metaphysical scriptures to prove science as heretic. Philosophy, on the flip side, doesn’t primarily express hostility to these two and has a chameleon-like characteristic, for its questions take a different shape with the march of time. Natural philosophers of the Pre-Socratic era concerned themselves with the formation of matter, Plato and Aristotle with the state, ideas, and form; Machiavelli with strengthening the ruler, Emmanuel Kant with the peace of Europe, and Karl Marx with the miseries of the working class in the wake of the industrial revolution and subsequent increased working hours. The questions concerning a philosopher of modern times would be combating climate change, preserving nature, finding a “golden mean” to rival structural inequalities, and, not least, suspecting the unchecked sprint of technological proliferation. This characteristic of philosophy projects the impression of how crucial it is, and if viewed microscopically, the importance of contemplative thinking, a virtue that is slowly and gradually fading away.

Plot Of Sophie’s World:

In an effort to study the brief history of philosophy, I got my hands on Jostein Gaarder’s novel “Sophie’s World.” The story follows a 15-year-old Norwegian girl who, upon returning from school, finds in the mailbox a letter from an unknown sender who questions her identity, the purpose of life, and the origin of the universe.

. Sophie is perplexed and surprised at once to see this unexpected encounter. (The same was the case with me, and perhaps every reader. Have you ever interrogated your existence? And it was not the end. The unknown sender, who later turned out to be Alberto Knox, keeps on sending questions like these to stir up curiosity in her student and follows it with an explanation by the relevant philosopher. In this manner of conflictual dialectic........

© Paradigm Shift