Mere Philosophy #4


Mere Philosophy #4

This sequence of Mere Philosophy entails a philosophical English assignment I have been working on.


a.       Question #1: Why do we care about what others think of our appearance?
·   Please explain: Why is or what makes that question most pressing?

Too often, Americans subjugate their own values and beliefs in sacrifice for fitting in, achieving normalcy in the eyes of others. By doing this, however, we mitigate our ability to resist temptation and peer pressure, allowing other co-workers, classmates, and colleagues to dictate our responses to situations. The most common form of societal auto-pilot can be witnessed through the industries of fashion and fitness. Companies seek to gain the interest, attention, and dollars of American consumers through eye-catching advertisements and celebrity testimonials.

b.      Question #2: Why are we the only species out of 6 to have survived into the present?
·   Please explain: Why is or what makes that question most pressing?

Understanding how we originated and why other species of man ceased to exist and we remain allows us to produce more profound insights into the characteristics that have allowed us to become the evolutionary wonders that we are. Exploring this question allows us to engage in a thought process that substantiates our biological superiority over similar, yet not quite as competent, humans. James Clear (n.d.) states that intellectual vices (e.g. religion, economics, and politics) have allowed us to “overcome the forces of natural selection.” (para. 1). Although many of these vices have drastically modified throughout human existence, we continue to maintain an innate dependence upon either these vices if not similar ones.


c.       Question #3: Why do we place so much emphasis on race if it is a societal construct?
·   Please explain: Why is or what makes that question most pressing?

Would you deliberately dehumanize people whom you knew originated from a different city? As “going out of your way to obliterate someone’s integrity as this sounds,” racial judgments are based on this fundamental question. Scientifically speaking, disregarding how far down your pedigree this lies, race is fundamentally based off of physical characteristics with the most notable consisting of skin color. Because skin color is based upon melanin production, determined by how close to the equator you live, the history of your entire essence and pedigree could be completely transformed based solely off of your epithelial cells attempting to protect you from UV radiation (Williams, n.d., para. 5 & 6).

d.      Question #4: How and Why has human intelligence increased exponentially?
·   Please explain: Why is or what makes that question most pressing?

Evolutionarily, humans have not been around for all that long. Yet, we have been able to far surpass the evolutionary capabilities of any other animal species. Knowing what traits, we possess that have allowed us to increase our intelligence can provide us with clues as to how we began this exponential progression. Human innovation and invention are astoundingly complex. For instance, in the early 20th century, the Wright brothers flew a sub-par airplane. Just a mere 50 years later, Airliner companies began flying Boeing 757s. This is one of many examples of just how quickly the human mind can adapt and overcome the engineering dilemma (i.e. having an idea in your mind and turning that idea into a tangible product).

e.       Question #5: Why are humans the only animals aware of our own mortality?
·   Please explain: Why is or what makes that question most pressing?

Although intelligence is an immense blessing, with it comes the burden of the knowledge of our own mortality. Having greater cognitive capabilities than other animals, we are blessed with the gift of intelligence to advance the field of science; yet, we are, at the same time, cursed by the certainty of our lives ending. I believe that this intelligence, although in some cases is motivating, can “open [our] eyes to the horrible pit, but no ladder upon which to get out” (Douglass, 1845, as cited in Austin, 2017, p. 27).

2.      (15) Choose one of the above questions that you think might be the most pressing, perhaps the question you would like to spend more time on and answer more fully in RE#1. Write a paragraph or so explicating or explaining how you might approach and/or answer the question. Feel free to follow your own instincts when answering this question. Using at least one research source is required. Please use APA.

Question: Why are humans the only animals aware of our own mortality?

The tipping point for mortality awareness cannot be attributed to one, single point in time. However, it does have an evolutionary basis stemming from ancestral predispositions to fear wild animals in the same environment. “[D]eath is universal, meaning that it is inevitable, inclusive[,] …unpredictable and irreversible. The cognitive comprehension of death does not necessarily entail the recognition of personal mortality” (Doka, 2014, p. 69).
Thus, we have ingrained in our very being a heightened sense of just how rapidly, easily, and unpredictably death could occur. “In psychology, Terror Management Theory suggests that a large part of all human behavior is generated by unconscious fear of death” (Taylor, 2014). However, these characteristics of warding off predators do not simply result in the awareness of our mortality. Instead, our intelligence relative to other animals is the most likely explanation for this discrepancy.

References
Austin, M. (2017). Reading the world: Ideas that matter. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
Clear, J. (n.d.). Book Summary: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. https://jamesclear.com/book-summaries/sapiens
Doka, K. J. (2014). The Awareness of Mortality: Continuing Kastenbaum’s Developmental Legacy. Omega: Journal of Death & Dying, 70(1), 67–78. https://ezproxy.clovis.edu:2381/10.2190/OM.70.1.g
Taylor, S. (2014, February 7). The psychology of death: Becoming aware of our own mortality can be a liberating experience. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-darkness/201402/the-psychology-death
What is melanin: Definition, production, & function. (n.d.). https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-melanin-definition-production-function.html



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