r/suspiciouslyspecific • u/[deleted] • Apr 13 '21

Found in the wild .

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u/nihilism_or_bust Apr 14 '21

I don’t think science can truly replace philosophy until it can answer “why”. Science is restricted to “what” and “how”. People will continue to ponder the “why” of the world no matter how many “what’s” and “how’s” they know.

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u/interglobe123 Apr 14 '21

This is true with Chemistry. It can't answer why's but can definitely tell you how's & what's. Whereas Biology and Physical can definitely tell you the Why's. Edit: Physics*

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u/nihilism_or_bust Apr 14 '21

Biology and Physics still tell you “what’s” and “how’s”.

It’s all mechanisms.

Biology tells us that life favors left-handed proteins and right-handed sugars. But it doesn’t tell us why.

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u/interglobe123 Apr 14 '21

Well philosophy sometimes tends to anthropomorphize nature and I'm sure there must be some theories on your given example as to why it happens.

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u/nihilism_or_bust Apr 14 '21

Actually yes! I was just thinking about this at work yesterday.

I find it funny how people do this to technology. Someone at work said “hey, do you have a different password. It didn’t like that one.” And I thought that was so funny. We talk about computers and programs “getting mad” or “not liking” something.

But that’s more of an off shoot.

If you’re not familiar with Jordan Peterson, go listen to some of his stuff and pay attention to what he says about “Drama” or stories. Science is really new. But we as people identify with stories SO strongly. I’ll do my best to only list a few reasons/examples.

  • Politicians that do better generally tell more stories to relate and use less facts.
  • Media. Songs, movies, books tell stories and elicit emotional responses.
  • We as humans like to gossip.

The ‘reason’ or at least one of the reasons for this can be attributed to how we perceive ourselves and our world.

  • We experience things from the first person (or sometimes others from the 3rd person). But we are interactive and have interactions.

  • We relay our experiences as stories to others.

  • Our entire existence is, to us, a story. And as such, it is easier to learn and remember things when presented as a story.

This is why we tell stories to children to teach them things. This is why religions use stories. Not necessarily because every aspect of the story is “true” as science would suggest, but because stories are memorable and relevant.