It's Probably Nothing

Philosophy is a lot like buying a hamburger, lay out the buns, the patty, the lettuce, and the tomato on the table and explaining each of them separately, when all you need was just eating it. Nevertheless, that doesn't stop some people from dissecting the heck out of the hamburger. Our thirst for knowledge, that is to say, is just nothing more than wanting to know what is being handed to us. Probably the burger has onions, which you could like or not like, but the burger as a whole tastes pretty good to you. Enlightenment. Probably you prefer barbeque sauce over tomato sauce, so you try ordering something else. Subjectivity. Probably the patty is too small, and you feel the need to complain to the manager about it, if the manager is there at all. Of course, in a burger stand, if you're unsatisfied with the burger you have someone to complain to, and service would be provided.

So say the hamburger is life, and you're the customer. Pretty neat analogy, huh? It sounds pretty stupid because if you order hamburger you should have known what's in it: buns, patty, lettuce, sauce, tomato, etc, and depending on the hamburger. But questions can be asked: what kind of buns are those? what's the patty made of? is the lettuce fresh? what kind of sauce did they put in? what makes them think this combination would make a good hamburger? and so on.

I firmly believe that our wonder alone is enough to make each and every one of us a philosopher. Just like knowing about the wave-particle dualism and electron energy makes us quantum physicist. Wondering whether there's life outside the earth? Philosophy. Wondering why we exist? Philosophy. Wondering about the good and bad? Philosophy. Wondering where all the social norms come from? Philosophy. Wondering what the stars are made of? Philoso- wait, no, I think that actually makes you an aspiring astronomer.

Philosophy is always a fascinating subject to me. People asking questions and seeing where they would end. It's a fun exercise of the mind, redundant as it may seem. I find myself asking a lot of seemingly-trivial questions about life, existential, that stuff, only to discover that a lot of men (and women) from hundred of years ago have been wondering about those themselves, and written what they think about it. So my questions aren't really original. Do you think there's anything original thought by people? Or is it always repeating? If it is, where do you think the originality starts? Hmm I wonder.