Our Perceptions of Purpose in Nature :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

Our Perceptions of Purpose in geniusIt exit be objected that the book deals too a great deal with mere appearances, with the ascend of things, and fails to engage and reveal the patterns of unifying relationships which form the true underlying globe of existence. Here I must confess that I know vigour whatever about true underlying reality, having never met any..for my own region I am pleased enough with surfaces- in fact they but seem to be of much importance. -Edward Abbey, Desert SolitaireThe primary eminence between humans and the rest of the natural world is our sense of intelligence and self-consciousness. We have very different perceptions and filters than any other organism on the planet. Language, for example, enables humbug tellers to communicate and interpret their surroundings. However, there are limitations to relying on run-in as a primary tool for both internal and extraneous dialogue- the verbal definition of things can often differ vastly from how they g enuinely are. Words have cultural con nonations and if the story teller is not careful, a meaning or significance that he did not intend will be assigned to the subject. Equally dangerous is the instance where a story teller actively searches for meaning in the natural world and uses speech to clarify and articulate it. The roots of self-consciousness go as faraway back as the origin of humankind. Choice, morality, altruism, and a sense of purpose do not exist in a vacuum, they are as much the products of an evolutionary process as our physiological features. Until approximately 10,000 years ago, the completely organisms to exist could be classified as model builders, meaning they are able to anticipate external change but do not have language or a sense of self. The Game of conduct is a good example of the factors which determine the behavior of model builders, and character in general. There are certain biological constants which limit the contingent outcomes, but there is, i n fact, no purpose or intentionality to the patterns which emerge. Edward Abbey explains this phenomenon in his novel Desert Solitaire- I am not attributing human motives to my glide and bird acquaintances. I recognize that when and where they serve purposes of mine they do so for beautifully selfish reasons of their own. (25)Story tellers, on the other hand, though exposit of nature as well, have much more complex factors to spotter their actions- including emotions, consciousness, and language.