I don't know why I do the things that I do. I don't know why I drag my ass out of bed at 7 am every weekday morning to go to school. In fact, almost nothing I do is done with conscious purpose, because most of daily tasks revolve around staying on my charted, career-oriented college track. If I don't know what I'm doing or why I'm doing it, the question becomes: Why don't I revolt against my existence and live my life more purposefully? I'd like to answer that it is my love of learning that keeps me attending my classes and doing my homework, but the larger factor in my subconscious decision-making seems to be the simple desire to avoid punishment.
It is fascinating that, for all the advancements of humankind and our arrogance as a species, we live our lives in structured society as nothing more than slaves to classical conditioning. Reward and punishment. The most basic of all systems of motivation. The sleep deprived college student reading about Pavlov's dogs for an upcoming exam is acting on no higher impulse than the animals themselves. I think that the lack of self-determined purpose among individuals is a tragedy, because when people seek only to meet standards set for them by others, they are ultimately unfulfilled and die with regrets. I have no interest in looking back on a life lived without meaning, so I have made it my goal to puzzle out a purpose to my actions and a method to my madness before it is too late.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Candide's Punishment: Deserved?
Candide's original wrongdoing with Cunegund is nothing more than a natural act. They both live within the confines of the castle, and all that they know is imparted to them by their teacher, Pangloss, who apparently enjoys sexytime as much as the next guy. In my opinion, even the initial, direct punishment of exile from the castle was excessively cruel to Candide, as it was the equivalent of tossing an uninitiated lamb into a pack of wolves. The indirect punishment that Candide has to endure after being cast out is enough to bring a man to his knees.
In my mind, the worst thing that he has to come to terms with is the senseless murder of Pangloss at the hands of the Inquisition. When someone shapes your very conception of yourself and your surroundings, the last thing that you want to see is them dying. I can imagine that Candide was struck with a sense of disorientation, as Pangloss and his philosophy were his anchor to a more pleasing reality; one where greed, misfortune and death did not reign supreme. The death of Pangloss shook the foundations of his moral and physical philosophy, and such heart-wrenching trauma is worthy of sympathy.
Another thoroughly undeserved aspect of Candide's punishment lies in his killing of fellow men. I feel that the inevitability of murder that Candide is faced with is a cruel and unusual punishment, because the world that he existed in before his exile did not prepare him to take lives. However, the book does not portray him as being too deeply affected by the acts that he commits. It seems like he always kills very matter-of-factly, as though it is basically the only way to act in the particular situation. The Jew, the Inquisitor and the Commandant all die at Candide's hand in the blink of a literary eye, presumably because he feels that he has no other choice but to kill them. It is that transition from a blissful life of choice to a harsh reality that dictates his actions (despite copious moral concerns) that is so painful to watch.
In my mind, the worst thing that he has to come to terms with is the senseless murder of Pangloss at the hands of the Inquisition. When someone shapes your very conception of yourself and your surroundings, the last thing that you want to see is them dying. I can imagine that Candide was struck with a sense of disorientation, as Pangloss and his philosophy were his anchor to a more pleasing reality; one where greed, misfortune and death did not reign supreme. The death of Pangloss shook the foundations of his moral and physical philosophy, and such heart-wrenching trauma is worthy of sympathy.
Another thoroughly undeserved aspect of Candide's punishment lies in his killing of fellow men. I feel that the inevitability of murder that Candide is faced with is a cruel and unusual punishment, because the world that he existed in before his exile did not prepare him to take lives. However, the book does not portray him as being too deeply affected by the acts that he commits. It seems like he always kills very matter-of-factly, as though it is basically the only way to act in the particular situation. The Jew, the Inquisitor and the Commandant all die at Candide's hand in the blink of a literary eye, presumably because he feels that he has no other choice but to kill them. It is that transition from a blissful life of choice to a harsh reality that dictates his actions (despite copious moral concerns) that is so painful to watch.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
How Do We Know What We Know?
How do I know what I know? I don't actually know what I know. I am the nearly-complete product of the American educational system, and I realize that I truly KNOW very little, even though I have been taught plenty. The fact is, almost nothing that we learn is learned first-hand. Since we are receiving all of our information from indirect retelling and referential educational material, that which is being put into our minds was first processed by others. On a systematic, grand scale, whole nations have been indoctrinated in this way. However, conflicting interests and malicious government interests aside, if each of us were to know only what we ourselves could directly prove, our society would make painstakingly slow progress. The base of human knowledge is constantly expanding because new generations are constantly schooled in the existing knowledge so that they can grow up to further it. So, we learn from others. Until we have enough life experience to KNOW certain things with surety, we have to exist as nothing more than learned know-nothings. But there is no rule that says we know-nothings can't be aware of our as-yet limited perspective and question the things we are told.
One of the questionable things I've been taught is the geographical position of each nation and continent on our planet. Nobody can prove it to me, and I have yet to chart the world for myself. When I fly home to Belarus, the big screen on the plane shows the aircraft moving across from the US to Europe, but who is to say that the entire concept of the world as the US government sees it isn't a fabrication? The screen is a lie!!! My teachers, my grandparents, my tutors. They all hammered this conception of the larger world into my head, and I have no way of knowing if it corresponds with reality. Bummer.
One of the questionable things I've been taught is the geographical position of each nation and continent on our planet. Nobody can prove it to me, and I have yet to chart the world for myself. When I fly home to Belarus, the big screen on the plane shows the aircraft moving across from the US to Europe, but who is to say that the entire concept of the world as the US government sees it isn't a fabrication? The screen is a lie!!! My teachers, my grandparents, my tutors. They all hammered this conception of the larger world into my head, and I have no way of knowing if it corresponds with reality. Bummer.
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