Is the origin of human thinking linked to survival and evolution?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the origin of human thinking and its potential links to survival and evolution. Participants explore the nature of inquiry, the conditions necessary for thought to emerge, and the philosophical implications of questioning existence and knowledge.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that human capacity for inquiry may stem from evolutionary survival instincts, suggesting that curiosity about the environment was crucial for early humans.
  • Others argue that questioning the nature of existence itself is a fundamental aspect of human thought, implying that this capacity for inquiry is inherent in our evolution.
  • A participant questions the necessity of making sense of life or existence, suggesting that the act of questioning may not always lead to clarity or understanding.
  • There is a suggestion that reasonable argumentation requires agreement on terms, highlighting the complexity of discussing abstract concepts like the origin of thought.
  • Some participants express that exploring the conditions under which human thought emerged may be more fruitful than simply asking about the origins of the universe or existence.
  • A later reply emphasizes the importance of accepting ignorance in the pursuit of knowledge, arguing that acceptance can lead to discovery despite logical inconsistencies.
  • One participant seeks clarification on how nature and evolution could facilitate the emergence of thought, questioning whether thought existed prior to human cognition.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the relationship between human thought and evolutionary processes, with no consensus reached on the nature of this connection or the implications of their inquiries.

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge the need for clarity in terminology and the complexity of discussing abstract concepts, indicating that misunderstandings may arise from differing interpretations of key terms.

roeighty
if i can't get a reasonable answer on the origin of the universe, world, everything, i should go back one step and question the question.
any question is human brain made; man developed along evolution of living things.
you might thus suspect that human capacity to enquire is due to his original curiosity for his living surroundings, due to survival in a ferocious or unfriendly world.
man's property to question anything due to the possibility, nature offered our primate ancestors, to do so.
so, the possibility of "man thinking" must have been there in nature before "man doing first think" really happened. (though i believe that there was no first time literally, but a history of development)
"nature itself" allows "man thinking" to happen under given conditions.
the root of "questioning anything" is assertion, survival, laws of evolution, - was maybe ancient man's only chance to persist and still be here now.
this root of quest and inquiry might be as well its own (system-immanent) limit.
in that way, that we can question anything except what gave us this capacity,
..question anything except the very creator of "question, ask, enquire, fancy, imagine, think, wonder, stupefaction, riddle".
all our basic hurdles of knowledge come together in the origins of man's brain with capacity to question, to enquire, stupefaction, wondering about outer world, giving it a rhime. (lateron putting all such in form of names and speech)

so.. what's our elementary ways of thinking:
- cause and effect
- overview the whole
- relate things/events/processes/thoughts/being/anything to one
another
- locate anything in space and time
- judge anything as what it is by its perceived properties and
characteristics
- ..
further (work on the elements above by..):
- admit for constant change
- sort facts from belief and check them over again
- induce, deduce
- make abstractions, put things in order
- find hierarchy and systematics of things/evt/procs, or sort them by
- compare new perceptions with known ones
- define anything by giving/calling *.* it names
- interpret found reality on its meaning, necessity, usability for us
- ..

knowledge starts with the origin of thinking in evolution of man's brain, - before, there is none. not in history of evolution, not in science, not in language and speech, not in notions of anything. (to me, the same goes even for reality, nature of "being" the way we look upon it ..for what else is our reality, our way of thinking: "being", than brain-made)

so.. if we insist on finding out about evolution's, nature's, world's, origin, we should maybe question exactly this phenomenon of
"the nature of evolution offering man the capacity of thinking (talent of feeling?): what? why? how?" (in its first appearances)
finding out, what it was, that made nature do this to us, how it happened, what law bore this special evolution of man among evolution in general - a basic thing. studying the origins of thought in all its aspects might give us that blacksheet of the origins of "where we find no words and fail to see clear".
what must world, the universe be like, to have this opportunity/possibility/circumstance inside?
 
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if i can't get a reasonable answer on the origin of the universe, world, everything, i should go back one step and question the question.

Oh really, why is that? Why do you insist life must either make sense or we should question the question? To question the question itself is merely another way to insist that life must make sense.

Quiet

Great perfection can seem incomplete,
But does not decay;
Great abundance can seem empty,
But does not fail.
Great truth can seem contradictory;
Great cleverness can seem stupid;
Great eloquence can seem awkward;
Great questions can seem foolish.
As spring overcomes the cold,
And autumn overcomes the heat,
So calm and quiet overcome the world.
 
.
funny..
i write: origin of the universe, of everything.
and you read:
sense of life.

reasonable arguing utterly needs agreement on terms used.
..might as well hunt peanutbutterflies, else..

to me, curiosity, learning about unknown world is possible.
..encompass the unknown with knowledge *.* ..

lovely poem, anyway..
(fits in any PF-thread, though: Quiet's like a Joker that can be played anytime.)
 
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reasonable arguing utterly needs agreement on terms used.

OK, then just replace the word "life" with "origin of the universe" if you prefer.

funny..

If you want to see it that way, I suppose it is funny. :0)
 
so..
trying to find out, what nature must be like, to offer "thought" to humans,
and:
studying the ancient conditions of it happening,
to you is basically the same like, ..or insisting on:
was there a bigbang?
or
what's the origin of everything?
(and even:
does life/anything really need to make sense?..
if i got it right..?)

..if you see it that way, everything is like everything,
..and that gets us back to hunting butterflies by even using words,
which would be another thread.

but the way of approaching origin of everything by asking, what the conditions of brain and thought coming to existence were, seems more likely to me, to find an answer on, than:
how did anything begin?
why is there "world"?
or universalties alike..
 
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It sounds like you are suggesting these are mutually exclusive persuits, which is just not the case. The way to discovery intimately involves acceptance. Most pointedly, acceptance of our ignorance. Without the objectivity acceptance brings to science it is retarded, but it still gets there anyway because that is the nature of nature. It may not make sense logically, but that is the way it is anyway. :0)
 
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[wuliheron:]
i can't see your replies referring to my posted thread..(?)
what is nature (evolution) like, to offer thought and capability to question anything to humans?
was "thought" there in nature before man "doing think"?
what prior conditions might we conclude for sth like that to happen?
can we attribute any properties or characteristics to nature derived from "development of human thought happening"?
 

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