I have a car… my car breaks down…
I take the car to the mechanic and say, my car broke down…
now the mechanic isn’t just going to start taking parts out of the car,
no, he is going to ask questions about what happened…
he will say, what happened… I say the car just stopped…
so he says, was there any different sounds just before the car stopped…
uh, yes, I heard something…ok, what did it sound like he asked…
what the mechanic is doing is simple, he is using a method to discover
what is wrong with the car… a method is simply tool, a problem solving tool…
then once the mechanic gets to the point of actually being able to open the hood and
look at the car engine… he then has other tools to open up or pull out engine parts
to see if they are in working order… now, he has hammers and screwdrivers
and pliers and other tools to problem solve this issue of the car breaking down…
so when you answer the questions, you either include or exclude car problems…
doctors use the same technique… I go to the doctor and say, I don’t feel well…
the doctor will say, ok, what is wrong? I say, I feel nauseous and have a headache…
the doctor with that information can exclude possible issues like a broken leg or
a hearing loss and include issues like the flu or a virus depending on what the symptoms
are…the doctor can either begin with an hypothesis, he has the flu and be
various questions rule in or rule out having the flu or the doctor can look to
various symptoms and from them begin to make a guess as to what is the issue…
these questions by the doctor is once again, a method which is another word for
a tool…there are several methods or tools that the doctor can use to discover
or ascertain what is wrong with the patient…
at that point, the doctor has other tools to deal with any given problem for example
if I seem to have food poisoning, the doctor would use one tool, rest or bed rest to
solve the problem and that is what is really at work here… the use of tools to solve
problems… what tool or method one uses to solve problems
we have a problem and let us use method or tools to better understand the problem
my question or problem is, what is the meaning of life?
I have several different ways or methods or tools to attempt to discover
the answer to this problem… I can create a general hypothesis… the meaning of
life is to worship god forever… this is the religious and one particular religion in
particular answer to the question, what is the meaning of life?
so, I begin, the meaning of life is to worship god forever…ok,
this asked the question, is there a god? I must understand if there
is a god before I can include or exclude this possible question…
if I conclude there is a god, then it includes the possibility that the
meaning of life is to worship god forever, but if by method or tools,
I conclude that there is no god, then my hypothesis that the meaning of life
is to worship god forever is wrong and I must try another hypothesis…
the meaning of life is to make money…so I, by a method or tool, ask
questions that attempt to include or exclude this possibility…
or I can attempt another means to answer the question of is there
meaning to life by looking at the evidence and not by creating a hypothesis…
so, I look about me and so what method or tool would I use to help me answer
this question…I might list several different answers to the question of is there
a meaning of life… so one answer is to make money or one possibility is to
worship god, one answer is the answer of the founding fathers, life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness as an answer to the meaning of life… I would then find other
possibilities such as pursing goals or enjoying life or traveling or pursing knowledge as
some possible answers to the question of what is the meaning of life…
and with each possible answer, I must somehow include or exclude those
possibilities…so I use a method or a tool to narrow my search for what is
the answer to the question of what is the meaning of life? the problem
is what is the meaning of life and the solution to that problem is…
now it seems to me, using the scientific method requires having a scientific
question… for example, a problem might be how do I discover how far
is mars from the earth… this is a simple search for facts in which I can
use measurements, facts, to discover the answer to my problem…I don’t for example
use values to discover what is the distance from the earth to mars… truth, justice
and the American way of life will not answer the question of how far is it to mars…
math and other tools will answer my problem…so it is all about using the right tools,
the right methods to discover the or answer any given problem…
answering the question about what is the meaning of life might be a question about
values and thus becomes a philosophical problem and not a scientific problem which is
about facts…and once again it becomes a question of what tools or method I use to
answer the question of what is the meaning of life? different questions require different
tools or methods and perhaps we have failed to answer the question or to solve the problem
of what is the meaning of life because we haven’t explored all the tools or methods to
answer the question… perhaps we must find a new method or tool to answer the question
of what is the meaning of life…Newton and Einstein were faced with problems
that needed solutions, they created new methods, new tools that allowed them to
answer their question, Newton created Calculus and Einstein created the theory
of Relativity and by creating those methods or tools, there were able to solve their
problem… so in solving a problem what tools or method are needed?
if you don’t have the right tools or methods available, then the right tool or method
must be created to solve that problem… if the question is, what is the meaning of life
and that question or problem hasn’t been solved in all this time, then perhaps, we don’t
have or we haven’t created the right tool or method to solve our question…
if the question of the meaning of life is a question of values, then we must
focus our tools, our methods on this idea of values and their relationship to
the meaning of life… what values give us the meaning of life?
and then the question seems to begin to come into focus… we are asking about
which values give life meaning… love, justice, hope, faith, all become possibilities
for the answer to the question of what is the meaning of life… so how would we further
reduce our problem into more manageable portions? what method or tool would we use
to further understand our question??? solve our problem??? we would then
explore the question of values, what are they? how many values are they?
are they 5 values or 50 values or 50 million values and what are they? let us list
all the possible values and from that list, we can by a tool or method, include or exclude
values as being an answer to our problem…this is one possible way or method to
solve our problem of what is the meaning of life… there are many different ways
to solve our problem… so what method or tool would you use to solve our problem?
what is the meaning of life?
Kropotkin