Science A series of questions

[Noble Scion]

this is a small idea I had that may/may not end up annoying people as the complexity of each question rises.

Let us start of simple, shall we?

What is the purpose of a bottle of water?

 

[Alteras]

Alright, let's do this! Just finished my midterm and looking to properly fry my grey matter.

Ahem, to contain water for consumption. Other uses include: being the prop and main tool of viral videos displaying ones prowess in the ability to flip a bottle of water and make it land up right, being displayed as a prominent symbol of the global water crisis, as well as the symbol of the global pollution crisis. It is also used in various advertising campaigns, as well as a common source of hydration in volunteer events.

 

[Noble Scion]

Alright, let's do this! Just finished my midterm and looking to properly fry my grey matter.

Ahem, to contain water for consumption. Other uses include: being the prop and main tool of vital videos displaying ones prowess in the ability to flip a bottle of water and make it land up right, being displayed as a prominent symbol of the global water crisis, as well as the symbol of the global pollution crisis. It is also used in various advertising campaigns, as well as a common source of hydration in volunteer events.

Hmm... Was it specifically designed to be flipped or did we, as the human race, decide to do so?

 

[Alteras]

Hmm... Was it specifically designed to be flipped or did we, as the human race, decide to do so?

Seeing as it was a product of humanity, it could be said that "being flipped" is second purpose given to it. It may be more accurate to say that its purpose didn't so much as change but rather become a tool to derive entertainment from by merely being flipped. It retains it original purpose and only has a second purpose when used as a tool to obtain entertainment.

 

[Noble Scion]

Seeing as it was a product of humanity, it could be said that "being flipped" is second purpose given to it. It may be more accurate to say that its purpose didn't so much as change but rather become a tool to derive entertainment from by merely being flipped. It retains it original purpose and only has a second purpose when used as a tool to obtain entertainment.

Why do humans want entertainment?

 

[Alteras]

Why do humans what entertainment?

I shall assume you are asking why do humans want entertainment.

First we must be clear that not all humans want entertainment, for there are those who actively seek to deprive themselves of any form of entertainment. Likewise, the purpose of this entertainment being sought varies between person to person. While there are many lines of thinking on regards to the desire for entertainment, the one that I find most applicable to the question presented in lieu of the prior questions is that humans may view their favored forms of entertainment (or lack therefore) as part of their self identity. It doesn't make up the human, but rather is part of their reason for being. There is a philosophy that states that our desires for entertainment fulfills our needs as a human being, similar to how food and shelter also fulfills our needs. While there are some places that this philosophy can be poked at, it is an encompassing and sufficient answer for the matter, since any further speculation would most likely involve the inclusion of philosophical ideals that don't answer the question directly, but rather explain through the other principles that they present.

 

[Noble Scion]

(Hehe, my mistake on that last one)
If entertainment fulfils the human purpose, are all humans made to seek entertainment?

 

[Alteras]

(When the class you took just to fulfill a GE comes in handy.)

A Revision to Our Understanding​

As I have stated earlier, not all humans actively desire entertainment, so this may have led to the misunderstanding that humans passively seek entertainment. While it is not a wrong statement to make, it isn't a right statement either. If we were to follow the same school of philosophy that was briefly shown above, then we would be naturally led to a well agreed upon theory known as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It should be noted that while it does say needs, it is understood as the natural flow and priority of wants and desires exhibited in an average human being. By acknowledging that it is indeed a guideline for the human population in general and not one for the human population in totality, then we can alleviate the problem of continually needing to make an exception to the Ascetics (those who actively seek to deprive themselves of entertainment as part of their goal). Once again, because our answer will undoubtedly involve Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, we shall excuse ourselves from the need to encompass every individual human being in our answer and instead look at the broadest selection and commonly cited counterargument.

Having stated that, we shall now consider the following to be applicable to the general population of human beings, continuing this school of philosophy.

A Consideration of the Debate on Humanity's Purpose of Existence in Relation to the Question​

First, let us refute the statement that the question implies, with consideration to the exception made prior, "humans [in general] are made to seek entertainment." At the core of this statement, there is an implication that humans have a purpose for existence. This in itself is a topic that is too extensive to be discussed for the understanding of this question. As such, we shall reduce the implications of the statement about humanity's purpose to that of "humans are able to find purpose through the pursuit of entertainment," a statement that can be more readily answered in the school of thought used thus far. Had we allowed the statement "humans have a purpose and are therefore made," we would find ourselves in a far precarious situation that the school of Aristotle (the philosophy of which our currently line of thinking is based on) wouldn't be able to support. In such a situation, we would have to rely on more modern philosophy which were far beyond the scope of the previous question.

An Observation on Society's Extremes​

Even though we have reduced the implied statement of the main question to "Humans are able to find purpose through the pursuit of entertainment," we will still not be able to reach an all encompassing answer to this. For this, let us consider the extremities of human society to further reduce our conundrum, a brief case study of those who have achieved and experienced what could be considered the pinnacle of all forms of entertainment.

The Hedonists​

By their very nature, hedonists live off of pleasure. To make room for the minor discrepancy between the definition of pleasure and entertainment, we shall define pleasure in this case to be fulfillment of desires through any and all forms of entertainment. Let us continue with this definition. Hedonists on the surface affirm the implied statement that "humans are able to find purpose through the pursuit of entertainment." They live their lives with the sole purpose to obtaining a positive net balance of personal happiness and pleasure over pain and suffering. This pleasure, as stated before, is most easily gained through the experience of entertainment.

The problem that lies in using Hedonists to support our statement is that Hedonists don't find their purpose to be the pursuit of entertainment but rather the pursuit of self satisfaction through entertainment. Pleasure, as our definition currently stands, is not the only way to achieve their goal. One of the other ways to achieve personal happiness is through something known as "Moral Hedonism," a form of Hedonism where the positive net balance is gained through doing moral things. By doing these moral actions, Hedonists are able to satisfy themselves without the need of entertainment.

Another problem with the use of Hedonism is that if they will eventually find themselves miserable than happy. This is because they seek happiness from their activities, instead of understanding that their activities lead to the side product of happiness. An eloquent elaboration of this would be: "When hungry, seek food; when poor, seek money; when restless, seek physical activity. We don't seek pleasure in these situations." Often are those who have achieved complete luxury and entertainment are the most miserable.

At the same time, we may find people who say that they experienced and achieved their purpose in life without the exclusive desire for self happiness. These people, often told in stories as the low class hardworking people, are a direct contradiction to hedonists, showing that without the entertainment, they are happy.

Eudaimonia and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs​

I feel that we may wander far beyond the original premise of the question, so I shall tie it all up in the return to our first school of thought and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. In our school of thought, it is explained that people reach self fulfillment by achieving Eudaimonia, which roughly translates to "human flourishing." This flourishing is the sense of a healthy experience of mind and body for the human soul. It states that a good balance of morals and learning, as well as a taste for the arts and proper forms of entertainment allow the human soul to achieve its needs and purposes. In our modern day, this has been translated to reaching the top of Maslow's Hierarchy. As stated earlier, Maslow's Hierarchy is an organization of priority in which the average human being will seek. If we were to ask what is the purpose that humans seek, we will received a multitude of answers: "To eat, breed, and die," a very valid and scientific answer, but one that encompasses the entire living world, not just humans; "To experience joy," well sure, but any animal can do that; "To create things and explore the world," doesn't that just fall under the category of self satisfaction?. Like so we can go on refuting a variety of answers, so I shall instead give you a straight answer, one that falls in line with our method of thinking thus far, "Humans achieve their purpose through the realization and practice of the many layers of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, thereby resulting in satisfaction." Since Maslow has covered the many topics of Eudaimonia, we can also state that "Humans achieve their purpose through the principles of Eudaimonia."

Since we have reached this truth, we can return to the original question and its implication. First, "humans are able to find purpose through the pursuit of entertainment;" Entertainment isn't the end goal, neither is the pleasure gained from it, but rather overall satisfaction from entertainment that can only be gained through the progress of the Hierarchy of Needs. Therefore its implication is false. Second, the question, "are humans made to seek entertainment?" Through our prior discussion, it is a definitive no. Humans seek self fulfillment, and entertainment is one of the steps to be taken to achieve this.

(I'm probably gonna let someone else take over from here. I'll be back tomorrow.)