Human Understanding of Life and Reality
The Human Need to Understand Life’s Meaning
One thing seems clear: unlike animals that spend their lives consumed by the constant procurement of subsistence, humans cannot be content merely to live. We need to find meaning in life. We need to understand why we live and what is the best way to do it. Animals live completely submerged in the present, their needs satisfied by predictable stimuli and responses. We, however, are never fully comfortable in the present. We are pulled back to a past we miss or projected forward toward an uncertain future.
Thus, unlike animals, what characterizes human existence is a maladjustment to the world, which leads us to constantly correct ourselves, doing and redoing our individual and collective existence. One of the fundamental differences between our species and others is our ability to deal with the world with a practical attitude. An animal’s interest in the world ends where its needs are met. Humans, however, see in reality not only a means of subsistence or a source of danger but a world full of mystery and questions, a fascinating universe that causes bewilderment and curiosity.
In short, it is the distance between humans and their environment that allows the emergence of a new way of relating to reality. We call this new way of looking at the world a cognitive or theoretical attitude, an attitude that is apparently exclusive to our species.
Questions and Answers About Human Understanding
- What language is usually expressed with the mythical universe? Poetic
- The transition from myth to the Greek logos came to just over…? 2,500 years
- Mythical thinking goes into crisis due to the extension of…? a) and c) are correct (criticism and skepticism)
- Which of these features has always been shared by philosophy and science? Clarity
- Images give prominence to the concepts with the entry into scene of…? Head is correct
- With its hierarchy of gods and heroes, myths were only reflecting and justifying…? The existing social order
- Which factor, synonymous with freedom, opens to humans multiple possibilities? Indeterminacy
- With reference to the world, what characterizes the human is a permanent…? Maladjustment
- With reference to the reality around us, one of the fundamental differences between our species and the others is…? Attitude
- Knowledge is not born as a kind of luxury…? Idle
- In Greece, a little over 2,500 years ago, the myths of Homer were evolving into forms…? Impersonal
- In the mythical stage, the adequacy of a mythical story to the reality of things was…? Secondary
- Referring to living, humans need…? To find meaning
- Unlike animals, humans do not fully accommodate ourselves ever to…? The present
- In reference to the environment, we humans lack perfect…? Adaptation
- Before the advent of philosophy, the knowledge expressed by…? All are correct
- Accurate description, logical and rational scientific expression contrasts with the myth that lacks…? Rigor
- Homer wrote the epic poems “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” in the century…? IX BC
- Interest in showing the world just where the animals end up…? Needs
- The moon and stars that guided our ancestors gradually appeared as objects…? a) and c) are correct (strange, distant)