Skepticism

When Descartes discovered his famous philosophical statement “Cogito ergo sum” (latin: “I think, therefore I am.”) he was himself skeptical about how we could know anything. How can we know what is the truth? How can we know that we do know anything, really, truly? All might be an illusion. Descartes asked himself, “how can I know that I exist?” In answer he discovered that since he was able to question his own existence, then he has to exist to do so.

In a way Descartes discovery was the ultimate in skepticism, and indeed it led directly to the ultimate answer; no longer can we doubt our own existence, but that did not help us in determining the existence of everything else. What if the whole universe is an illusion? Alas, the answer to that one is not so forthcoming.

Still it is important, in this modern world, to question everything we are told. Especially anything that involves common sense. This may seem as a paradox, as many people believe philosophy to be ‘common sense’ but in reality common sense is ingrained within us by the society in which we live and is connected with culture and belief systems. The danger of common sense is that one can be swept off into believing that common sense answers everything and tells us all we need to know about reality.

How do we know that we ‘need’ to work for example? Those who do not work, may in fact be happy not working (assuming they have social benefits or some other means to sustain themselves) but they will find themselves being subject to a large amount of pressure from society. Helpful friends and relatives will hint, help, and pester them to work, and try to find them a ‘job’.

Our ancestors were hunters, and it is now believed that hunter societies had a large amount of free time for themselves and social activities. Would that not be ideal? Free time to do what you like? To enjoy life? These days however the possibility of returning to a hunter gather society is nonexistent, but nevertheless the realization that there are other ways of structuring society are key to the process of overcoming fixed beliefs. In actuality, growing food requires a large amount of labor and time (in comparison to hunting).

It was the transition to settled farming communities which created the need for laborers. In early communities this was a shared task, but as time proceeded communities became larger and the society more stratified, leaving the lowest and poorest with the burden of the work. This state of affairs was amplified throughout human history culminating with the serf of the middle ages.