Stability and security allow for contemplation but do not ensure it. Pushing against the path of least resistance is the first step toward deeper inquiry.
Summary: The concepts of necessity and sufficiency are prevalent in science and logic. While certain conditions are necessary for existential inquiry, they don’t guarantee it. Human instincts to fall for easy distractions often suppress contemplation into the questions of existence. Engaging in existential exploration requires a conscious effort to push against comfort and distractions to seek deeper meaning.
Necessary and Sufficient
The concepts of “necessity and sufficiency” are fundamental to formal logic and mathematics, but grasping their nuances can be a mental puzzle. For now, though, let’s simply follow their path as they lead us into the heart of our discussion.
It is necessary to have all the essential ingredients (like flour, eggs, sugar, etc.), and sufficient to follow the steps in the recipe to produce a cake, even if it turns out burnt or imperfect.
It is necessary to have all the essential ingredients (like flour, eggs, sugar, etc.), and sufficient to follow the recipe correctly — including proper mixing, baking at the right temperature, and for the right duration — to ensure a delicious baked cake.
Thus, having flour is necessary for making a cake. Without flour, you can’t bake one. But just having flour is not sufficient to have a delicious cake — you need other ingredients and have to follow proper steps too. Thus, having flour is necessary to bake the cake but in itself, it is not sufficient.
Having a fully baked delicious cake sitting on the table is sufficient to prove that all the necessary ingredients, including flour, were used and the proper baking steps were followed.
A similar kind of reasoning follows in mathematics and other branches of science and philosophy.
Mathematics: For a number to be divisible by both 2 and 3 is necessary for it to be divisible by 6, but it is not sufficient to guarantee that 6 is its only divisor (for example, 12 is also divisible by 4)
Meteorology: Moisture, instability, and upward lift of air are necessary to form a thunderstorm but they are not sufficient; their proper interaction is sufficient to trigger thunderstorm development.
Existential Exploration and Necessary Conditions
Human behavior can also be examined through the framework of necessary and sufficient conditions, especially within existential inquiry — where one wrestles with questions of meaning, purpose, and the nature of existence itself. Certain life conditions — such as a full belly, a secure home, financial stability — are necessary to create the mental space required for existential questioning to occur. Without these necessities, one’s focus remains on survival, making deeper contemplation nearly impossible.
However, while these conditions are necessary for existential explorations and inquity, they are not sufficient. Having food and shelter does not inherently lead to existential questioning. Many individuals with security and stability do not engage in such explorations; instead, they immerse themselves in entertainment, work, or social interactions, keeping their minds occupied with immediate concerns rather than deeper philosophical inquiry.
The Lure of the Path of Least Resistance
A key reason why existential exploration does not automatically follow from the necessary conditions are met is the human tendency to follow the path of least resistance. Evolutionary biology suggests that humans are wired to seek efficiency in their actions. Expending unnecessary energy on difficult tasks is often detrimental to survival. In ancestral environments, wasting effort on abstract thought instead of securing food, shelter, and social bonds is not particularly conducive for survival and could have led to extinction. It is worth noting that the brain accounts for approximately 20% of the body’s total energy consumption.
Modern life exploits and reinforces this tendency to follow the path of least resistance by offering a multitude of distractions. The internet, entertainment, and consumer culture provide endless ways to avoid deep thought. Unlike in pre-industrial societies where survival dictated attention to crucial matters, contemporary society allows individuals to avoid existential concerns entirely if they choose. Thus, even though plenty of people in developed countries have the luxury of mental space, and the necessary conditions for exploring existential questions are in place, existential exploration does not automatically arise, because distractions are a powerful countermeasure.
Choosing Existential Inquiry
To not follow the path of least resistance and engage in existential contemplation, a deliberate effort is required. This means pushing against the evolutionary tendency to gravitate toward distractions that offer ease and comfort. Throughout history, philosophers, writers, and thinkers have consciously chosen to grapple with profound questions, despite their complexity and the mental fatigue they entail.
This process can be seen as similar to engaging in rigorous intellectual pursuits. Just as solving complex mathematical problems requires effort beyond basic arithmetic, contemplating existence requires one to resist distractions and intentionally engage with difficult questions. The more one resists the immediate comfort of distractions, the greater the likelihood delving into mind bending existential explorations.
Discussion
The connection between necessary and sufficient conditions and existential exploration highlights a fundamental truth: just because conditions are present for something to occur does not mean it inevitably will. Stability and security enable the possibility for existential thought but do not ensure it. Human preference for the path of least resistance is a powerful countermeasure ensuring that most people will not engage in these questions unless for some reason they deliberately choose to do so. In this way, existential inquiry requires not only the right conditions but also a willingness to push against distractions and comfort — a step that is neither natural nor easy.
The discussion also leads us to another question — if matters of existential questioning are hard and could make one fall into existential despair, why not take the easy path? Why should one engage in this pastime at one’s own peril. Would it not help if existential explorations offered an upper in the race of survival and reproduction?
Ciao, and thanks for reading.
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