Philosophy Assignment 1

ARVIND ROSHAAN S

14110020

Topic of the assignment:

Look at all the subjects you’ve learnt. Find questions which have unique answers and that with multiple answers. Give some examples from those subjects. How do you arrive at answers then in case of multiple existence answers? How will you choose your answers and why?

Yeah, subjects studied in the world have questions which have either of the following,

1) Unique solution 2) Multiple solutions3) No solution/Doesn’t exist4) Inconclusive (or) ”time” will/may answer

By solution what I meant was the final answer to the questions but I haven’t yet talked of the number of approaches in arriving at a solution (if it exists). The approach one makes depends on a lot of factor like,

1) Environment in which s/he is brought up2) Environment in which s/he solved the problem (inspired from “The Beautiful Mind”)3) Mental, health situation the person is in4) IQ, EQ and SQ of the person5) The way s/he perceives the problem6) The way s/he perceives the capability of them solving the problem

Since each person is unique, it gives rise to a possibility of having finitely countable/uncountable (if not infinite) number of approaches to a problem. But there are problems which have very few approaches to solve it. But anyway it doesn’t mean there are no other approaches to a problem! Since there are many approaches to a problem, the ones which the scholars in the society feels elegant are being propagated to the next generation, as fundamentally an approach is knowledge and hence it becomes the part of wisdom. To spread wisdom “schooling” was introduced (totally my belief). But in this process, people with different cognition ability were trained to understand and make use of this wisdom. But in this process the person has a high probability of losing their natural perspective as we are all taught to think in a particular perspective which our ancestors felt to be elegant. But nevertheless it is constantly evolving. This gives rise to broadly three kinds of people,

1) Above this general perspective/Intelligent 2) In the range of general perspective / Moderate (or) average3) Below this general perspective/ Foolish (or) ignorant

This could explain why the research done in fields which have historical existence like physics are incremental in nature.

Ok, now I realize that I have slightly deviated from the core question, but truly speaking all came from critical thinking. Let me come back now to answer the question.

My choices of subject examples are as follows,

1) Mathematics2) Philosophy3) Design & Innovation4) Computer programming5) Economics6) Sciences(physics, chemistry, biology)7) Engineering

Mathematics:It’s a beautiful language altogether! It’s the language of numbers. Yes, maths does have a lot of questions which have unique final answers. For example: At what points does the function f(x)=x^2 touches the x-axis? The answer to the question is x=0, which is a unique answer to the question. There is also a possibility of having a unique approach, but with time other approaches may evolve. But there are also questions in maths which have multiple answers. For example: At what points does the function f(x)=(x-2)^2 touches the x-axis? The answer to the question is x=(+/-)2 , which is not an unique answer to the question. Here there is no meaning of preference of one answer over the other as there is no additional constraints to prefer an answer. So both the answers are equally good. The very fact that maths is a language of numbers makes it precise.

Philosophy:The world is full of people having unique ideas and thinking. So when we discuss on the moral baseline to be set up for the existence of the society there arise a debate among group of people. The people belonging to the same group may not have identical ideas/principles but at least similar to an extent. So according to me this is a problem in philosophy. The other problems could be in coming up with a definition of quantities such as “consciousness”, etc., To these problems there exists many solutions as it all depends on the perspective of the person who defines it. This perspective is a function of the belief system and the past experiences of the function. That’s why there are no “wrong” answers in philosophy. But the popularity of the solution highly depends on the how much your definition is universally agreeable. Here since multiple answers exist if I were asked to choose one, I would prefer the one which is more in common with my beliefs. If not satisfied with any existing solution I will arrive at a solution which will mostly be based on my belief system. The fact that our race exists since its beginning is an evidence for existence of a universal consensus; at least in the matters of fundamental/ basic living.

Design and Innovation:It is a 3C’s subject (Creativity, Care & Culture). The main purpose is to enrich user experience & ease. So, therefore we observe things around to check whether they are universal & inclusive (anyone should be able to use). Since there is no such perfect/ ultimate design for a question; there are no unique answers to those questions. That’s why a designer’s philosophy is “Never settle”. The non uniqueness of the problem can be explained as it involves Culture & Creativity (which are not unique for all people on earth). So how does a designer design a product? It depends on the target population; needs; economic viability, etc. If I were to design a product I would come up with one which I fell would solve the problem taking into consideration of all the constraints up to a level. But If I were to choose a design in the market I would choose one which I perceive would solve my necessity given that constraints are met.

Computer Programming:Programming is all about creativity. To reach a goal via programming there are numerous approaches to it. There is rarely a possibility that approaches will be the same. According to me there aren’t any unique solutions to a question, since by solution in programming we mean the approach. If I were to program a machine to do a task, the approach of mine will depend on the extent to which I know the programming language, creativity, motivation level, etc. And suppose, If I were to choose an approach I would take into consideration of cost, technicality, time taken for execution, memory needed, etc.

Economics:It is a subject which if mastered will fetch a good job. It is about analysing the interaction of the customers with the market. Economist studies the behaviour of the customers, markets, countries, etc. Since in general it involves the behaviour study of people, it isn’t accurate. There is no ultimate solution to a problem. There are always multiple solutions possible for a problem. The one which gives the maximum profit for the companies will be chosen by the company and that for customers will be chosen by the customers. Choice & preference of the solution depends on whether you are a customer or a market man.

Sciences(physics, chemistry, biology):Science is a fascinating subject. It involves the observation of the natural phenomenon. These are then modelled or being accounted by laws/theory which are also in phase with the previously observed phenomenon. Yes, there are questions in science which have a single answer. For example: What is the velocity at the end of t=2 of a body with v=0 @ t=0 and with an uniform a=2m/s^2. The answer is v=4m/s and this unique. There are questions which have multiple answers also. In few cases as discussed earlier there are equally good answers. But in others there is a need for choice/ preference of answers considering the feasibility of the solution. For example: If solution is temperature=2000 and 10000 degree Celsius, we would prefer using 2000 degree Celsius as it is relatively feasible than 10000 degree Celsius.

Engineering:It is a study which deploys the applications of sciences practically for day to day life. Like most of the above stated subjects, engineering have questions of both the types, the one with single/ multiple answers. In case of multiple answers, the answer is preferred or chosen based on the economic feasibility, ease of implementation and the cost of manufacturing. Economics and design will also play a crucial role in selection of the product.