Question

Suppose you come into existence as a human named Tom.

The Creator tells you the one and only rule of the universe: be who you choose to be.

This is fun. You design yourself, and you choose you hair texture, eye color, skin color. And you live in the perfect society, doing what you think is best for your well-being.

After a while, you get sick of being a man. So you go to the Creator and ask him to make you into a woman. Because it is consistent with the one and only rule, it happens and you're now a young woman. You get married and then you have children and become a mother. The children grow old and goes to war and your husband has an affair with a foreign woman and ditches you.

Then, out of boredom, you get the desire to be an animal. You ask the Creator I want to be a cow! And POOF you're a four-footed cloven-hooved ungulate. But because cows are not self-aware, this is your final terminal state. You undid your own ability to be who you choose to be.

The Creator realizes that, for being, be who you choose to be is not the answer, because it has no safe-guards.

So now we branch into a different parallel universe. You come into existence as a human named John. The Creator tells John the new rule of the universe.

John, the universe has only one rule: you are who I say you are. The Creator isn't going to divulge the history behind this rule and its case precedence with Operation Tom (all laws come from case precedence after all), so He just says it flat.

John, then, goes and lives his life. He gets married, plants a garden, and has children. John then grows old and full of years and dies. John goes back to the Creator to receive what is his due: exclusion from the World to Come.

John is bemused. Why? he asks.

The Creator responds: ...because you're evil!

But I don't want to be evil. I want to be a different type of person.

The Creator responds: ...who are you to question Me and My wisdom?!

And so John goes into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Obviously both John and Tom's fates are undesirable. Tom loses because be who you choose to be, while guaranteeing that you'll be happy, has nothing to restrain itself, so there's nothing to prevent you from choosing in a way that will make you lose. It's too chaotic. John loses because Aristotle's law of identity, while it did its intended function in keeping John from losing himself by choosing to be the wrong sort of being, rests on the dubious presumption that the person you're born as is inherently good.

What is the correct solution to the problem of being?

Answer 1

The problem of being is a philosophical issue related to existentialism and free will. It explores choice, identity, and the consequences of those choices.

Step-by-step explanation:

The problem of being presented in the question is a philosophical one, specifically related to existentialism and the concept of free will. The question explores the ideas of choice, identity, and the consequences of those choices. It raises the issue of whether beings have a pre-existing essence or if they create their own essence through their choices. The correct solution to the problem of being is subjective and depends on individual perspectives and beliefs.

It is crucial to understand that this freedom does not eschew consequences or the physical realities of nature. Transforming oneself superficially or even biologically may not fully escape the underlying structures set by nature, which suggests a tension between our freedom to choose and the factual conditions of our existence that cannot be freely changed.