Philosophy for Life: And Other Dangerous Situations

by Jules Evans

The second explanation of the how and why of consciousness is functionalist. Consciousness is a physical process which we don’t yet fully understand, but which evolved through natural selection, because it serves the genetic goals of survival and reproduction.9 But that explanation seems to me like using a copy of Shakespeare’s complete works to hammer in a nail, or using a Ferrari to drive to the shops once a week to pick up the groceries. Why do we have such a powerful operating system for such a basic task? Ants survive and reproduce very well without the capacity for poetry or philosophy. Why is our reasoning capacity so much greater than that of every other species? And what’s the evolutionary function of our endless self-questioning as to the meaning of life? We consider Hamlet one of the most interesting human characters ever created. But from an evolutionary perspective, he’s a complete dud.