"In Response to the Question: 'Why Study Calculus?'"
3 March 1997
I suppose I study calculus, or any subject for that matter, not because of the credit the course gives for graduation requirements or that it produces a grade that others are happy with but because of the fact that there are inconsequential points to any course of study that seem to raise more questions than answers. Some students (the author of this rant included) find a perverse joy in the questions that go unanswered. It is not any specific test of this knowledge that can measure what has actually been learned in a course, though. Only the understanding that not everything is known can determine how valuable a course of study proved to be to an individual.
A comparison of humans to animals (most notably sheep) is often an unfair practice that humanistic beings use to demonstrate their superiority over the other inhabitants of this earth. The analogies made between animals and humans by humans are extraordinary in that they seem to only support the ideas of the supposed "higher beings" on the planet. Where else can an extra digit on each hand and a larger brain mean so much? It is true that sheep seem to have no worries as to the direction in which the world is progressing, but how can this be labeled as incomprehension and boredom? The fact that I am writing this tells the reader I had nothing better to do at the moment of this document's conception. Perhaps if simplicity was ingrained into our brains rather than "consciousness and rationality" we would have far fewer problems than we do now. But would we be sheep in this respect?
We are not all sheep. At times many humans have the qualities of sheep, but they supposedly are not limited to the supposed lack of depth that sheep may have. We, as humans, very arrogantly contend that we are always asking questions as to why we are here and the purpose of doing anything. "Why study calculus?" has suddenly become "What is the meaning of life?" for those who have become interested and involved in this tirade.
Is there hope for humanity? There should be, if there are people who can think about such weighty questions without getting headaches and feeling morbidly depressed. There must always be hope. The answer to the question of life's purpose might help if it were found. More importantly, however, is the question itself. If the question can not be found first, how can the answer make sense? Now the reader may be inclined to state that the question is easy, that it was written not more than a paragraph past. Was it? That is why one studies: not to receive answers, but to ask more questions.