Philosophy and Caterpillars

If you put a caterpillar on the rim of a bowl, it will walk around and around in a circle. The rim of the bowl stimulates its nervous system in the same way that a branch would, so the caterpillar acts as if it were on a branch, walking until it reaches a leaf to feed on, or another branch. Placed on the sidewalk, the caterpillar will wander aimlessly. Its instincts only generate adaptive behavior when it is in its natural environment.

This experiment demonstrates that:

• Caterpillars are not very smart.
• To work, instincts must fit the environment.
• Scale matters. A behavior that solves small problems might not solve bigger problems.

The caterpillar is very good at walking along the rim of the bowl, but it can’t solve the bigger problem of getting somewhere.

Humans can find themselves in similar predicaments. For example, consider a heroin addict. Each day he is focused on getting his next fix. Once he gets it, he relaxes and enjoys the pleasure of the drug. But when the drug wears off, he needs another fix, or he will go through terrible withdrawal symptoms. He is stuck in a loop.

Maybe the drug addict doesn’t understand that he is just going in a circle. Or maybe he lacks the will to choose his destiny at a scale beyond a single day. Either way, he is trapped in a loop. Each day, he focuses on solving the small problem of getting his next fix, without solving the bigger problem of where he is going in life.

Is the ordinary person much different? Most people go through their lives solving small problems. They think about what to have for lunch, what to wear, and what toothpaste to buy. They don’t spend much time thinking about the purpose of life. On a large scale, they have very little awareness or agency. They might choose each step carefully, but (like the caterpillar) they don’t know where they are going, and they don’t choose where they are going.

Heroin addicts have the excuse that their instincts evolved in a world without heroin, just as the caterpillar’s instincts evolved in a world without circular branches. Instincts can lead to perverse consequences in an environment that they are not adapted to.

Modern civilization is a new environment, and our instincts are not adapted to it. It creates new problems at large scales. In the past, human instincts led our ancestors down the “branch” of life. Today, the same instincts cause people to go in circles, or wander aimlessly.

That is why philosophy matters. Philosophy is the attempt to expand awareness and will beyond the small problems of ordinary life. It is the attempt to expand the frame in which we think. In that larger frame, we might discover new problems, and hopefully the means of solving them.