40 questions to think about and face uncertainty

March 30, 2024

Since we have use of reason, human beings have always raised questions, some of them of great importance and others much more mundane. The way in which we face uncertainty talks about who we are. In this article we are going to see different questions to think and reflect on different topics , with which to test both the degree of knowledge and the management of doubts.

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A short selection of questions to think about

Below you will find a series of questions to think that can help us to meditate on different aspects of our day to day, or to elaborate more transcendental reflections.

1. What is the meaning of life?

A very typical question, but the truth is that is one of the most intriguing to the human being . The answer is totally subjective.

2. How much do I love myself?

Although it may seem like an exercise in self-centeredness, the truth is that many people do not value themselves in a positive way and do not know how to appreciate or appreciate themselves as they deserve. Thinking about this will help us to see if we are underestimating or overestimating to some extent.

3. Is it better to be a dissatisfied human or a satisfied pig?

This question, from a sentence by Stuart Mill, discusses whether it is preferable to remain ignorant but being happy and complying with what we already have and know or if on the other hand it is not better to investigate, reflect and know the world even if it makes us see realities that make us unhappy.

However, we must bear in mind that one thing does not take away the other: we can feel miserable without knowing what is happening in the world or be immensely happy being wise and knowing how this works.

4. Does destiny exist or do we create it with our acts?

This question is controversial and has led throughout history to multiple philosophical discussions . On the one hand there are those who believe that everything is written and that it will suffer what has to happen, whatever we do. Others consider that there is nothing pre-established and that everything depends on the acts we carry out. We can also find intermediate beliefs.

5. What can I know?

We can inform you of a large number of topics and aspects in our day to day, as well as mastering different skills and techniques. But can we know everything? What is really what I can get to know or know?

Related article: "What is epistemology and what is it for?"

6. What should I do?

One of the reasons for greater anguish of the human being is the uncertainty, the fear of what could happen or the ignorance of what is his role in the world or in the concrete situation of which he is speaking. What to do and how to act are doubts that it can be of great concern to us .

7. What can I expect?

Expectations about what we can expect from life , of ourselves or of others is another element on which we can think and reflect. This and the two previous questions have been made by a large number of people throughout history, such as Kant.

8. What is worse, failing or not having tried?

Sometimes we do not act in search of what we want for fear of failing and the consequences of doing so, among other possible reasons. But even if we can fail, is not it better to at least try and take away the doubt of what could have happened if we had done it?

9. How have we changed over the years?

With the passage of time human beings change continuously. Although our personality can remain more or less stable , we live different experiences, we mature, we are happy and we suffer, which in the long run generates changes. Since we were children until now, what changes have we made and why?

Related article: "The main theories of personality"

10. How far can we go to achieve our dreams?

One wonders what we would be able to do to achieve our deepest desires, the time and effort that we would be able to occupy in it and whether or not there are limits to achieve them. One of those questions to think that they make us reflect on our potential .

11. What activities should we devote less time to what we do and what more?

It is common that in general we tend to use large amounts of our time in things not excessively important and while neglecting others of great value to us. Thinking about it can help to revalue each of the aspects that we carry out .

12. If we could see our future ... would we want to know it?

In a similar way to what happens with the idea of destiny, it is stated that on the one hand knowing our future can be curious and can offer us hope, but on the other we can find something that we would not like to know, besides breaking the illusion of achieving things little by little without knowing where we will end up.

Not to say that knowing what may happen in the future could alter our behavior so that it never happens.

13. How much of what do we really need?

We live in a society that promotes and requires the constant consumption of goods and services by the population to ensure that it works properly. But really we need everything we consume or acquire ? Do we really want it?

14. What values guide our behavior?

Each of us has its own system of values and beliefs that makes us act in a certain way, but often we are not completely aware of it. We do something because we feel it is the right thing (or not, what would generate cognitive dissonance), without asking us exactly why.

Therefore it is useful to assess what type of elements move us. And although the values can be personal , are mostly acquired socially and culturally, so we can also assess what kind of values prevail in our environment, society and culture.

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15. What do I love?

Question in simple appearance but that for many people is difficult to answer. We can easily say things that we more or less like or dislike, but ... what kind of activities or stimuli really make us vibrate? What makes us feel alive?

16. Why do we seem not to learn from the mistakes of the past?

This question can be asked on a personal level, at the level of society or even at the level of humanity. We continually encounter situations similar to those that have been experienced before, after which we promise to correct our mistakes and eventually fall back into them. Social and couple relationships or employment are typical examples . You can also see how the same patterns are repeated in wars and conflicts.

17. Is there a limit to what we can achieve?

In ancient times nobody believed that the human being could fly. Neither that we could get to space. Or live to be eighty years old. These are supposed limits that little by little the human being has been able to overcome. Is there really something we can not reach with enough time or patience?

18. Do we live or survive?

In today's society, human beings tend to limit themselves to doing what they are supposed to do, establishing relatively rigid behavior patterns and often abandoning their aspirations and dreams in pursuit of stability. Many people are limited, in fact, to survive without looking for what makes them feel alive, or what they really want or would like to achieve. And we? Do we live or survive?

19. What do we do to improve the world?

Knowing our role in life can be complicated, but most people seek to be a presence that improves the world in some way. It is not necessary to make great deeds but to make the world a better place for others, even if it is for our immediate environment.

20. What defines us as human beings?

It is easy to say that we are human beings. But what does it mean to be? What is it that makes someone or something human? In this sense we can consider, for example, if an android could become a human being and why yes or no could be considered as such. Is about one of the questions to think that touch the subject of the existential .

Related article: "Existential crisis: when we do not find meaning in our life"

21. Would you change something in your story?

Our life has its lights and shadows, its moments of happiness and pain. For better or for worse, all this has led us to the point where we are right now, and altering it would put us in a different situation from the current one. Would we change something of what we have lived?

22. What is missing from today's society?

Our society has its virtues and its shortcomings . Posing us what is missing will make us see what we consider valuable and can make us think of ways to implement it.

23. Is it good that everything changes continuously?

We live in a liquid and fluid society, always changing. This can be positive for many in many aspects. But although the change is positive, perhaps it occurs in an excessively accelerated way (although in some aspects there is still great immobility), which can generate the loss of stable referents in which to settle.

24. What happens to relationships? Has romanticism been lost?

Personal relationships, both social and as a couple, have suffered a certain decline. We live in a society that is increasingly individualistic, cold, superficial and materialistic, in which it is not uncommon to feel (not to be) alone despite being surrounded by people or being used by others for their own benefit.

25. Where do our actions lead us?

The question basically arises to reflect on where our actions lead, both as an individual and as a species.

26. Why do we consider that type of thinking that does not coincide with ours to be crazy?

The human being tends to think that his way of seeing the world is correct. It is logical and normal, after all it is the explanation that one gives to things and that have been elaborated through experience .

But we must bear in mind that it is the same for the rest of the world. And in fact, my explanation of reality is neither better nor worse than someone else's, it's just different. Other approaches can, in fact, be much more adaptive and positive than ours, and have enough flexibility to recognize it and introduce modifications in our way of seeing reality.

27. Do we have prejudices?

Most of us will respond quickly to this question that does not. But it is true? Often there are more prejudices than it seems, and many of them we are not even aware . Thinking about this topic can lead us to identify and fight many of them.

28. Is there something eternal?

Throughout our lives we often find that everything has a beginning and an end, including our own existence. Is there something that lasts forever?

29. What makes us happy?

One question that everyone has ever asked is how we can achieve or enhance their own happiness and / or that of others. But nevertheless there is no clear answer that is not a generality: everything depends on the person, his conception of happiness, his beliefs and values, among other aspects.

30. How does the world work?

This is one of the issues that has generated the most amount of reflection in the human being, science being born mainly to try to answer it.

31. What is the best education system possible?

Maybe you have legitimate doubts about whether the education system in the West is really respectful of children and their genuine ways of learning.

32. Am I as many people as human beings have an impression of me?

A relativistic doubt that can make us think about the way in which others value us.

33. Why do humans treat animals badly?

Many will argue that we should feed ourselves and animal protein is irreplaceable. This may sound reasonable, but are we really doing everything we can to make the animals live in peace and harmony?

34. Is it better to be right or left?

Progress against conservatism, and millions of arguments for and against each political position.

35. Does man have any purpose?

Are we designed for a kind of transcendental goal? Or are we slaves to a senseless free will?

36. What is religion?

An existential question that we have all ever asked ourselves. What is the purpose of religion? Should we believe in something? And if we believe in something, the teachings must be mediated by an institution made up of men and women of flesh and blood?