How This Idea Hit Me
So last Thursday I was scrolling through TikTok while eating leftover pizza for breakfast. Saw this dude arguing about whether free will exists – his philosophy degree hoodie vs some therapist talking about brain chemistry. Felt like watching a tennis match bouncing between ancient Greeks and modern lab coats. That’s when I grabbed my coffee-stained notebook and went “Time to settle this in my kitchen”.
My Messy Research Phase
First I emptied my bookshelf onto the floor like a crazy person. Grabbed Plato’s stuff gathering dust next to my aunt’s old psychology textbooks from the 90s. Opened both at random pages – Plato was yapping about the soul’s desires while the psych book had diagrams of dopamine pathways. Started scribbling furiously:
- Highlighted philosophy’s “Why do we crave meaning?” sections with yellow marker
- Circled psychology’s “How cravings physically work” parts in red pen
- Stuck Post-its everywhere until my table looked like a rainbow explosion
The Eureka Moment
Around 3am when my third coffee kicked in, I realized both fields kept tripping over the same three rocks:
- Human beings suck at being objective: Philosophers call it personal bias, psychologists call it cognitive distortion
- We all need purpose juice: Whether it’s Aristotle’s “telos” or modern motivation theories
- The baggage claim area: Philosophy examines childhood trauma through ethics, psychology through attachment theory
Building My Sticky-Note Wall
Piled up evidence like a detective solving a crime. Nietzsche’s quote about pain beside psychology’s pain tolerance studies. Freud’s dream analysis next to Plato’s cave allegory about perception. Got so into it that I started talking to my dog about existential crises – poor guy just wanted belly rubs.
The Brutal Takedown
Went back to that TikTok comment section guns blazing. Explained how both fields try to map our mental spaghetti using different crayons. Philosophers think really hard about why we feel lost, psychologists stick electrodes to people’s heads to measure lostness. At the end of the day? We’re all just hairless apes trying not to panic about dying. Got 2 likes and one guy calling me a “reductionist idiot” – mission accomplished.
