from Lawrence, Pub Philosophy Group, Sunday meeting: why do we need a partner?

Dear friends,
This Sunday we are discussing a very practical topic: why do we need a
partner?
Of course, establishing why we need a partner does not in itself help us
actually find a partner. Admittedly this is the real and practical
question for many. We might even include the exercise of how do we find
the best partner for us. Maybe even Socrates might have asked, who is a
good partner? By de-fault a necessary condition for a good partner is
someone who says yes when asked if they would be someone's partner.
However, there is a deeper, and maybe, a more troubling philosophical
issue lurking underneath these type of questions. If we are determined
to have a partner by virtue of biological make up, I am not particularly
fussed how you interpret determined here, why is it that we don't find a
matching mechanism that equally determines that we actually do find a
partner.
Of course, some might argue that competition is that mechanism by which
we go about finding a partner, but this not what I mean. By being human
we inherit, ipso facto, the need to have a partner. But there is no ipso
facto mechanism that when the time comes to find a partner, we activate
this mechanism and, voilà, we have a partner. After all, if we are born
human there is an ipso facto mechanism that determines that our partner
is human, and the same goes for zebras, lions and fruit bats. Or
whatever is your favourite fauna. And that mechanism is the fact that
other humans are about; when we look for a partner we don't need to
decide the nature of that partner will; it has to be human.
The present system of trial and error does not make sense, and at the
very least, it is very wasteful. The issue is that, as we all know,
there are so many good reasons why we need a partner, that any delay and
wasted effort in finding the partner for us tantamount to an immoral
obscenity.
In the meantime, hope to see you Sunday with or without your partner.
Take care
Lawrence
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from Lawrence, Pub Philosophy Group, Sunday meeting: why do we need a
partner?