“I’m Telling You How Difficult a WHY Question Is.”

Here is Richard Feynman describing the difficulties we face when we ask why something is the way it is or why something happened the way it happened. One why? question begets the next and so it goes, on and on. Where do you stop? When are you satisfied with the answer? Is it entirely arbitrary?

You have to know what it is that you’re permitted to understand and allow to be understood and known, and what it is you’re not.

In other words, what can be taken for granted in this process of asking why–and what can’t. The answer to that question could completely alter the answer to the original question. This isn’t trivial. It’s a can of metaphorical, interpretive, linguistic, and existential worms, if you ask me. But as a parlor game, it could be quite a bit of fun!