Supposing and presupposing. We all do both. But most of us spend most of our lives supposing.
I suppose I’d better get up, the alarm clock has been ringing. I suppose I’d better get to work. I should put family first. I’m supposed to. I’m supposed to have the right priorities.
Supposing, or supposition, is all about what I must do, and then how to do it. But it never asks why.
That’s where presupposing comes in. Why should I go to work? To put food on the table, and buy some luxuries. That’s what life is all about. But why live? Why is living better than dying, or even than not ever existing? Why be good, why not just self-serving? Don’t these questions all presuppose something larger than myself and even my day-to-day existence? Many skate through life with precious few presuppositions. Yet all of us should philosophize, at least occasionally.
Perhaps these “why” questions are avoided for fear of no answers or bad answers. Sometimes philosophizing leads to atheism or agnosticism. Sometimes it leads to belief in some kind of spiritual realm, and we have spirituality. Sometimes it leads to some kind of belief in God, and we have theology.
But I don’t think it’s a good idea only to suppose and never presuppose. As someone once said, “Better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.”
WALTER BJORCK
Franklin