What defines you?

[tupacodaman]

Re: What defines you?

Sorry if I seem to be nip picking but that isn't exclusive to humans.

lol what? what other species, besides humans, have that quality of wanting to affect others?

and on the original question about your friend who thinks their work doesn't define them

Most likely they are 1 one 2 types of people. The first type is the "vague/artsy philosophical type". Some of my friends fit this category. They are majoring in philosophy and thus think that they know everything there is to know on the subject (aesthetics, good music/writing/poetry/etc, and so on). However, they are actually full of crap because they are inconsistent in their views, only liking the "idea" of something (liking indie music because it is indie and "revolutionary", according to critics) and not the actual object (the music could suck ass, a la Vampire Weekend, but be hailed as revolutionary because Pitchfork said so). Your friend might simply be unhappy with his/her job and therefore say that their job "doesn't define them" when in fact they're just unhappy.

The second type I don't really have a name for, but it's more like me and what it sound like the original poster is. We actually think about the connotation and denotation of the words we use instead of throwing them around aimlessly. I agree that any job you are has to somewhat "define you" since you ARE going there to work for a good amount of time. However, if your friend is thise second type, then maybe he really does mean that the job isn't allowing him/herself to express him/herself. Maybe the friend is a psych major and knows a lot about child clinical cases and is working at a lab that only treats adult clinical cases. In this case, the job doesn't define the friend because of a disparity in the knowledge known by the friend and the knowledge needed for the job. Your friend could be a super liberal and be working at a job that somehow really encourages conformity (office worker required to wear a suit and tie and do somewhat menial/repetitive filing tasks all week). In this case, the job doesn't define the friend because of a disparity in ideology. The job's "ideal" worker is not "superficially liberal", if that makes sense). Both disparities I think are pretty legit complaints. For the first complaint about the job not applying to your area of expertise: you might be able to use your knowledge at hand to somehow apply it to the current situation at your job. I can definitely see this being a HUGE problem though and that your friend might have to consider another job. The second case I think is what the first type of person (philosophical artsy BS'er) I mentioned MEANS to say is affecting him (but it isn't really, he's just unhappy with the job). This case can be truly the case if all your coworkers/boss have a completely different set of ideals/morals than you do and if the company itself expresses that it has different ideals/moral than you do. I would see this as more as a challenge though, and embrace my uniqueness as much as possible. wear my tie slightly wrinkled, untie cuffs, stuff like that.

In conclusion, I'd say there's a slightly greater chance your friend is unhappy with the job and that he/she doesn't actually mean that the job doesn't "define" who he/she is. speaking from experience lol. most people really don't mean what they say and use a magnitude of a word that is not representative of their actual/current situation

[Cavernio]

Re: What defines you?

Ballaw Hare: The term is 'nit picking', and I disagree with you. We are the utmost of social beings in known existence. We are the only beings which communicate in language, and are the only ones capable of sharing our thoughts and feelings in such an explicit way. I am dubious if the term 'think highly of' can be something an animal can have for another being, because there is so much societal structure that needs to not only exist, but also to be intellectually undestood, in order for us to place value on other people.

Midday: So, if you are who you define yourself to be, and you matter only to yourself, you would be alright if you were the last living person on earth?

[infinity.]

Re: What defines you?

Going with what Midday said, I believe that you don't define yourself, but your actions and expressions cause others to define you. Obviously you will have your own assumptions about yourself, but what you think is not how others always perceive you.

EDIT: Can someone CT ban Tofu?

[Xx{Midday}xX]

Re: What defines you?

Consider this: An entity is only defined when there are others there to accept its existence. Hence, "you" are what others state that "you" are.

Moreover, this relates to the theory that the universe was designed to encompass mankind, hence the universe cannot exist without us humans as the observer.

I don't really buy into this theory, mainly because I believe that what "you" are is defined as what "you" percept "yourself" as. The universe is the universe, regardless of whether humans have the capability of observing it as an external entity. As selfish as this may sound, I believe that the only person you can truly believe in the end is, "yourself". Hence, "you" are what "you" define "yourself" as, while that definition may be influenced by external observers.

[ballaw hare]

Re: What defines you?

There seems to be a fundamental human quality in myself that makes me want to affect other people, and in a way which makes them think highly of me.

Sorry if I seem to be nip picking but that isn't exclusive to humans.

[MooMoo_Cowfreak]

Re: What defines you?

For what you do for work defining who you are, it really depends. I honestly (and hopefully) doubt that a teenager who flips patties at McDonald's loves what he does and cherishes every living moment of it.

However, if someone who likes to write is a freelance writer, then that's what defines them, somewhat at least, because it's what they like to do.

That sorta brings in the question of money. Perhaps someone hates their job but is making like 15$ an hour. Well, that defines him as a greedy jerk who's only in it for the money. So there ya go.

[Cavernio]

Ok, so I truly am asking a question with this, however, I do wish to discuss the issue with a critical mind, so I'm posting it here. I'm also going to get the ball rolling.

I've talked to someone who's said that what they do for their job doesn't define who they are, and they generalize this to everyone. I partially disagree with this, because how can something which takes up 40 hrs a week (talking about full-time here), not have some sort of part in defining who you are?

If work doesn't define you, what does? Do thoughts define us, or do our actions? Or something else?

I know that I exist outside how I affect other people, but to me, none of that matters if I don't affect other people in some way. There seems to be a fundamental human quality in myself that makes me want to affect other people, and in a way which makes them think highly of me. But, as the title suggests, it's more than just wanting attention; it's necessary for defining myself. If I don't affect anyone, I might as well not matter. My thoughts matter only if they're shared. Is this how you think too?

Getting back to the work issue, upon knowing my stand on this, if I spend a majority of the time working, then it's impossible for this to not define part of who I am, seeing as work in a capitalist society is defined by someone paying you for it, and ergo at a minimum, you affect the person who's paying you.