'It is what it is', meaning?
I've heard this phrase before, but, it's such an elegant phrase that when heard again it reigns in its awesomeness. It is what it is.
Where and how did this phrase originate from? It seems devoid of any metaphysical baggage, almost as if a logical truth.
Does anyone else use this phrase? I'm trying to think of a situation where it can be used aptly.
Where and how did this phrase originate from? It seems devoid of any metaphysical baggage, almost as if a logical truth.
Does anyone else use this phrase? I'm trying to think of a situation where it can be used aptly.
Comments (48)
It still is what it is.
Whereof one cannot speak thereof one ought to remain silent.
New age, I think. Probably originating from mindfulness teachings; 'choiceless awareness' - which was a saying of Krishnamurti's 'to see things just as they are, without condemning it or justifying it'. It's a wise saying, although like anything can descend into cliché.
It is what it is.
God that phrase is catchy, like a mantra that needs to be told and told again to a disordered mind.
Alfred Whitehead equated 'it is what it is', with a things essence. William Safire traced its use back to 1949 by J.E, Lawrence in Nebraska Journal. "New land is harsh and vigorous and sturdy. It scorns evidence of weakness.There is nothing of sham or hypocrisy in it. It is what it is without apology."
Reminded me of a line from a song.... Kacey Musgraves "It Is What It Is , till it ain't no more"
I had thought it a bit more hopeful than that, but I guess it is what it is....
The law of identity, check. (It is what it is, ontology affirmed via self-identification)
The law of non-contradiction, check. (Either it is what it is or it isn't -> It is what it is -> thus affirming its own ontological status)
The law of excluded middle, check. (It is what it is, affirming its own state of affairs.)
What's not to like about something being what it is?
After all, it is what it is!
Yeah, this. 'It is what it is' is usually a statement of resignation, or inability to affect a change -powerlessness, as you put it. It tends to stand as a reluctant justification for the status quo. As if the sotto voce of 'don't question it' follows in the wake of it's use.
That's how I originally understood it. But I think it's been overused, often to wrong effect. 'What do you mean, I'm fired, without any severance pay? That's illegal!' 'We've been through it already. Hey, it is what it is'.
I suppose resignation itself doesn't necessarily have to have a negative hue, to the extent that one can resign oneself to play by the rules, and be a better 'player' for it. I was going to propose another, even more emancipatory reading as well, that to the extent that something 'is as it is', one ought to dispense with what is altogether. As in, one can give a non-reformist, revolutionary reading to the phrase as well. Not unlike Daenery's promise to 'break the wheel', if we have any Game of Thrones followers among is.
People are either quick to assume that they have the basic knowledge of something. Or they have a great deal invested into their belief against it. I have IT IS WHAT IT IS tattooed on my back for all to see it is my only tattoo and its alwaus starts a convo. I have noticed may people will argue to me that its a rather basic statement and they dont like the idea of basically ACCEPTING whatever it may be. Like to accept a shitty situation and just say it is what it is. I find that those people have a very basic level of thought.
No matter what you dress it up as or disguise something as or rearrange sometjiny into it is ans always will continue to be exactly what it is. So to me it is what it is represents TRUTH and how the truth is so widely disputed hated hidden adulterated and practically mutilated for personal gain profit power manipulation survival and just plain sick evil pleasures....
I'm rambling but its because I am low on time and battery. If anyone out there wants to discuss this shit in detail or is interested in rescuing someone from a very tough spot and jist needs a small amount of assistance to escpae jjst send a private message or post on this feed. Sometimes saving a life is just a snap of the fingers away.
As I mentioned at the other topic where this came up the other day, "It is what it is", is a meaningless truism, conveying no information, saying nothing.
It's a common standard utterance coming from Neo-Advaitists. Neo-Advaita is a modern Western modification of Advaita, a sort of drive-throuigh-convenience version of Advaita.
Michael Ossipoff
"It is what it is" is but a shadow, a poor truism
That appears and is judged upon this forum
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by a mind, full of banal cogitations,
Signifying nothing.
~Michillam Shakessipoff
That's not true. You just have to read between the lines. It might help to think about how and when it's used rather than it's literal meaning. It can be useful in certain contexts, like when people overcomplicate things or ask poorly considered questions.
Overcomplication happens a lot in philosophy. But it seems that it would be more helpfully-answered by just saying, "You're making it more complicated than it is."
Michael Ossipoff
Same difference.
I personally find the phrase frustrating when it comes to debates because it adds no information; it's only a rephrasing of information already explored, and it's usually done as a way of covering for a weak spot in the argument (e.g. How can you possibly conclude that the universe is God, when it makes no decisions, does not think about you, does not have any expectations for you, and is not even alive? It is what it is).
Hi Michael. I just noticed your post after I made my post. I see we basically said the same thing. Nice. :)
It is what it is.
Heh, I like that; the more diplomatic way of saying, "ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer".
You're a glutton for irony. :)
But, really I think the saying signifies that there's something deeper than what it is. By stating that it is what it is either affirms that there is certainty lacking in our propositional attitude towards the issue/subject/matter, or that we have encountered a known unknown.
It could also mean that there's an unknown unknown and that no matter of investigation on what it is will be achieved.
Then the saying would be "it is more than it is".
Yes, but in a dialectical search for meaning, the ontological preposition to your position has to be asserted first.
Sorry, would you mind simplifying this for me?
So, to borrow one of my favorite sayings;
There are;
1) Known knowns
2) Known unknowns
and,
3) Unknown unknowns.
It is what it is applied to all three in stronger force by the next saying 1>2>3. Meaning, that for us to begin examining known unknowns and unknown unknowns, we first have to acknowledge 1 & 2, to get to 3. We can acknowledge 1 by asserting that 'It is what it is'. Then we can acknowledge 2 by saying 'It is what it is, or isn't.' And, finally proceeding to 3, based on our knowledge of 1 and 2 (It is what it is, and we know what it isn't), then we can start examining what it really is in reality or to put another way, the sum total of 1 and 2, creates the grounds for beginning to examine 3 by constantly referring back to 1 and 2, with the loop starting from 1 to 2 and repeating until certainty can be arrived at.
I don't take it as a formula because 1 will always be limited by 2 and 3. Certainty then becomes a pipe dream and knowing that one knows, in reality, not that much or amounts to nothing much, well, then some form of certainty about not knowing certainty can be arrived at.
That isn't to say that degrees of knowledge can't be arrived at though. Otherwise, we'd have some version of Zeno's paradox at play here and no progress can be made. Rather, a perpetual sense of incompleteness at the very strongest point of knowledge.
This is pretty good summation of what goes through my head when someone uses "it is what it is" in a debate.
The highly appealing aspect of these 'truisms' is that they're observer independent. Meaning, that they have some universal aspect to where they derive meaning.
I find that comforting in a world obsessed with 'I', 'me', and 'you' propositional attitudes.
The world is the totality of facts not 'I, me, and my and your propositional attitudes; but, rather our propositional attitudes'.
"It is what it is" is a tautology - redundancy with an information content of zero.
Perhaps, 2000 years of fruitless thinking can be summed up in this statement. On the other hand, there may be a deeper meaning which I'm not aware of.
When giving a causal explanation?
Here it looks like an admission of ignorance.
When giving orders or reasons?
Presumably it means that we have reached bedrock when providing a chain of reasons, and that further logical justification of our reasons is nonsensical or forbidden.
mmm... now what is the connection between a nonsensical utterance and a forbidden utterance?
If Wittgenstein says "this string of words is nonsensical" doesn't he only mean to imply that in order to prevent confusion that sequence of words ought to be forbidden?
I suspect that in both of the above cases, "it is was it is" is an imperative disguised as a proposition.
There is, and explanations have been given. Just think about how it's used rather than taking it at face value.
Quoting sime
See? Other people get it.
You'd have to be a robot not to be able to understand it has potential meaning - as a form of submission, a declaration of acceptance, a stoical cry, a determination not to be defeated, and more as mentioned. It's not only the logic that's important but the context (see the recent feedback discussion, for example) and the fact that the words are spoken at all. Expressions express.
I like the phrase because it extends meaning out of the context where it is derived from. It's a statement made when the meaning derived from some object or subject is inadequate or incomplete and needs reexamination, revision, and with that understanding, a new facet of the subject or object can be obtained.
Thinking has run into an insurmountable barrier?
Quoting Baden(Y)