So You Think Your Glass Is Half Full Or Half Empty?

Question

Although long entrenched as a question asked in popular culture as a pop-psychology yardstick for gauging the perception of the optimistic or pessimistic personality type this is actually an unanswerable question.

Consider this before you answer this question the next time someone asks it of you:

Any container, by its own definition, has to contain something or it could be a container and there is no emptiness in a container. The space in the glass not being occupied by water, or any other visible substance, is still being occupied by something. In most cases this is simply air.

Air: atmospheric gasses and particles made up primarily of N2, O2, Ar, Ne and He and any possible combinations of substances not directly associated with the definition of air. These include free-traveling germs seeking hosts, enumerable light particles and microscopic wave factors.

So, is your glass half empty, half full or always full?

Plantguardian, whyever would I want to pat myself on the back for this? It's not even my own concept. I remember this question posed from a weekly comic strip called '9 Chickweed Lane' several years ago. I just re-addressed the question with my own input and I just posted this because I was curious as to what kind replies it might get here. Most seem to miss the point, the point being a glass (container) is always full.

Answer 1

Obviously then, my glass is always full.

Answer 2

The question is - is it half full or half empty of what you want it to have in it. Taking an elemental standpoint on it really just takes all the fun out of it.

To the optimist, the glass is half full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the intellectual, either determination is equal.
To the skeptic, what’s in the glass and why is everyone so preoccupied with its volume?
To Einstein, only the glass’s total acceleration and time-space reference frame matter. Its liquid contents are hardly relative.
To God, I maketh the water into wine and you argue? Drink up!

And to the engineer the glass is twice as big as it should be.
To the architect the glass is archaic and needs remodeling.
To the psychologist: Why do you feel the need to measure the water?
To the accountant half-full vs half-empty is defined by tax liability.
To the lawyer, “how much are you paying me to prove the glass is half full/empty?”

And to the neo-con, it’s the fault of the Democrats and big Government so the glass will now be given to the wealthiest among us, along with a tax break to “incentivise” them to take it. A new plan will be devised so that “everyone will have a glass” but upon examination it will be shown that all middle class people with glasses will lose them, nobody poor will get them, and Halliburton will make but won’t deliver them. Anyone questioning this plan will be accused of hating America.

Answer 3

Although I have answered this question before, I shall repeat my answer:

I see the glass always full, for we are to balance our knowledge (the water) with our faith (the air), so that we can see that there is something rather than nothing taking up space in the empty area of the glass. Without faith and knowledge together, man is incomplete, thus leading to the pessimist/optimist dualism

Answer 4

depends on which aspect this is being looked at. scientifically, our glass is always full of air (although these molecules go in and out of the glass).

another perspective is through emotions. when in the blues, definitely someone says "my glass is half empty".

Answer 5

For me it depends on what I want it to be. Suppose I'm drinking a great tasting cup of coffee. In that case it's only half full. But if it was way to strong for me and I wanted to get it over with it's half empty! I'm almost there!

Answer 6

I never thought about it like that; my glass, regardless, has always been 1/2 full. But now that I have your input, my glass will always be full. Thank you for making my glass complete.

Answer 7

Half full always. Depending on circumstances its always best to acknowledge it as both tho.

Answer 8

It is upside down on the top rack of the dishwasher, empty and being cleaned as we speak.

Half empty, half full, or always full I want the dad-blamed thing CLEAN!!

Answer 9

I would aspire to not consider the level of the liquid in the glass -- or the glass, for that matter. There lies true balance.

Answer 10

It depends on if I was filling my glass or drinking out of it. If I was filling it it's half full if I'm drinking its half empty.