Generic Term.
Chimera is a generic term which means different things to different people according to their background. However, origins of the word come from Greek Mythological creature, which has a head of a lion, body of a goat and the tail of a snake. Hence formed by different body parts of different animals. So, the word chimera has a more generic meaning which is "Something formed of different parts, generally which does not fit together". So basically, if you fit a front of a car to a back of a motorcycle, that is a "Chimeric vehicle". It is unusual and unexpected also do not fits together at all! But naturally in biology and science, architecture and in literature we find Chimeras.
Chimera in Genetics -BCR-ABL1 mutation
First time I heard the word "Chimera" Was in our genetics class, where some mutations of genes are chimeric in nature. In genetics genes are specific patterns in our DNA which have the ability to create various proteins in our body. And they are inherited from our parents. While this complex genetic mechanism is happening inside the body, sometimes they break apart and get mixed up! So, instead of making a Car which it is supposed to do, they end up making "Car-cycle" . As I have explained earlier because of these abnormal proteins, formed by Chimeric Genes sometimes they even end up in disease. Such as BCR-ABL1 mutation result in chronic Myeloid Leukemia. It's a mutation between BCR gene in chromosome 22 with ABL proto-oncogene (A cancer promoting Gene). I think further explanation on the subject is not necessary in this article as we are just trying to discuss some philosophical issues with Chimera, not at all biology or genetics.
Chimera in Greek mythology and Architecture- its Humble Origins.
Chimera in Greek mythology is a dangerous creature with ability to breath fire. Classically it is mentioned as a female monster with a front part of a Lion, Body of a goat and a rear with a dragon. However, in drawings and art the rear is commonly drawn as a head of a snake. According to mythology the creature had roamed Caria and Lycia spreading fear and havoc until it was slayed by Bellerophon the Hero. As a creature of imagination, chimera has fascinated lot of Greek artists and depicted in various forms of art, from monuments to Vases.
Infact any form of statue which is made out of different parts of animals, combined to a single creature grotesque, fantastic and imaginary in nature. is used in decorative nature in Architectural world, is considered a Chimera.
Literature and Popular culture.
You will find the word "Chimera" in different contexts in popular culture, ranging from X files, from beauty and the beast to Video games, Harry potter DC comics and Marval Comics. Wikipedia gives a long list of mentions to the Chimera in popular culture. As more than anyone, artists are fascinated by the term "Chimera" as it is inherently associated with imagination as we can now understand, and I am sure you will see a Chimera in the future as well.
However, as a philosophy enthusiast, I like to grasp the meaning of the word chimera and apply this to the reality. Hence rest of the article discuss "Chimera" in philosophy. Which I think is a new arena to explore for anyone, without philosophical background.
Why everything is chimeric? Philosophy
Let's do a little thought experiment on Chimera. Imagine a chimera exists. Imagine some Archeologists digging up a graveyard actually found an animal with a lion's head body of a goat and a snake head as a tail. Now at this point, Chimera technically no longer would be a "Chimera" and we would give this animal a name (We can call it LigoNake). There are even some examples closer to the above, consider a Liger. A cross animal between a lion and a tiger. Two different species. Technically it is a chimera, however as it is existing, we call it a different name.
How tiger is a Chimera
Now let's look at a tiger. That is not a chimera right? But evolution suggests so. I would explain. As the evolution suggests, multicellular organisms are originated from unicellular organisms. Imagine in the ancient sea billions of years ago, a large uni-cell engulfed small unicell. And then this small, unicell started living inside the large cell, even replicate essentially nourished by the large cell. This is exactly how so called "mitochondria" has evolved inside cells of larger cells. If this is true A "Cell" of an animal is a form of Chimera. And imagine thousands of cells start to form a Tiger. Why is Tiger not considered as a chimera? If we can divide tiger into cells which are capable of living individually inside a petri-Dish on its own. And create another tiger (This is called stem cell research) A tiger should be technically a "Chimera" as real as a LigoNake!
A Visit to the Slaughterhouse
Let's assume you say otherwise. You say "Chimera" just mean imaginary. And it doesn't mean "Something which is made out of different unusual parts". To understand this we will go to a slaughterhouse. When I was working in university, I used to go to Slaughterhouse to pick up "Pig parts" for various practicals of students. Let's look at the pig, killed and parts separated on the table. "Pig legs, Pig skin, Pig arteries", are there on the table. Technically speaking everything which is called a pig, before it was killed are there on the table, except for its consciousness. Let's assume that this "Pig consciousness" is also there in a bucket separately. Now, everything is there. Can you point to everything on the table and call "This is the Pig"? It seems parts of the pig are not the pig. And any combination of these parts of the pig are not the pig either. But everything is there, so the "Pig" is just an imaginary name given to every part of the pig in a specific arrangement. It is a layer of abstraction to understand things better.
Now here is the interesting part. If you think about these individual parts of the pig, they are also imaginary as they also can be seen as a collection of individual smaller parts. "Pig foot" can be represented as an imaginary name given to specific arrangement of different "Pig tissues". The problem is there is no depth to this and as you can see the Pig, is entirely imaginary. And there is no real Pig. Some of my previous articles discuss these in depth. Such as collections and encapsulation, spectrums of life etc.
What can be applied to a pig, can be applied to you too? Are "You" imaginary?
At this point you would say. Hold on a second, If the above is true everything we see is imaginary. Not only a lion, but a car is also just an imaginary name given to collection of its parts. These parts are also imaginary names given to their "parts". I could not agree more to this. And it seems everything we ever talk about is just a "Thing" with a name. And we cannot even function without our imaginary abstracts of everything.
So, to speak everything we have discussed in this article are chimeric in nature, as otherwise no communication would happen. Living seems to be a dream where we associate ourselves with this chimeric world searching for a meaning! It seems Socrates was true, when he said, "Only True wisdom is when you know that you know nothing."
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