Almost reassuring

Having written an American history of this phenomenon, I'm almost reassured by this poll: fewer than 20% believe Obama wasn't born here, mass shootings are hoaxes, a conspiracy of elite Satanist pedophiles run things, or humans don't cause climate change.

https://t.co/GvehfChPyx
(https://twitter.com/KBAndersen/status/1344346151294816256?s=02)

"Wellness days"

Phil Oliver (@OSOPHER) tweeted at 8:22 AM on Sat, Dec 19, 2020:
We'll be taking some of those "wellness days" consecutively after seven weeks in my classes, thanks.
(https://twitter.com/OSOPHER/status/1340301413964984328?s=02)

Phil Oliver

@OSOPHER

·

Dec 19

We'll be taking some of those "wellness days" consecutively after seven weeks in my classes, thanks.

Quote Tweet

Associate Deans

@ass_deans

· Dec 18

Yes, we cancelled spring break, but we added wellness days randomly throughout the semester. Please check the academic calendar and update your syllabus!

"...until I started to grow up" (Cosmos: Possible Worlds)

Getting hold of reality and the future-

"So, why do I think we’ll make it? Well, for one thing, show me a person who didn’t seem or feel hopeless for at least some part of their adolescence. I sure did and mine lasted long beyond the usual teenage years. I was reckless and irresponsible. I caused my parents countless sleepless nights with my failure to call or show up as promised. My emotions were unpredictable. My room, and later my apartment, was usually a mess. I started things I didn’t finish. I would lose my possessions with disturbing regularity. I experimented with substances of unknown potency, flirting with danger to my brain and my life. I was careless with the facts. I was gullible because I had yet to internalize a means for thinking critically. I was selfish and couldn’t be trusted to keep my promises or to do the hard work that would get me the future I wanted. The future had no reality for me. In fact, reality had no reality to me. I couldn’t get a hold of it until I started to grow up."

-"Cosmos: Possible Worlds" by Ann Druyan

==

Science as transcendence and spiritual quest: "Do these things and the cosmos is yours..."

Science, like love, is a means to that transcendence, to that soaring experience of the oneness of being fully alive. The scientific approach to nature and my understanding of love are the same: Love asks us to get beyond the infantile projections of our personal hopes and fears, to embrace the other’s reality. This kind of unflinching love never stops daring to go deeper, to reach higher. This is precisely the way that science loves nature. This lack of a final destination, an absolute truth, is what makes science such a worthy methodology for sacred searching. It is a never ending lesson in humility. The vastness of the universe—and love, the thing that makes the vastness bearable—is out of reach to the arrogant. This cosmos only fully admits those who listen carefully for the inner voice reminding us to remember we might be wrong. What’s real must matter more to us than what we wish to believe. But how do we tell the difference? I know a way to part the curtains of darkness that prevent us from having a complete experience of nature. Here it is, the basic rules of the road for science: Test ideas by experiment and observation. Build on those ideas that pass the test. Reject the ones that fail. Follow the evidence wherever it leads. And question everything, including authority. Do these things and the cosmos is yours. If the series of pilgrimages toward understanding our actual circumstances in the universe, the origin of life, and the laws of nature are not spiritual quests, then I don’t know what could be.”

— Cosmos: Possible Worlds by Ann Druyan
https://a.co/aihtJ8g

Start reading this book for free: https://a.co/7TOjiOR

--------------

Read on the go for free – download Kindle for Android, iOS, PC, Mac and more
http://amzn.to/1r0LubW

What Is Death?

How the pandemic is changing our understanding of mortality.

Beyond fear and isolation, maybe this is what the pandemic holds for us: the understanding that living in the face of death can set off a cascade of realization and appreciation. Death is the force that shows you what you love and urges you to revel in that love while the clock ticks. Reveling in love is one sure way to see through and beyond yourself to the wider world, where immortality lives.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/opinion/coronavirus-death.html?smid=em-share

Debating the value of God at a time of crisis: Leibniz vs Voltaire

Podcast for CBC.

"...Voltaire was a deist who believed God created the world but did not intervene in it. And Voltaire wrote Candide to ridicule the idea that God is somehow a source of consolation and hope in the face of terrible suffering. 

Instead of praying to God and wishing for the best, Voltaire wants us to do what we can to eliminate the evil around us. In the modern context, this would imply using earthquake-resistant materials when building a church or following public-health guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19, suggests Eric Palmer, professor of philosophy at Allegheny College.

Returning to Candide, Palmer tells us: "Pangloss often attempts to explain to a suffering character how their suffering is bound up with the good. Pangloss sees this as a form of consolation. Yet the suffering character is always bewildered by this alleged consolation and wonders why Pangloss doesn't just lift the rock off their broken leg!"

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/debating-the-value-of-god-at-a-time-of-crisis-leibniz-vs-voltaire-1.5840471

What If You Could Do It All Over?

...My lawyer friend, who has a wife and two children, hates his job and is always talking about leaving it so that he can pursue an entirely different profession, but he simply can't figure out how to make the switch. I feel for him. Having clambered up his ladder, he won't easily get down. But I also want to tell him what Jean-Paul Sartre said about the allure of imaginary lives:

A man commits himself and draws his own portrait, outside of which there is nothing. No doubt this thought may seem harsh. . . . But on the other hand, it helps people to understand that reality alone counts, and that dreams, expectations, and hopes only serve to define a man as a broken dream, aborted hopes, and futile expectations.

Sartre thought we should focus on what we have done and will do, rather than on what we might have done or could do. He pointed out that we often take too narrow a census of our actions. An artist, he maintains, is not to be "judged solely by his works of art, for a thousand other things also help to define him." We do more than we give ourselves credit for; our real lives are richer than we think. This is why, if you keep a diary, you may feel more satisfied with the life you live.

And yet you may still wonder at the particular shape of that life; all stories have turning points, and it's hard not to fixate on them. Sartre advanced those ideas in a lecture called "Existentialism Is a Humanism," which he delivered in Paris in 1945, when he was only locally famous. On arriving at the venue, he discovered that he would have to push through a brawling crowd that had gathered in a sort of mini-riot. ("Probably some communists demonstrating against me," he speculated, according to Annie Cohen-Solal's "Sartre: A Life.") He considered leaving the event but then decided to press on, spending fifteen minutes making his way to the front, receiving a few kicks and blows along the way. The lecture was a sensation and made Sartre an international superstar. That might not have happened if he'd decided, reasonably, to leave...

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/21/what-if-you-could-do-it-all-over?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker

Spring Break

Asking students — and their instructors — to slog through another pandemic semester with no break at all could be detrimental to mental health, not to mention learning. https://t.co/GKDO0dVwEx
(https://twitter.com/chronicle/status/1338672632548483072?s=02)

Best books on long-term thinking.

"I saw a conceptual emergency" Cultural thinker @romankrznaric talks to @casparhenderson about long-term thinking.
https://t.co/dmeeC9qVIZ …
(https://twitter.com/five_books/status/1338580775365730305?s=02)

A tired old fraudulent fantasy

I've been thinking of this paragraph from my book Fantasyland (2017) about where the Republican Party mainstream had gone long before Trump took over.
cc: @stuartpstevens https://t.co/mBjwfhS9Tl
(https://twitter.com/KBAndersen/status/1337789945780559873?s=02)

Posting now closed

 Final report posting for Fall 2020 has now concluded.

If you've not yet sent me your points total, or anything else, please do so ASAP.

phil.oliver@mtsu.edu

Some, at least

 "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone."

- Blaise Pascal

Posted for Emily K.

 “What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?” “What makes life worth living?”

Neiman: The short answer as to why grow up? To stick it back to society or more so to those that control our world. “…because it’s harder than you think, so hard that it can amount to resistance…children make more compliant subjects and consumers.” (WGU 192-193) What better way to sell you a serum, surgery, seminar with a self-help guru that has the answer to your worldly problems, and constant revitalization of programs/movies from one’s childhood than to equate it to keeping someone “young” which seems to be the end all be all for our society. “Being grown-up is widely considered to be a matter of renouncing your hopes and dreams, accepting the limits of the reality you are given, and resigning yourself to a life that will be less…significant than you supposed when you began it.” (WGU 1) With our society framing being that way, it’s no wonder people fear it. But why listen to society when it cannot even DEFINE what an adult is and fluctuates even upon your very locale? Markers such as “leaving your parents’ home, paying your own bills, having successful intimate relations” are landmarks, in some cultures, of adulthood. (WGU 123) This is a narrow view and unsustainable especially in today’s climate of soaring debt, popped housing markets, and hello Covid! So perhaps turn to Kant’s definition of maturity, “the ability to think for oneself.” So grow, go out, travel, educate yourself (whether academically, experiential, or a combination thereof), and get to work! That work, those actions are what give life meaning (WGU 166) and ultimately the “ability to see your life as the whole it has become allows you to see the strengths with which you’ve lived it…” (WGU 204)

Okay okay, I know it’s High School Musical but they did have a glow up after growing up… and you know “Breaking Free”

Kaag: Williams James “wrote for our age: one that eschews tradition and superstition but desperately craves existential meaning; one that is defined by affluence but also depression and acute anxiety; one that valorizes icons…persistently urges, ‘Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create that fact.’” This does not work all the time, not even for me, but even on the harder days it helps me keep going (SSHM 5) Being grown up is not always ideal and has its fair number of trials but to stagnate in immaturity and childhood would be another type of death. Death of your mind and what you could be. James also suggested that “the art of being wise was knowing what to overlook.” (SSHM 172) You have the choice as to what you see, what you learn, how you live and most importantly how you think; “make what we will of life.” (SSHM 171) James’s “maybe” is there for you to explore, make it worth it. So to be an adult is to be “woke” or “a person who has come to recognize the biases and prejudices of previous generations, and continues to grow of his or her own accord, with his or her eyes wide open.” (SSHM 102) Come to terms with your actions and thinking, explore new avenues and own up to them. (SSHM 152)

Anderson: “Like other fantasy-flavored impulses…nostalgia can express itself happily or fearfully, as wishful stage-set charm or they’ve-wrecked-our-stage-set rage.” (FL 429) We cling to the “better” times, the “easier” times; looking wistfully behind us in our Fantasyland. We suffer from Kids  “R”  Us Syndrome, childlike thinking, need for the instant gratification and we are stagnating in our immaturity. (FL 406) As Neiman referenced in her own work; Rousseau’s paradox: “cannot construct a decent society without a critical mass of real grown-ups, yet we can hardly create real grown-ups within a society to doesn’t want them.” (WGU 125) Society is winning in this front, so like Neiman, let’s stick it back to them and beat the system. 

2020 in a nutshell it seems, though sometimes not so smiley.

--Emily Klunk

Final Blog Post - K Stephens - Section 10

 I walk into my once familiar log cabin. There are more than several bags under my eyes and my arms droop at my sides like lead. Once again, I’ve gathered a few philosophers- though with only two is it really noteworthy? Before the room was elaborately decorated and immaculate. Gilded candelabras, and expensive wives doting the room. But now it is barren and cold. No one but these 3 are here now. The two I’ve gathered, Susan Neiman and John Kaag sit opposite from me and the door. I close it behind me and slump downwards, just barely awake. They stare, a mix of fear and pity on their faces. But mostly just pity. I begin to speak.

“You know. Maybe if it was the beginning of the semester I’d make a joke about Garfield or maybe reference back to the last kidnapping attempt. But! I’m tired. I’m on the end of another double all-nighter and still working.”

I lay down on my side.

“I need to finish this philosophy final preferably yesterday. I don’t have the time to devote to this when I have an animation final that demands I finish it to even have a chance of passing the class.”

Kaag sits forward a bit, somewhat curious. Neiman side eyes me slightly, but seems equally interested in the prospect. 

‘Alright. What’s the question?’ says Kaag. 

“Number 1. What does it mean to grow up. My personal opinions are that to grow up means to make peace with the world. Not in a defeatist sense, but rather to take an active role in knowing who you are and who others are. It’s a process of walking into yourself. Also, improving your own morals and understanding/appreciating others differences.”

Kaag nods.

‘In the end I don’t find that too different from my ideas. It’s just a process of learning to accept the natural laws of this world. “As one becomes an adult, it is best to come to terms with gray hair, disease, and death. It’s going to happen anyway.” 

Neiman states, 

I don't disagree with the ideas behind what you're saying, but I think you’re not really digging deep enough. “Philosophy, I’ve said, is inherently normative. Good philosophy recognizes this, while keeping a  lookout for all it can learn from descriptions that will inevitably disappoint.” Again, you’re not wrong, but think a little more- does ‘becoming yourself’ really mean anything? A child can define a sense of self, though I think your on the right track if you focus more on that moral development. 

I shrug. 

“Alright, question 2. Just why should we grow up? I mean it’s hard to say cause you developing as a person definitely does not correspond to any reward you may receive in real life. You may gain from doing the exact opposite. But I think there is a personal motivation in it. The focus on growing as a person gives you a reason to exist, it can be your guiding light that can keep you going when you’ve reached the end of your rope. The idea that you are still actively trying to improve as a person can do a lot for your own self worth.” 

‘Indeed. As William James said, “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.” 

--------------------------------------------------

The two continue to speak, but I can feel my focus leave me. Before I even really understand what’s happening I’m asleep. In a void. The realization sends me reeling. All the work I’ve done won't be enough If I don’t even have the chance the turn it in. Oh well. Might as well think about the final question while I have a second to think. 

“What makes life worth living?”

I pause and try to think about the advice I’ve gotten, but I blank. Then a voice separate from my own breaks the silence. They materialize in my gaze. It’s my character for my 3d animation class, fully realized. 

“I mean back to a previous version of what you wrote here. Think back to your animation class. It moved you to tears. Before you had really understood what animation took, before you really knew the people there, you cried. You had never really known what passion was before. I think that experience really truly embodies what your thoughts are. The act of becoming yourself, and growing up is something beautiful and worth experiencing, even with just a passing curiosity. Even now, after being on the verge of failing this class for months, after all the difficulties encompassing my creation, after how many people you saw leave the major- you pushed on. For the passion that sparked at the beginning of the major and for the slow ember of that same passion that’s still there. I don’t know. Hopefully, this gives you a clear enough answer in time. 

(Picture is of my rigging character in a default T-pose, before being textured.) 

Before I’m given the chance to respond I wake. My phone alarm buzzing in my ear. I shut it off and slid upright. The other two are long gone by now, the door open in their wake. A cold chill blows through, snow flurries gliding in through the room. I look at my phone and I email my animation professor for an extension. 

Final Blog Post - Alexandra Jasso

 Interview with ... a Philosopher(s) Podcast Part 2

Jasso: Hello everyone!!! Due to popular demand and so many responses, you've asked for it and now we're doing a Part 2. If you are joining us for the first time, my name is Alexandra Jasso and this is "CoPhil", the blog to which we talk about philosophy for fellow philosopher students by philosopher students. Tonight, we are joined by not one. Not two. But three philosophers to which we had the honor of reading and disscussing their works during this semester. First up, give a warm welcome back American philosopher and author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire, Kurt Anderson. Thank you so much joining us again.

Anderson: Thank you so much Alexandra for having me again. I had so much fun last time and I was excited when you asked me to join in again.

Jasso: Also, we have two new people joining us today. We have American philosopher and author of Why Grow Up? Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age, Susan Neiman.

Neiman: Hi everyone. I saw your podcast last time last October and I have got to tell you that I've loved it and I was really honored for you to ask me to come in today on the show...

Jasso: Are you kidding me? I was shocked and so happy you decided to say yes to do this episode. I loved your book and it made have so many questions.

Neiman: Oh my god. Thank you so much.

Jasso: Finally, we have John Kaag. He's a professor at the University of Massachusetts and author of Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life. Thank you for joining me today.

Kaag: Thank you so much Alexandra. I quite thankful that you and your class has decided to read my book for philosophy.

Jasso: Anyway, we should get started with our questions which is: What does it mean to grow up and why should we? Also, what makes life worth living? I think we should start with Neiman. Your response?

Neiman: Of course. Well as I've discuss in my book, there's not one monolithic way in growing up. Many believe that growing up is goal we all try to reach for when in actuality is indeed a proccess. In Chapter 3 in my book,“Growing up is a process of sifting through your parent’s choices.” We try to navagate this harsh world given the few options and limitations we were given by our parents and circumstances. What we are striving towards is to seek wisdom, seek the truth, and to try and make this place a better one than the one we found it in.

Kaag: I like your response. I quite argee as maturity is all about seeing the world on what it is but for also on what it could be. While we may look upon others for advice and influence, we must also look upon ourselves. I quote I learned is that “The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook.”

Anderson: I like that. In the U.S., we have become so fixcated on the idea of creating our own beliefs that we eventually lost touch with in reality and have ended up blocking out the truth. In my book, I've disccus the idea of growing up and we tend to get attached to our childhood as adulthood gets harder.

Jasso: I have to agree and I'm a freshmen college student. That's all the time we have but thank you guys for joining us and see you next time. Bye!!!

Final Blog Post - Pedro Rojas

Final Blog Post- Pedro Rojas

Intro/ Pedro:      I'm having trouble with this project Professor Oliver has assigned. I need new ideas different inputs in order to complete this assignment. With Covid-19 and everyone in Quarantine no one would want to meet up especially on a Tuesday morning. Wait! I know...man I should have thought about this a lot sooner. I should host a Facetime Call with some old friends I met back in the day. I'm definitely giving Susan Neiman and John Kaag a call I know they can help me out. 

                                                 [ FaceTime Call in Progress]

Pedro: Good morning, I'm sorry to bother the both of you on this Tuesday Morning. I just needed some help on this project. I'm kind of stuck and need different input's about these question's. I knew the both of you would be the best for this. 

Susan Neiman: Of course! I'd definitely like to help an old friend out.

John Kaag: Yeah, same here I'd love to help.

Pedro: I just wanted to ask the both of you for your input on these two question's. The first is "What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?" The other is, "What makes life worth living?" 

Kaag: That shouldn't be so hard. 

Neiman: Would you like to start Pedro? Then we'll go from their. 

Pedro: Alrighty, I'll go first but before we begin I want to Thank the both of you for attending at such late notice. With that being said I personally believe we all slowly mature by the countless event's we'd go through on a day to day bases. What I mean from that is we all mentally grow in different rates and it's not always about age. One thing that could cause that is the way you where raised by your parents if they made you value and work for your personal things rather then baby you and hand it to you. Theirs a higher chance you'd find success a lot faster then others. You could be doing 21 and still be doing little kid stuff, and not actually having set goals for yourself in order to progress in life. I see 21 year old's even older with no job, no vehicle to drive them to point A-B, and always partying doing hood-rat activities. While theirs younger people who are working hard to obtain their necessities. Now, I'm not saying you can't go out and have fun. But if you're going out and having fun you should also find time to take care of your responsibilities. So, saying that I believe the meaning of growing up is not about giving up on the things that make life memorable, but to fulfill you're duties as an adult. Being able to have a steady job, somewhere to call home, forming a family, and mentally/ physically being able to take care of you're needs. Growing up comes with a lot of responsibilities and it's important to do so because if you're mentally prepared you can even start at a earlier age. To wrap up what I have to say,  being able to look back at all of your accomplishment and acknowledging how far you've gotten all on your own. You find joy from that and your proud of you're achievements and that right their is why life's worth living.     

Neiman: That was very moving. 

Kaag: Yes, indeed it was Thank you for sharing. Susan would you like to go next? 

Neiman: Okay I want to start by saying I agree with you Pedro that everyone grows at different rates and maturity does have a lot to do with it. I also agree that a lot of people confuse growing up means throwing you're life away. That image that society put in a kid's head makes them fear about growing up. That isn't necessary true in my book "Why Grow Up"  I wrote, (pg.1) "Being grown-up is widely considered to be a matter of renouncing your hopes and dreams, accepting the limits of the reality you are given, and resigning yourself to a life that will be less adventurous, worthwhile and significant than you supposed when you began it." Many of us have the assumption that may happen, but that doesn't apply to everyone. If you can manage your time and scheduling efficient you will find time to treat yourself. Being responsible for your needs is very important which makes Growing up very important as well. (Pg.192) "It's harder than you think, so hard that it can amount to resistance - even rebellion. Back to why people are so fearful to Grow up because being an adult is stressful and scary. You have bills and necessities to pay it's stressful, but we shouldn't be afraid of growing up. If anything you should embrace it and learn to adapt so you can learn from your mistakes. The meaning of life could mean plenty of thinks I believe is what you can look back too.(Pg. 204) "The ability to see your life as the whole it has become allows you to see the strengths with which you've lived it and develop a sense of your own character." You found who you wanted to become (Pg.204) " You discovered the pleasures of generosity." 

Pedro: Thank You Susan Neiman it's a pleasure to learn from you and being able to  back up your reasoning. John Kaag it's your turn. 

Kaag: Growing up is scary and it is a great issue we all dwell with. (pg.9) " It all depends on the life that is being led." Depending how you live states how mentally ready you are to grow up. (Pg.62) "All sick souls who have done battle with themselves for any extended period of time have received the vapid advice to "buck up", to "just smile" to "look on the bright side."  Encourage yourself to try those steps and not worry about growing up. I believe the meaning in life has a lot to do with love. (Pg.65) It involves a free act, with one eye open, that can, and usually does, transform a life for better or for ill, for richer or poorer... this means you have the power to effect a romance, but are also fated to be effected by it." Love is a powerful thing and while you can choose what to do but it can affect you either in a positive or a negative way. Love has to be real and pure or else it wont be meaningful. (Pg.66) If love were fail-safe or prearranged, it wouldn't mean nearly so much when it survives." So, fall in love and make sure it's real so you can be continuously happy so you can find  happiness.

Pedro: Very Amazing work from the both of you! Thank you very much for taking the time to help me with this project. I got lot's of amazing inputs from the both of you and really enjoyed listening to the both. I wish I had more time to continue this conversation, but I must start on it. 

Neiman: O course it was my pleasure I'm glad to help. 

Kaag: Thank you for having me it's not everyday you get back in touch with old friends. 

Pedro: Well, Bye !

Kaag: See ya!

Neiman: Later!

https://youtu.be/BHyVg2sXy5w

Final Blog Post

     WM: Hello again everyone, today we have our distinguished guests here to talk about the ever present questions of "What does it mean to grow up?, Why should we?, and What is it that makes life worth living? Here to weigh-in is Susan Neiman, John Kaag, and Niccolo Machiavelli. As with last time we ask that all of our guests respect each other and take turns when speaking their answers rather than trying to all talk at once. Let's hear your answers in the order that you were introduced to keep things simple.

     SN: Let me start by saying that these answers are subjective to each persons individual beliefs, as for me I believe that we should grow up because its what we are meant to do. Growing up means learning to be a responsible member of society, learning to accept the way that things are in the world, and maturing as an individual. In response to the last question I believe that life is what you make it, if you live a life that you are proud of and satisfied with then you would look back and see what you've done to make it that way and that's the answer.

     JK: I agree with Susan that these questions can be subjective, take the first question for example, people's definitions of "grown up" vary greatly. As a general rule I would say that Susan made some good points about what it means to grow up with becoming more responsible and mature, however I feel that there is the added motivation for "why should you grow up?" of having the freedom to do the things you enjoy on your terms. What makes life worth living? You have to answer that for yourself, is a life well lived just having fun all the time, or raising a family, or many other things. 

     NM: Thank you for having me, I feel that growing up means learning to accept your place in the world and being willing and able to change that should you desire. That also highlights why you should grow up; so that you can have a say in your own fate. When it comes to what makes life worth living I have to look at my own life, being in a position of power over the years and then losing that suddenly was hard but being able to hold on to that sense of authority and importance is the answer for me, striving to further your position and the position of your descendants would be my final answer.

     

    WM: I think everyone has made some good points and to a degree I agree with you. To me growing up means taking responsibility for yourself and learning to mature, it also means that you gain freedom. I think that we should grow up honestly because it's impractical not to. I tried to stay an immature kid for as long as possible and it just wasn't the most enjoyable thing when I look back. I also agree that what makes life worth living depends on you and what your expectations are, if you live a good life and have realistic expectations I think that you can easily find fulfillment in your life.

Thank you all for coming to discuss these questions.

Section 011

Semester points 43/70

Anna Johnson-Section 10

Anna Johnson
Section 10

Me: What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?

Susan Neiman: “Kant’s definition of maturity as the ability to think for oneself is as good a sign of being grown-up as any that I know. If growing up is a matter of holding the is and the ought in balance, it will never be a stable position: each will always seek the upper hand. Hence growing up is not a task that ever stops.” Likely due to the negative connotations associated with growing up which has become so pervasive in our culture, we often forget that to grow up simply means to progress in life and that we’ve been doing it since we were born. To grow up is a constant process and means to seek truth and wisdom so that what we leave behind will be better.

Nigel Warburton: Since you’ve brought up Kant, it makes me think of another point which he would make here. “He argued that you should only act on maxims that were universalizable. For something to be universalizable it has to apply to everyone.” It’s quite obvious that society would collapse if everybody actively worked against growing up. Kant would say that this means it’s morally wrong to not grow up. Because we rely on others to grow up and make society work, we must do the same ourselves.

John Kaag: I also value the ability to think for oneself and believe it to be among the best parts of growing up. James once said, “The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook.” A person doesn’t need to make peace with all of the terrible things that have happened around them in order to benefit from continuing on. As we grow up, we get wiser and better at identifying the things which are holding us back.

Me: Growing up is definitely key to understanding what holds us back from improving as individuals as well as a society. But what stops me from wanting to leave it all, with no regard for the moral implications? What makes life worth living?

John Kaag: “For James, stars do not burn, much less appear, in perfect order, and human lives are not settled in advance. This is for the best: it gives us something to watch and expect and experience. Persistent variation gives rise to persistent wonder, and, for James, this sense of mystery-- of chance-- was often enough to see him through when other practical measures failed him.” So essentially, one can’t simply assume that life is worth living, but one also can’t know for sure that it isn’t worth living. There will always be a chance that what is to come will add enough value to an otherwise destitute circumstance which would make that life worth living.

Me: I think this is a really valuable point. I’m not always excited for what’s to come, but I definitely am curious. Even on the days in which I’m the most doubtful, I can always concede that there is a chance that things will be okay.

Nigel Warburton: “Socrates declared that life is only worth living if you think about what you are doing. An unexamined existence is all right for cattle, but not for human beings.” This is why I’ve dedicated so much of myself to philosophy. As a species, we were meant to seek wisdom to better ourselves and impact our community. Socrates, the father of philosophy, lives on because he asked questions as a means of seeking truth and this is what we are meant to do. In order to find value in your life, you must thoroughly examine it.

Susan Neiman: “No longer confused by baubles or shy with inexperience, we are better able to see what we see, and say it. We? All of us, including this author. It’s a process of permanent revolution. Who wants to encourage that?” As we gain better perspective with our maturity, we also gain power over ourselves and our surroundings. By progressing as an individual, we can better effect change for all and make the world a better place. With this in mind, life is unquestionably worth living, particularly as we grow up and develop more knowledge and wisdom to improve what we have.

Me: Understanding the world and our perceptions is exactly what makes life worth living. It also leads to building a better place for future generations. Even when things seem to be the most bleak, there is always a chance for change. The more grown-ups we have, fighting for reducing suffering, the greater a chance we have at succeeding to make a change. This sentiment makes me think of John Lennon’s work. In this song he wrote, he encourages people to question the world as it is and to be a part of the change.

Final Blog Post Killian Gunn Section 10

Ladies and gentlemen, WELCOME BACK!!! The last time you were here, if you can remember, you listened to my retelling of an awesome discussion I had with two well known philosophers and a great author by the name of Nigel Warburton, Kurt Andersen, and Julian Baggini. These men had an extensive timeline of philosophical debates and research under their belts and gave me the chance to fee my hunger for understanding people and their psychology.

This time around, I had the honor to talk with the three marvelous philosophers Susan Neiman, John Kaag, and John Stigall. So without further delay, Let's Get To It!!!

Similar to the last discussion, this discussion was hosted by Mr. Gunn at an art museum in Nashville called the Parthenon—a 123 year old recreation of the Ancient Athens Parthenon that was built in 480 B.C. However, this time the conversation will take place outside of the Parthenon at sunset; where as last time, it took place inside where Athena's statue towered over her visitors during the brightest time of the day.

During the conversation we fed the ducks, watched the beautiful light show and admired the art of the old world (Greece).

Fun Fact: On the Monday of November 30th, 2015 Tokyo Broadcasting Systems (TBS Inc.) projected the colors onto the Parthenon to give spectators a feel of what the original Parthenon would look like.

Killian Gunn: Hey Everyone. 

John Stigall: "Nice Job kid"

Killian Gunn: "Thanks. Well I could have stuck the landing a little better..."

(Stigall and Gunn explode with laughter)

Killian Gunn: Aye it's good to see you man. 

John Stigall: Yeah I haven't see you since pre-covid Thanksgiving!!

Killian Gunn: Anyways I want you to meet Susan Neiman and John Kaag.

(Neiman, Kaag, and Stigall shake hands)

John Stigall: Oh wow it's awesome to meet you both!! Yeah in fact, last semester I assigned my students your book Why Grow Up and in the Fall of 2017, Sick Souls Healthy Minds. 

Susan Neiman: Really!! Well I love that!

 

John Kaag: Thank you very much. 

Killian Gunn: (Lol) Y'all are friends already! And again thank you two very much for coming today. Anyways John is my cousin and he received his Bachelors at MTSU and both his M.A. and Ph.D at Florida State.

John Stigall: Yeah thank you Killian. Yes, I'm currently lecturing at Morgan State in Maryland. 

John Kaag: Oh Maryland is a very nice state.

John Stigall: Oh I really like it there!

Susan Neiman: You seem like a nice guy John do you have any published items I could read?

John Stigall: Oh yes I sure do. In 2015 I wrote an article with my colleagues called "Causation, norms, and omissions." It's a study we did on causal judgments. 

Susan Neiman: Ok thank you. 

John Stigall: Thank you. 

Killian Gunn: Alright now that everyone knows each other I have two questions for you all. The first question is, "What does it mean to grow up and why should we?" As for my second question: "What makes life worth living?"

Susan Neiman: Those are very great questions.

John Kaag and John Stigall: Very.

John Kaag and John Stigall: Jinx. 

(Both Johns turn to each other in surprise)

John Kaag and John Stigall: Double Jinx!      Triple Jinx!! Quadruple Jinx!!! Pentuple Jinx!!!!!

(Everyone laughs)

Susan Neiman: Alrighty. I'll begin by answering your first question Killian.