Midterm blogpost

It was an amazing day. The birds were chirping, and the sun was shining bright. Luckily, I am going to pose some questions to three of the philosophers today. Kurt Andersen is an American writer, author, and radio host. Nigel is best known as a popularizer of philosophy. Julian Baggini is also a British philosopher, journalist, and the author of over 20 books about philosophy written for a general audience.

It was 10a.m. and they were finally there. I welcomed them with a good morning.

Khushi: I have a question for each one of you. "Do you think philosophy can help people learn to respect truth, facts, reality, and one another, and to reject falsehood, superstition, selfishness, polarization, partisanship, and mutual hostility based on differences of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, belief, etc.? If so, how? If not, why not? Anybody who is interested can go first.

Kurt Andersen: of course we all are interested, but I will go first because I am curious to put my points.

Khushi: Awesome! Sounds great

Anderson: according to my perspective, I think that yes philosophy can definitely help people learn to respect everyone and their opinions. Respect has great importance in everyday life. As children, we are taught (one hopes) to respect our parents, teachers, and elders, school rules and traffic laws, family and cultural traditions, other people’s feelings and rights, our country’s flag and leaders, the truth, and people’s differing opinions. We may also learn that how our lives go depends every bit as much on whether we respect ourselves. The value of self-respect may be something we can take for granted, or we may discover how very important it is when our self-respect is threatened, or we lose it and have to work to regain it, or we have to struggle to develop or maintain it in a hostile environment. I also believe that philosophy helps people to learn about different cultures and their beliefs and also respects them all. Philosophy can help prepare you to listen, talk, and learn about other people and their cultures.

Khushi: I really liked the way you expressed your beliefs about respect and thank you so much for answering my question. I kindly disagree with you because if philosophy teaches us to respect all the cultures and one another, why is there a lot of racism going on in this world yet? I guess everyone needs to learn philosophy then.

Nigel: Nice point Khushi, but I disagree. People might be doing whatsoever on their personal beliefs. And yes, I do think that philosophy help people learn a lot of positive things. One of them is respect. The ubiquity and significance of respect and self-respect in everyday life largely explain why philosophers, particularly in moral and political philosophy, have been interested in these two concepts. They turn up in a multiplicity of philosophical contexts, including discussions of justice and equality, injustice and oppression, anatomy and agency, moral and political rights and duties, moral motivation, and moral development, cultural diversity and toleration.

Khushi: thank you for telling me what philosophers focus on. Again, if philosophy teaches us cultural diversity and more good thing, why is still racism in some areas or region? Three main arguments as to why beliefs in intrinsic and insurmountable cultural differences should be considered racist have been put forward. One is that hostility on a cultural basis can result in the same discriminatory and harmful practices as beliefs in intrinsic biological differences, such as exploitation, oppression, or extermination. The second is that beliefs in biological and cultural differences are often interlinked and that biological racists use claims of cultural differences to promote their ideas in contexts where biological racism is considered socially unacceptable. The third argument is that the idea of cultural racism recognizes that in many societies, groups like immigrants and Muslims have undergone racialization, coming to be seen as distinct social groups separate from the majority on the basis of their cultural traits. Is this considered as people respecting every culture?

Baggini: Khushi I really like your question about racism. And I agree with you that philosophy doesn’t teach everything, and if it does, people don’t take it or accept it. This can lead to issues at school and even lead to bullying. Kids are still forming opinions, so it is essential that they are taught to be accepting while they are young. Parents or family members need to sit down and talk with children as well as present them with easy to understand data and talk about the importance of cultural diversity. For example, if you live in Houston, you can visit the website for the recently created Office of New Americans and find lots of facts about the diversity and present that to your child. In today’s world, if we all are able to respect and know about other cultures, and respect their values and belief, life would be easier for most of us, and we can learn a lot of good things from each other. I know I have learned a lot in this process, and I continue to learn each and every day.

Khushi: thank you, Julian. It was nice meeting you all. I hope you have an amazing day.

(I dropped my pillow, and realized that it was my dream)

Khushi Patel

Section 10