The setting of this conversation takes inspiration from the film Midnight In Paris. I am being very peripatetic as I travel through the MTSU campus, enjoying the sun and wind on my way to the library. The environment around me seems quite stagnant with no one else in the quad. As I enter through the first doors of our library I notice that the interior architecture of the building is changing and warping to a gothic style. I enter through the second door with my head spinning trying to figure out what is going on. The entire library has disappeared and the interior space is now just a single room with a single table. There were three men and an empty chair. This scene I am living feels quite reminiscent of the final supper, considering they seemed to have quite a hearty meal on the table. My consciousness starts to settle in and I decide to picture what is happening as reality. I approach the table and immediately recognize all three men as the authors of the books I have been reading for my philosophy class; Kurt Andersen, Julian Baggini, and Nigel Warburton. I sit down, introduce myself, and start our conversation with a question.
Baggini: I think by carefully spreading values to and from other ethnicities and people around the world, we can start to learn how to respect these differences through philosophy. As I said in my conclusion to How The World Thinks "By sliding controls up or down, the volume of each track can be increased or decreased." (Baggini 331) You will find the same channels throughout the world but some will be louder and others will be quieter. "Cross-cultural thinking requires a good ethical ear and this is hard to develop if you are not attuned to the whole range of moral concepts." (Baggini 332)
Hauser: I completely agree with your response. If we can educate more people about worldly differences then respect should naturally flow into the world.
Andersen: I agree that philosophy can help people learn respect. America seems to be taking its time incorporating philosophy into how it's ruled considering "the new world" was found by searching for gold and was heavily influenced by religion. Later down the line America decided to start, or continue building their "fantasyland." As I said early on in my book "...the prospect of colonization was all about the export of their supernatural fantasies..." (Andersen 23) If America can exchange thought peacefully with other cultures I think the entirety of humanity could learn at least a speck of respect for something new.
Hauser: I do not doubt that a lot of the colonizers came for riches and a dream. but there had to be somebody that had the sole purpose of spreading thought... right?
Warburton: If people as a whole had a strong enough collective will to actively change the education of respect, then this idea of philosophy helping with that venture is completely plausible. As said in my book "Will is the blind driving force that is found in absolutely everything that exists." (Warburton 133) People will always want more and society usually has a few primary goals. In America, the education of respect in philosophy is not one of them. and I doubt that will be a concern or solution to any problem that we will face concerning other ethnicities.
Hauser: I think we should find a way to make that one of America's goals. I think it would not only benefit this country but also others.
How would you answer William James's "really vital question for us all: What is this world going to be? What is life eventually to make of itself?"
Baggini: Well if the universe doesn't explode first I think we can eventually increase the average respect of people to other people that are very different. I don't think life will really be making much of anything besides more life, we are the only species on earth that can think deeply enough to even ponder this question.
Andersen: If everyone dies eventually then there would be nothing to make of life. Like you said only humans would really be able to appreciate or be disgusted with what humans do. You have to make your own end and make your world what you want it to be.
Warburton: I think the new world will highly represent the past. History already repeats itself, it is just with very new technologies and solutions.
Hauser: Thank you all for this time but I need to get to my next class and I'm already a few minutes late. I hope my reality will warp like this very soon again.
Baggini, Andersen, and Warburton: You will see us again don't fret young philosopher.
As I left everything changed back to the library. I tried to enter that philosophical realm again the next day, but nothing changed. I am looking forward to the final in my philosophy class because I think I will be able to enter into a new area and have a completely new conversation to enlighten my outlook on life, whether for the better or worse.
Posted By Douglas Hauser section 010
"If we can educate more people about worldly differences then respect should naturally flow into the world" - we can, if we can educate them early. The older we are when first encountering unfamiliar ideas, the harder it is to "respect" and not suspect or fear them.
ReplyDelete"Will is the blind driving force that is found in absolutely everything that exists." According to Schopenhauer. His evidence for this claim is scanty.
"I don't think life will really be making much of anything besides more life" - But look at how much humanity has achieved already, in invention and research and exploration, in a comparatively tiny stretch of time. It justifies great expectations for a remote future, doesn't it, if we can just get out of the 21st century (or even just 2020).