Hello, my name is Logan Petersen. I would like to thank you all for coming here today. I am joined by three very well read philosophers: Kurt Anderson, the author of “Fantasyland”, Nigel Warburton, the author of “A Little History of Philosophy”, and lastly but certainly not least, Julian Baggini, Author of “How the World Thinks”. I have brought you all here today to hear your philosophical insights on the state of the world today. The question I would like to ask you all is: How do you think philosophy could help with the current state of politics in the United States?
Warburton:
First I will talk a little about what the study of philosophy is to me, it is an exploration of ideas in the hope of building a solid foundation for reasoning. I once said in an in a lecture about the value of studying philosophy that “ The great value of philosophy is that it inevitably changes the people that study it.” I believe if you study philosophy you gain insights as to what to believe and you start to see how people derive beliefs from reasoning. From my perspective critical thinking is vital in American politics, because it allows us to see behind the lies that politicians sell us. As Pyrrho once said “ You shouldn’t rely on what you believe to be true. You might be mistaken. Everything can be questioned, everything doubted. The best option, then, is to keep an open mind. Don’t commit, and you won’t be disappointed.”
Baggini:
I would agree with what Warburton said, but I do believe that philosophy is bigger that just finding answers and developing reasoning. If you look at eastern philosophy you can see a sense of harmony, this is something I believe western philosophy lacks. “One woman told me about her five years spent in Edinburgh, which she greatly enjoyed. When I asked what the biggest difference she notices between Scottish colleagues and people back home was, she said that Chinese wish always to please other people while Brits please themselves. The word she used unprompted to describe this value was ‘harmony’.” The biggest problem with American politics is individualism at the expense of your fellow man. Eastern Philosophy can teach us that if everyone works toward building a better society, everyone in the society benefits. Everyone gives, everyone receives, the society and the individual benefits, this is harmony in the eyes of Confucius.
Anderson:
I was very flattered when Vice President Pence quoted me in his recent debate against Kamala Harris. The quote was, “ You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.” Unfortunately neither he nor president trump follow my advice.” I’ve also said “ mix epic individualism with extreme religion; mix show business with everything else; let all that steep and simmer for a few centuries; run it through the anything-goes 1960s and the Internet age; the result is the America we inhabit today, where reality and fantasy are weirdly and dangerously blurred and commingled.“ this is how we Americans ended up in our own reality show starring Donald Trump. I believe that both Warburton and Baggini make very good points about what we need to do to fix America. As a society we need to improve our ability to think critically and reason in order to help us escape from our nations fantasyland, and we need to start thinking as a society and working towards something larger than ourselves and our own individual desires.
"Don’t commit, and you won’t be disappointed" - Pyrrho's extreme skepticism is a step too far, to Nigel and to most sane people. Commitment to beliefs is not the problem, dogmatic refusal to critique and revise beliefs based on experience, evidence, and reasoning is.
ReplyDeleteAndersen was quoting Moynihan, who was probably quoting someone too, when he spoke of "your own facts"... Seems like humans are prone to think that others have invented their own, but are poor at noticing their own inventiveness.