Midterm Blogpost

 Kate Allen section 11

    Me: Hello everyone, today I am here with three very knowledgeable philosophers: Nigel Warburton, the author of "A Little History of Philosophy", Kurt Andersen, the author of "Fantasyland", and Julian Baggini, the author of "How the World Thinks". I have a question and am very interested to hear all your different responses. 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? 

    Andersen: In my book, "Fantasyland" I discuss how America soon became a country filled with all different kinds of people with different religions, races, and values. America was a brand new country and people could not wait to indulge in it. Humans saw this place as a fresh start to make their own dreams come true, however, it soon became a place of chaos. With everyone having different values, everyone wanted to be correct in what they believe in. Religion was soon a major focus in America. I think philosophy can help people realize just how broad religion is. In America Christianity was very well-known and became very popular as, "We had become a country where millions of evangelical Christians were rising up breathlessly from the sinners"(74). The growing religions and battles for who was correct soon became all America was about. People would say, "that reading between the lines was permissible only if it confirmed their belief that Christ would return" (124). This is where reading between the lines became very popular for people to do to make their belief correct. I think that if Americans ,back then, had more knowledge of philosophy and more acceptance like we do today things would be very different and people would have understood each other. Instead, America went haywire. 

    Warburton: I have written about many different philosophers in my book, most of them Western philosophers. I have heard extremists values and seen how some philosophers can take certain subjects very far. I think a good example for truths can be represented by my chapter on William James. James used an example of a hunter circling his prey. It can show us how we can arrive at certain conclusions and why they matter, "If nothing hangs on the answer, it doesn't really matter what you decide. It all depends on why you want to know and what difference it will actually make"(165). God is also a topic I discuss in my book as well. It has been debated for eternity on whether on not God exists, and I have heard it all. I think the majority of the philosophers I have written about wanted to arrive at a truth by the end of their lifetime. I believe philosophy can be taken too extremely and can cause people to become close minded and cast others out if they don't agree with them. However, I have also seen philosophers that do not take things too far and want to arrive at a final conclusion for why things are the way they are. Philosophy can give us good insight to many aspects of life, but should be carefully used. 

    Andersen: I have definitely seen things taken to the extreme myself. I see America as a very close minded place where everyone is concerned for themselves. I feel philosophy can give them knowledge on other views in the world. This could allow America to grow and prosper even more. America has become a land of self-centered humans and some not wanting to learn of other cultures. Since philosophy gives insight to many different views on anything and everything, America could benefit from learning more about it. 

    Me: Thank you for both of your responses. I enjoyed hearing from both of you. However I have not heard from you, Baggini. What is your response to this question?

    Baggini: I believe the world can largely benefit from learning about philosophy. I have looked at traditions and beliefs from all around the world and have come to believe philosophy can provide people with great knowledge on how other people think and can also help us understand themselves, "by becoming philosophical explorers, we can build a more complete picture of the world and a more objective understanding by taking in multiple perspectives"(338). Philosophy can open up our minds and give us more information than our own traditions could alone. It could give respect to all other values, even if they differ from our own. It can also let us know, "there is more than one legitimate way of either understanding the world or constructing norms"(339). If we get into the mindset of other people we can have a better understanding of the world. Just because we do not believe in what other people do, does not mean we should discredit their ideas. We should accept others will have different opinions from us and allow that to further our knowledge. Philosophy can allow anyone to rid themselves of discriminatory values and become greatly more knowledgeable about all things in the world. 

    Warburton: I myself have knowledge of many great philosophers and after hearing your response I would like to say I agree. I think anyone can learn from hearing about the many traditions and the history of philosophy. 

    Andersen: I also agree with you all. I have greatly enjoyed hearing your responses today.

    Me: Thank you so much for answering my question. It has allowed me much more knowledge and I hope to learn more about other people's values. Thank you for your time.