Simon Pergande
Dr. James P. Oliver
PHIL 1030-010
Due Date: 12/08/20
Final Blog-post
With every step I took, the rocks scraped against one another and the earth gave way just so slightly acknowledging the new human presence. Every movement made was amplified throughout the narrow ridges, gradual valleys, secret caves, and looming mountains that shaped the collective beauty of the extensive Alps. Certainly, every step that was made through the permissive passes was a look throughout the history of the ancient and now modern peoples that have traveled through seeking a variety of journeys. To battle, to trade, to travel, and to learn are some of the destinations that those who traveled through the Alps sought for. With the pass clearing, a view of the landscape widens to reveal the short tough grasses growing throughout, fighting their way through the earth. Shortly ahead, four boulders lie neatly ordered around a lit fire contained within a slight depression in the ground. The person and the deity, Confucius, sat on one of the boulders, intently staring into the crackling fire as the modern philosophers approached to take a seat. Susan Neiman, influenced by the Age of Enlightenment, gracefully adjusting the light fabric of her red scarf, chooses a boulder beside the ancient philosopher. John Kaag, the younger philosopher influenced by the generation of Pragmatism founded by William James, briskly approaches, and chooses a seat by the ancient philosopher revealing the shoes that have once before made the journey through the Alps. Moderating the meeting, Confucius asks the modern philosophers the following questions in an attempt to reason at the state of life long after his existence: What does it mean to grow up? Why should we grow up? And what makes life worth living?
https://gohikealps.com/beginners-guide-hiking-alps/
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/national-gallery/national-gallery-alps
https://www.ancient.eu/Confucius/
Susan Neiman, the author of “Why Grow Up”, assumes the set questions as they interact closely with her literary and philosophical experience. The tendencies of society towards extending the state of adolescence into a permanent abyss, consumes the lives of those involved. Responsibility, a foot forward into uncertainty, and demanding a challenge are the things that drive people to maturity. Growing up precisely means those things that distinguish children from adults, a line that is continuously blurred and distorted today. What it means to grow up and the reasons we need to grow up are also part of the things that make life worth living! There are difficult times of our lives and there are good times of our lives that are not necessarily divided into what we may think as the best or worst part of out lives. Those who look back at their life usually would not choose to go back if given the option despite the myth that young people live throughout the happiest time of their life. The consistency in the growth of experience in the world as it is the more realistic approach. Perhaps that is what makes life worth living.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaineVZ2MD8&t=384s
John Kaag, the author of “Sick Souls, Healthy Minds”, comfortably reasons at the questions posed by the ancient philosopher. Accepting responsibility in life, as Susan pointed out, is certainly one of the things that indicate the process of growing up as it is essentially up to the individual to take control of their life and that means taking responsibility. Experimenting with and attempting things would also be one of the things point to growth, you see this through the development of individuals lifetime. Growing up in life is the only way we can take the steps necessary to even attempt to work at improving the quality of life. Developing habits, for example, is essentially excellence. Perhaps life is worth living simply for the rationale of solving the problems that emerge throughout our lives as well as the lives of others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEVMAGLe73I&t=10s
Confucius, a prominent Chinese figure that has even found way in mythology, finds many of the ideas of the modern philosophers to be a part of the tree that continuously grows. Responsibility and discipline, the physical and the moral, are aspects of achieving harmony. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop”. Values of tradition aided with principles of compassion are aspects of the social philosophy based on the golden rule. Growing up provides the capacity for the individual to be of value to society to contrast with individual autonomy and beneficence. Achieving harmony is the purpose of living that is most beneficial to a society.
Research Article: https://jme.bmj.com/content/31/3/159
https://www.biography.com/scholar/confucius
