John and Jane Doe are a simple working couple who don’t currently have any children and read in their spare time. There isn’t anything particularly interesting about the pair of them, they work regular jobs and come back in the evening to spend some time together and go to sleep before repeating the same routine the next day. One day in particular, John came home early and was listening to music while trying to clean up his house before his wife came, when he heard his doorbell ring. Upon opening the door, much to his surprise, there was a child in a carrier abandoned by his door! John quickly began to look around, but whoever left the baby was long gone now. John brought the sleeping child inside and set the carrier down. He was so shocked by the events that he felt as though he was in a daze when he suddenly heard a woman’s voice behind him.
Neiman: “So what is your plan now, John?”
John: “Uuhhh, who are you?”
Neiman: “You’ve got a small child in your house and you’re worried about who I am? What’s your plan to handle this child John!?”
John: “Um… am I supposed to raise him now? I mean my wife and I want kids, but this isn’t exactly what we had in mind.”
Neiman: “How do you expect to be able to raise this child and watch it grow up when you haven’t even grown up yourself?
John: “What are you talking about? I’m a 28-year-old man with a wife and we both have stable jobs that let us buy all the things we need and allows for us to enjoy our free time as well.”
Neiman: “Do you enjoy your job and find value in what you do?”
John: “I mean it’s work, but it pays the bills.”
Neiman: “So you’ve resigned to the path of life that was set in front of you?”
John: “I haven’t resigned to anything…I just see life how it is and that’s it!”
Kant: *suddenly sitting beside John Smith* “Is it though?”
John: “Who are YOU!?”
Kant: Unimportant. When this child grows up and begins to feel disappointment should he just accept that life is disappointing and bad and therefor never try to change any of that?
John: What? No, of course not.
Kant: Should he not then try to accept the hardships of this world while also attempting to alter it for a better one that better reflects how it ought to be?
John: Um… I guess so.
Kant: Well then. Perhaps you, sir,… ought to reject this resignation you’ve been held hostage by and strive to balance out what the world truly IS and what it OUGHT to be so that you can help this little boy one day do that same.
John: Huh… maybe you two have a point! But then, how am I supposed to raise a child who will be able to think on his own and not fall into resignation?
Rousseau: “Well…you could always take him to an isolated location where you completely control his environment and make sure that he learns life through practical survival situations.
John: “I won’t even ask who. Why would I do that? What if he gets hurt?
Rousseau: “Well to some extent he will learn not to do that. Also, if anything goes wrong, you have control, so just alter his environment so that things work out!”
John: But that isn’t how life is, if I’m always there to fix the hard things life throws at him, he’ll never learn what life IS and he’ll only ever think of it as what it OUGHT to be. I just got lectured on remembering what the world ought to be, but I know he’ll never grow up if he can’t take disappointment.
Rousseau: But you would be protecting him from being resigned to conforming to how the world is right?
John: Maybe I could for as long as I’m around, but he won’t always have someone to hold his hand in life. If he is to truly grow up, he will need to be able to take in both what is and what at to be without giving up on either one. That way, he can see what society wants him to be and make his own decisions about how he will deal with those expectations.
*Suddenly all three philosophers are gone and the door opens to Jane Doe standing in the door confused ab the child in her house*
After explaining the child and his thoughts about it, the pair decided that they would contact the appropriate authorities and attempt to adopt the child. After all they had been unsuccessfully trying for one! John set down his copy of Why Grow Up and went to help his wife with the little boy.
Well we just got to see John work through one of the aspects of growing up that Susan Neiman talks about in her book, Why Grow Up?. You can see her explain some more of it here.
If you want to learn more about Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile, here is a great summary and analysis that will help you get an idea of what it is about.
"what at to be"--ought?
ReplyDeleteJohn seems to have grown up improbably fast.
What's YOUR idea of what Emile is about ?