(Successor site to CoPhilosophy, 2011-2020)
A collaborative search for wisdom, at Middle Tennessee State University and beyond... "The pluralistic form takes for me a stronger hold on reality than any other philosophy I know of, being essentially a social philosophy, a philosophy of 'co'"-William James
Pragmatism and the Reconstruction of American Democracy
Dr. Phil Oliver, Professor
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
A democracy is in serious jeopardy when a significant percentage of its citizenry is unwilling to accept the certified outcome of a presidential election. January 6, 2021 and its aftermath have indicated profound trouble for American democracy in our time. American philosophers like John Dewey and Richard Rorty say "achieving our country" and its democratic aspirations will require more open-minded "conversation" and perpetual "reconstruction." In this block we'll look at how democratic reconstruction may contribute an indispensable element of good citizenry.
Week 1 Readings/assignments:
Selected texts from John Dewey, to be posted on my blogsite
I'll post the link to my blogsite and the readings on D2L
Week 2 Readings/assignments:
Selected texts from Richard Rorty, to be posted on my blogsite
I'll post the link to my blogsite and the readings on D2L
Professor Put Clues to a Cash Prize in His Syllabus. No One Noticed. Tucked into the second page of the syllabus was information about a locker number and its combination. Inside was a $50 bill, which went unclaimed.
Kenyon Wilson, a professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, wanted to test whether any of his students fully read the syllabus for his music seminar.
Of the more than 70 students enrolled in the class, none apparently did.
Professor Wilson said he knows this because on the second page of the three-page syllabus he included the location and combination to a locker, inside of which was a $50 cash prize.
"Free to the first who claims; locker one hundred forty-seven; combination fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five," read the passage in the syllabus. But when the semester ended on Dec. 8, students went home and the cash was unclaimed.
"My semester-long experiment has come to an end," Mr. Wilson wrote on Facebook, adding: "Today I retrieved the unclaimed treasure." ...
It’s the birthday (12.16.1863) of the philosopher and poet George Santayana (books by this author), born in Madrid (1863). He’s best known for having coined the famous phrase: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
He also said, “History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.”
And: “There are books in which the footnotes or comments scrawled by some reader’s hand in the margin are more interesting than the text. The world is one of these books.” WA
It's been a pleasure meeting and talking with you all this semester. Be happy and healthy and purposive in 2022 and beyond. Don't miss the joy. Looking forward to seeing some of you in other classes again soon.
If you didn't or couldn't post your final report, email it directly to me: phil.oliver@mtsu.edu.
Final grades are scheduled to be posted with the registrar by Dec. 13.
Remember when old December s darkness is everywhere about you, that the world is really in every minutest point as full of life as in the most joyous morning you ever lived through; that the sun is whanging down, and the waves dancing, and the gulls skimming down at the mouth of the Amazon, for instance, as freshly as in the first morning of creation; and the hour is just as fit as any hour that ever was for a new gospel of cheer to be preached. I am sure that one can, by merely thinking of these matters of fact, limit the power of one's evil moods over one's way of looking at the Kosmos.
William James, Letters I To Thomas W. Ward. BERLIN, Jan., 1868.
How many movies, tv shows, and books have you seen that have good intentions but completely missed the mark due to thoughtless, uninformed writing and directing?I have seen it done with so many topics. Movies that have the saddest excuse of a “strong female lead” that is insulting and misogynistic because aman created under false pretenses. An example of this, in my opinion, is the movie that was directed and written by a man. The film is about a female FBI agent, played by Sandra Bullock, that goes undercover in a beauty pageant.While the movie tries to tell an empowering story of a badass FBI agent it misses the mark because the movie is full of sexist remarks and reduces Gracie Hart, Bullock's character, to her looks instead of focusing on her skills. This happens everywhere in the media. Someone who does not understand what they are trying to portray creates media that does more harm than good. These movies and TV shows are mostly based on serotypes instead of well-researched and thought-out plots. The solution? Letting women write and directmovies about powerful women. Cast trans individualsas trans characters and gay people as gay people. Let people of color tell their own stories.
Members of minorities look at entertainment media for representation. They seek to be able to relate to characters and the stories told on the screen. This is not easy to find in an industry that has been controlled by white, cis-gendered, heteronormative, male voices for so long. Slowly the entertainment industry is progressing but some might say it is in the wrong direction. Debates are goingon concerningHollywood's use of diverse characters and how they are casting those roles. Why should a cisgender actor receive a role as a transgender character that they have no lived experience with? There is a trans actor who would be much more fit for the role and deserve to be cast. This is an ethical debate asking whether it is right to cast a cis actor for a trans character. The same goes for a straight individual taking the role of a gay character.
Plato refers to representation as imitation, or the Greek translation “mimesis.” The word was first used to criticizepoetry and playwritersfor not being original when creating new characters. Plato says that representation is the same as an imitation.When you create something, you are almost always basing it off of something else, mimicking something, or comparing it to something you’ve seen before. Every director and casting agent has to decide how they want the characters to be represented. How are they going to imitate the characters on screen? When a straight actor is cast for a gay character, they are having to imitate being gay to play their character. Because the actor is not gay this imitation is based not on their own experience but stereotypes of gay people. This makes the portal of the character false and illegitimate. It makes the character less relatable to the members of the audience who are seeking true representation from this character. Why should a straight actor mimic a gay character when a gay person could easily be cast? Many philosophers had strong opinions about mimicry; “Socrates defines imitation, develops two arguments against it, and finally proclaims that no mimetic poetry will be admitted into the city that the Republic is founding.”
When looking for easy ways to help the environment or help the people, most people glance over an option talked about very often: Vegetarianism.
Now, most of us have not had the best introduction to the ideas of Veganism. More likely than not, one’s first encounter is from seeing an angry vegan online rant something incoherent about meat-eaters being murderers or from an unpleasant experience with one. It’s easy to completely ignore a certain set of beliefs if you force yourself to think “there is no way this could ever relate to me.” and this is indicated in the reactions of many when you ask them if they would have even considered it. To many, its not even a thought that would cross their minds, after all, Humanity has eaten meat for our whole existence. Humanity rose from its ability to cook rich calorie dense meat, and most of us have had an upbringing where we ate some sort of meat, so instinctively, most reactions will be a complete disregard.
But Humanity didn’t rise only because of better calories. Those calories gave us brains, gave us the ability to understand logically and find the most efficient and best way to perform tasks, the best foods to eat. We learned how to deal with complex situations, where things we used to do could be done better. Humanity has advanced and we no longer live in a society where the only way to get food is with the death of another creature.
Not often is the death part talked about, even if it's something we all know must happen for factory farming to occur. The lives of farmed cattle, chickens, and pigs are short and railroaded to achieve the best cuts or best taste. While value may not be attached to these creatures' lives, this is something that is only cultural in reasoning. Take for example the practice of eating dogs in East Asian countries. While this is often used as a reasoning for why Asian culture is “barbaric” or cruel, there is simply no difference between the value of life of a dog and that of a pig. In fact, according to the Humane Society, Pigs are actually more intelligent than dogs, forming more complex social structures and being more organized with hygiene and their living spaces. Western Cultures see the farming of dogs as cruel because we assign a friendship value to dogs in our culture, however South Asian Cultures and those who practice Hinduism would also see this same cruelty and disgust towards the western practice of cattle farming. There is no consistent way to view the value of any given animal’s life, but according to Australian Philosopher Peter Singer, a pioneer in effective altruism and eliminating animal cruelty, all life has equal value and a good and just society should strive to eliminate the injustice of systems like this.
Peter Singer’s Philosophy of effective altruism is one that pushes the idea that we should maximize the most good out of society for all, whenever we can. He argues that the value of animal life must be respected like the value of human life, but also understands the complexity of such a harsh decision. Singer doesn't have a harsh stance on veganism, often downplaying many “radicals” in his field. However, he is criticised for this position as well, with fellow profesor Gary Francione stating
Singer does not think that it is necessarily a problem that we use nonhumans for human purposes because he does not regard the killing of animals as necessarily immoral. According to Singer, animals (with the exception of nonhuman great apes and perhaps a few other species) are not self-aware and do not really care that we use them but only about how we use them. This leads Singer to say that it may be morally acceptable to be “conscientious omnivores” if we are careful to eat only animals who have been raised and killed in a “humane” manner.
Francione, like many more hardline vegan activists, view going vegan as a necessity to stop the cruelty of animals. These Abolitionist Vegans see going vegan as the moral good that can and hs to be done to reduce cruelty,not in a way to reduce suffering but to end it. After all, Singer’s Approach only seeks to minimize suffering caused all over Earth, and views any good faith approach as “good enough” in many ways, which is often to the detriment of the vegan argument.
Vegetarianism is a complex topic that is largely ignored, but I feel this is the wrong way of approaching it. In embracing the Singer approach, much less suffering in the world can be done, as factory farming is decreased and one watches what they eat to try to always eat ethically. However, maybe the cruelty inflicted by factory farming poses the question as to whether or not the immense suffering is worth the steaks.
Born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund, Adorno was an incredibly well rounded German thinker of the early and middle 20th century. He was, of course, a philosopher, but also had created notable works and influences on the subjects of sociology, psychology, and musicology.
Early life
Adorno was born on September 11th, 1903 in Frankfurt, Germany. He was the only child of Maria Calvelli-Adorno della Piana, who was once a professional Italian singer, and Oscar Alexander Wiesengrund, who was an assimilated jew turned Protestant and who ran a successful wine business. He would prove to be a very intellectual child, graduating at the top of his class in 1921. He was constantly surrounded by music, due to his mother's career as a singer and his aunt, who was a pianist and lived with them, so it is of no surprise that he studied musical composition under Alban Berg in Vienna in the early 1920's. Adorno was heading for a career in music, following in his mother's footsteps, and even creating musical compositions of his own.
Adorno playing the piano in his older age
Here's a link to one of his piano compositions, written in 1921:
Adorno eventually strayed from his path towards a musical profession, and in the late 1920's, decided to dedicate his life to teaching and studying philosophy at the University of Frankfurt, where he would stay until his death in 1969.
Adorno was best known for being a leading member in the Frankfurt school of Critical Theory, in which him and other thinkers, such as Walter Benjamin and Max Horkheimer, inspired by works of Marx and Kant, critiqued modern society and sought a source of social domination. Adorno, however, also had other notable works, such as his book Aesthetic Theory, which is anchored in the philosophical study of art. This is the work I will be diving into for this post.
Adorno shaking hands with Max Horkheimer, who helped write the Critical Theory
Aesthetic Theory
Adorno's Aesthetic Theory was officially published in 1970, a year after his death. It was a culmination of a variety of his writing between the years of 1956 and 1969. Though the essence of the writings was on the philosophy of art and the relation art has to society, the individual works ranged from speaking about political philosophy to metaphysics, due to Adorno's disliking of boundaries and labels. The work has been described by some critics as Adorno's "magnum opus", due to its heavily influence on the study of aesthetics. Aesthetics, in philosophy, is defined by the Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy as "the theory of beauty, or more broadly as that together with the philosophy of art." This branch of philosophy was originally focused on the sheer definition of art and beauty, but has since been expanded into looking now a analysing specific aspects of art and its value. More on this can be found here.
Some artwork of Adorno. I wonder what he'd think of it.
In the book, Adorno addresses topics that go deeper than the simple purpose of beauty and sublimity in art, but rather the socio-political implications of it and the progress of its evolution, especially in the modern age. He states that art, in previous eras, was in a state of "semi-autonomy", restricted by cult and imperial functions, which limited its ability to convey meaningful or fully intended messages to the world. He states that art in modern times (modern to him), is now much more free, reaching a truer state of autonomy, and thus now has, more than before, a responsibility to convey explicitly meaningful social commentary. However, Adorno is not condoning the use of over-the-top politicised content, but rather he wants more abstracted "truth-content". "Truth-content" is defined by the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy as being "the way in which an artwork simultaneously challenges the way things are and suggests how things could be better, but leaves things practically unchanged", and is a central point in a lot of his arguments within the book. Adorno states that this truth-content is found within multiple dialectics that exists in the work's position relative to the subject and societal tradition and in dialectics within the work itself, such as between content of the work and its form. It is the truth-content that invites critical judgement of the art work, which are to be used to grasp the internal dynamics of the piece and the dynamics of the society and place in history in which the piece belongs. This is simply a rough summary of the ideas talked about within the book. To access the book and read for yourself if you are interested, the link to an online copy is here. I leave you with a quote from the book, which reads,
"Rather than imitating reality, artworks demonstrate this displacement to reality. Ultimately, the doctrine of imitation should be reversed; in a sublimated sense, re ality should imitate the artworks. However, the fact that artworks exist signals the possibility of the nonexisting . The reality of artworks testifies to the possibility of the possible. The object of art's longing, the reality of what is not, is metamor phosed in art as remembrance."
For my mid-term presentation, I attempted to define the existentialist movement through surveying the philosophy of those who are accredited as being its founding fathers. In summary, I determined existentialism to be the philosophical movement that seeks to inspire individuals to live a conscious, introspective life in order to find their own purpose and meaning. In this post, I will seek to identify and analyze examples of television and film that contain existentialist themes.
*[Spoilers Incoming]*
Bojack Horseman:
Though on the surface Bojack Horseman may seem like light-hearted cartoon about talking animals, it is actually a fairly heavy and philosophically deep cartoon about talking animals. It goes beyond the superficial raunchiness and swear-reliant humor that is sometimes expected of an adult cartoon, and it utilizes its mature content as a necessary instrument through which it conveys existentialist themes relevant to the human condition in the 21st century.
Bojack is the main character, and even though he is famous and wealthy, he cannot find happiness. The series follows his quest (or lack thereof) for meaning and happiness along with his fellow characters. This quest for meaning in a reality where the characters are all very vocal about their belief that there is no inherent meaning to their existence is the underlying premise of the series. This gives rise to all sorts of more specific existential themes to arise: including radical freedom, suicide, escapism, leap of faith, bad faith, and facing the absurd.
Radical freedom plays a large role in Bojack Horseman because the main characters all have their basic needs met. Due to their lack of financial poverty, they have an abundance of free time with which they get to choose what to do in order to stave of existential dread. Bojack typically is depicted wasting as much of his time as possible through use of narcotics and casual sex along with other activities he likely doesn't remember. He hates the fact of radical freedom because he continues to make choices that simply avoid the problem of his emptiness rather than solve it. He finds it hard to accept the fact that he is responsible for his own actions because he is considered a bad person. This is likely why he says, ""Hey, I stand by my critique of Sartre. His philosophical arguments helped tyranical regimes justify overt cruelty." He prefers to misinterpret Sartre because he would prefer to believe that Sarte's Existentialism excuses immoral behavior.
Further, There are some direct reference's to Sisyphus and Albert Camus's philosophy of absurdism. Princess Caroline, who staves off existential dread by marrying her job, says something along the lines of how she'll just have to keep pushing this boulder up the hill in reference to her job. Even though work is tiring and difficult, Princess Caroline is seemingly addicted to it. She is almost representative of an absurd hero how she resiliently excepts all adversity she faces, happily. Another time they reference Sisyphus is when Bojack decides to clean up his life and he plans on going for a run. There is an unknown character that runs up the hill by his house every day. Bojack Collapses on the ground and the character says to him that, "It gets easier, but you gotta do it everyday. Thats the hard part." This character also represents an absurd hero because he metaphorically explains how the absurd can be overcome when faced resiliently. He is essentially claiming that if you face the absurd for an extended period of time, you gain comfort with it. This is parallel to Sisyphus learning to be happy.
Naruto:
The television show Naruto follows a young group of ninja's who search for their "ninja way." In the world of Naruto, "ninja way" is essentially the path they choose for themselves that they ascribe to be meaningful. They are students to older more experienced ninjas who influence their views on the ninja way which is analogous to our situation in the real world; we too have teachers and elders who influence our views on purpose and meaning. There is a certain ninja way that is pushed and expected by the culture they have grown up in that echoes that of 20th century America; do what the government and religion tell you to without question. The main protagonist Naruto, however, challenges these predefined values in true existentialist fashion. He takes a self-motivated path of introspection because he feels responsible for the decisions he makes. Even though he is expected to carry out orders without question, he is very rebellious and follows his own moral compass just as the existentialist philosophers would suggest. Naruto refuses to be objectified as a mercenary, and he only fights for causes he believes in. This happens as a result of a near death experience on his first mission where his comrades and he had to fight a ninja they respected at the order of someone whom they did not respect initially. Naruto essentially realized that he was living in what Sartre would call "bad faith," and he makes a promise to himself that he will never do so again.
The antagonists of the series all have back-stories that lead them to their path as well. The motivator behind the villains of the series tends to be power, vengeance, or hate. There are two different occasions in the series though where this isn't the case. On these two occasions, the "bad guys" aren't actually all that bad themselves, but rather, they devote their lives to someone who is. One of them is Haku, and the other is Ronmaru. These characters attempt to fill the existential void by serving the person who has saved them regardless of what they are asked. For Haku, this person is Zabuza, and for Ronmaru this person is Ryga. The rational here is that before they were saved, their life was meaningless, but this person has offered them a purpose which gives their life meaning. The implications of this are that Haku and Ronmaru prefer to serve an evil cause for meaning rather than have no purpose at all. This is representative of how cult leaders can take advantage of naive young people who are searching for a purpose, and large groups can be convinced to commit atrocious acts because they are convinced it is bringing their life meaning serving a purpose above themselves. Ultimately, these two characters would likely be considered to have committed philosophical suicide or be in bad faith.
Rick and Morty is about a narcissistic drunk genius who goes on adventures through the multiverse with his grandson. Rick is such a genius that he has essentially god-like power due to his technology. His intelligence and ability offer him the time and awareness to contemplate the meaninglessness of life. He fills the void through substance abuse and intergalactic adventures which are often very dangerous.
The writers refer to existentialism through various creations of Rick's as well. One example of this are the Meeseeks: artificial life forms who are summoned by the user for one purpose and then they die after completing that purpose. When a group of meeseeks are left without purpose for a few minutes they riot over their desire to die because they have not fulfilled their purpose yet. The Meeseeks are another example of Sartre and Bouvoir's "bad faith" because they cannot comprehend existing for more than 5 minutes without a purpose ascribed to them by another. There is another brief example of one of Rick's creations bing aware of the absurdity of their situation in a family breakfast scene. He creates a tiny robot that asks rick its purpose. Rick replies, "You pass butter." The tiny robot lowers his head and moans in existential agony, "ohhhhh."
Another big existential them of Rick and Morty is Absurdity. Absurdity in the sense that the universe is very strange, and it doesn't care what happens. Throughout the many universes Rick and Morty visit lots of terrible things happen. Morty ofter tries to intervene and do "the right thing," but it inevitably backfires to turn a bad situation worse. The vastness and unforgivingness of the multi-verse is one of the major themes of Rick and Morty, and this plays an important role in developing both characters.
Discussion Questions:
If you have seen any of these shows, what are some examples of existentialism that I didn't cover in this post?
What are some other shows that have Existentialist themes?
