Up@dawn 2.0 (blogger)

Delight Springs

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Finding peace of mind in a cruel world


By: Steven Rocco

 In chapter 5 of life is hard by Kieran Setiya, Setiva talks about checking the news in 2022 on his phone while pandemic was going on and seeing all these terrible things that are happening in the world. Talks of the poor are getting poor and the rich are getting richer, Democracy is at a threat of being lost, and all of this other terrible stuff that is going on around him. This type of action is something called "doomscrolling" or "doomsurfing" where a person goes to check the new to find out what is happening in the world, but before checking the news, they are already expecting the news to be negative because a lot amount of the news today focuses on the coverage of terrible things that that are happening around the world. A world of injustice. Doomscrolling is a problem that many people today face when they wanted to be informed on what is happening about them. And as a result of this, they are overwhelmed by the wave of information that they are receiving and this causing a negative effect on the person. 

Doomscrolling 

With all of this injustice going on around in the world, it can make something feel as through is no point in their actions to fight this injustice in the world. And some people will think that if they can't save the world that maybe they should get save themselves. And this is the main topic of chapter 5 of life is hard, is that how do we deal with the injustice around the world in are lives.  Setiya mentions the story told by Glaucon in Plato's republic. The story is about a Shepard named Gyges, who finds a rings that allows him to be invisible. So Gyges naturally goes and kill the king of the realm, seduces a queen, and becomes king of the kingdom. Glaucon argues to Plato that it is okay if people do injustice in the world if it benefits the person. The reason why Setiva mentions this story is because he says that most people, if not everyone would do the same thing that Gyges did. Setiva also mentions that the reason why we care about justice, is because we are afraid of being caught. Setiva then asks the question then how is a person suppose to act against injustice. He mentions a polish philosopher who would starve herself because other people in the world could not eat. Setiva says that her life was very inspiring but terrifying as well. the reason why he says that her life was terrifying is because she dedicated her entire life to fighting injustice and leaving no time to take care of herself and this resulted in her serving to death.   

Setiva then mentions Kant and his idea of the moral laws and how man can not truly be free if they obey the moral laws of man. But is this true? can man truly not be free unless they are free from the moral laws of man? Setiva then mentions the idea of altruism, which is the practice of cornering oneself with the welfare and happiness of others. I think the idea of altruism is an idea that more people in the modern world should try to practice a little in their lives for the betterment of their character and to the world. But is too much altruism bad? we you become so devoted to the wellbeing of others, that you alone can not fight all injustice in the world alone and trying to do so will leave you not having any time for selfcare. Setiva also he mentions that love is a moral emotion and that we do not truly love someone unless we see value in that person. But then how do we balance out taking care of oneself with action against the injustice of the world. Setiva mentions Plato idea of utopia and he layout of what a perfect society and how to identify and deal with injustice. But Setiva dismisses this blueprint that Plato layout out of identifying injustice and says that we don't need a blueprint to identify injustice, when we can just look at the past of the United States and look at the injustice that we did as Americans to the world. Then what is one of the causes of this injustice in the world? Setiva answer was ideology. Ideology causes a distortion on us and can distort our views of what is humanly possible. So the big question is how do we deal with this ideology that distorts are views and leads to injustice in the world? And how do will deal with this injustice and fight against it? how can we not be overwhelmed by the problems of the world? One way to deal with this problem mentioned by Setiva, is to take one problem at a time. Setiva that we should focus on one problem that we feel passionate about and act on trying to rid the world of that injustice, but to not deprive oneself of selfcare. But what is the point of focusing on one problem? how can one alone solve this problem by themselves? Setiva says that we alone, may not be able to solve this problem by ourselves but maybe as a result of us fighting against this injustice, that it will inspire other to take up action. And even if others join and the injustice is still not solved, it will have an effect. And that effect will be a greater chance of that injustice being solved. it's not a solid answer to the problem of injustice, but it is a start to solving the problem. 

Do you agree with Setiva answer to injustice or do you think their is a better way of dealing with it?


And do you love someone because you see value in them and would you love someone if you didn't see value in them?

1 comment:

  1. "Kant and his idea of the moral laws and how man can not truly be free if they obey the moral laws of man." That's not Kant's idea.\

    "we you become so devoted to the wellbeing of others, that you alone can not fight all injustice in the world alone and trying to do so will leave you not having any time for selfcare." I think I understand what you're trying to say here but the grammar is fractured. You need to edit before publishing. And it's Setiya, not Setiva.

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