Erick Martinez- Final Report

 

Life is Hard: How Psychology Can Help Us Find Our Way

Chapter 4: Failure

As humans we like to think were different from others. That we are unique and although that is the case, there are many differences between humans, there is a ton we share. One experience we all share is failure. Everyone experiences failure, that’s something we can’t change, and many people believe you need to fail in order to succeed. But what does Kieran Setiya say about failure?

In October 1951, the Dodgers were going against the Giants to see who would make the world series that year. Ralph Branca, the pitcher for the Dodgers pitched to Bobby Thompson who made a home run. This was historical and this play was given the title, “Shot Heard Around The World”. While Thompson soaked in all the fame and recognition, Branca’s career was reduced to the man who pitched to Thompson who sent the Giants to the World Series that year.

In “Echoing Green” by Joshua Prager, he attempts to break down the lives of both Thompson and Prager to the point of the big game that changed both men’s lives. He came to a conclusion that I feel many of us tend to forget, both of these men’s lives are so much more than this singular moment they share. Setiya states “No one’s life can be reduced to one event, one enterprise, or one ambition” and we shouldn’t want that. Whether a success of fail, we shouldn’t revolve our lives around one singular moment or goal, because living is so much more than that.

We will all fail at some point in our lives, but just like in Branca’s story, there will always be unpredictable situations that remind all of us that we are never 100% in control. This can be seen as a scary realization, but thinking this way helps us realize that we are more than one moment in our lives, that we are so much more than our failures or even our successes.

Setiya then moves to a philosophical idea that is said to help us escape the chokehold that failure has on us. This idea is called “Life as Narrative” The idea is that we must tell/see our lives narratively, as if it’s a story. It essentially shoves all our experiences into a coherent narrative that is said to help us interpret our lives. Many philosophers saw this idea as beneficial as the best way to live a satisfactory life. But what did other people and Seitya believe?

Galen Strawson was a philosopher and an author. His father was a metaphysical philosopher. Strawson grew up with philosophical questions that he strived to find answers to. In his later life, he wrote an autobiography. After writing his story out, he made a discovery that his life didn’t align with the Life as Narrative idea. His story wasn’t cohesive, it wasn’t something he could easily tell because there was so much to tell. Strawson believed he lived a very fulfilling life, even if his life wasn’t the best story to tell, so he questioned the philosophical idea.

Seitya points out a strong case against the idea as well. The negative of Life as Narrative is that it makes us see our lives as if it must follow a certain build, which it might or might not fulfil because remember, we don’t have 100% control. Seitya says this is the perfect stage for definitive failure.

So, we fail, and situations fail, but can humans be considered failures? Seitya says no. “A life can’t really succeed or fail at all; it can only be lived.” What Seitya believed made our lives special wasn’t the climax of our stories or the resolutions, but our experiences. Our deeds and interactions that occupy our day to day. At the end of the day, our lives are built on so many situations. We tend to focus on the big events because we think those shape us the most, but the collection of our small successes and failures impact all of us just as much. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we will stop obsessing over failing or succeeding

Now to be clear, Seitya isn’t saying to let go of the little control we have of our lives. To stop striving for success in life. That’s not the case as he himself spent 2 decades striving for success in his field. He doesn’t regret it, what he does regret is treating life like a checklist. Completing one thing and moving on to the next never truly satisfied. This sent Setiya into a midlife crisis. Now to get out of this stage, he had to learn to live in the present and living in the present came with two activities. Telic and Atelic

Telic activities are projects we complete. That ends in success or failure. Then there are atelic, which are activities we choose to do. That doesn’t have an end to them, that we can enjoy like hanging out with friends. While there should be a balance between both of these activities, Setiya says that when completing telic activities, we miss the most important part. The process. We rush to finish them without a second look back and not caring how we get to the end sometimes. This is another set up for failure

Now, as complex as we are, humans will always be social animals. We tend to care how the world sees us whether that’s winners or losers. Now the best solution would be to ditch society but Setiya says we can’t all do that, but maybe we could change it.

Groundhog Day, the movie where the main character is in a continuous loop of the same day. The movie ends with Phil, the main character breaking this loop by showing selflessness, respect, and love for people around him. Society would be so much better if we were able to show respect and love to one another. This would also allow us to not focus on our images, on our failures like Branca’s situation and continue to live our lives day to day.

So, while failure will always be in our lives, and until the day comes where we our society changes, we can live a life where failure is not so centered, it doesn’t define us, and its not a characteristic.