Lost the Point

Been listening to Philosophize This! which is a great podcast by Stephen West who tries to make learning about philosophy easy and fun. Take a listen if you think it might interest you: https://www.philosophizethis.org/ It’s also on Apple podcasts and Spotify.

As I like thinking about why people are like they are, I find it soothing listen to the podcast to remind myself that my particular worries and interests have been around for a long time and have been combed through by people smarter than I am. I sometimes zap into later episodes that interest me, but for the most part I’m starting at the beginning of the podcasts. Sometimes something in particular strikes me.

In episode #008, West talks about Confucius saying “…he was a huge advocate of education. He lived in a country that had a class system where some people are seen as worse than others. But he thought the more you educate people, the more these classes begin to fade until they’re virtually indistinguishable…“

“[Confucius says] that people will live up to the moral standards of their leader if he walks the walk himself. Confucius thinks this would be much more effective because it not only keeps control and order of the common people, but it makes it so that the government is essentially unnecessary because, in his example, people aren’t living a virtuous life because they’re scared of retribution by a powerful dictator. They’re doing it for selfish reasons that happen to align with the wants of the state.”

The wonderful thing with this podcast is that West is familiar with the entire history of philosophy. You can tell that he likely began with the Greeks, or has a special place in his heart for them, but he’s able to still make parallels with the big names in eastern philosophy. Here he makes a connection with the former explanation of Confucius’s ideas and Socrates, still in episode 008.

“… someone asked Socrates the equivalent of the modern-day question, “How can you be moral without a belief in God?” And Socrates asks—and I’m paraphrasing here, so give me a break—he says something like, well, does God determine what is moral or immoral? Like, could God make killing babies a moral act, or are there just behaviors that are moral behaviors that God chooses to endorse? Because if that’s true, morality is exterior to a God and, therefore, a God is not necessary to be a moral person. Whereas, if God determines what is moral, then you’re really just a slave to a doctrine. I mean, if the only reason you aren’t killing someone is because you’re afraid of fire and brimstone or retribution by some powerful God, are you really a good person?”

Here I’ve pulled out quotes that talk about ‘retribution’ in episode 8. Both philosophers talk about a ‘punisher’ (for Confucius it’s the state, and for Socrates, it’s god, or likely for him at least, the gods) and both say that there is a reason to be moral. The first says being moral is more or less to be a good citizen, to please your leaders and to be seen well by them, the second says that some things are just plain moral all on their own.

I think that we have to teach morality. People have to learn what is right and wrong, both within their families (the first line of attack to teach people how to behave) and by society, in our schools or workplaces. I remember having a particular line on my first grade report card, and getting a good mark for “working and playing well with others”. It used to be a thing that was important. When did we lose that? When did we lose the art of arguing intelligently (or even the desire to do this) and just insult people instead? When did it become the norm to desire not to work and play well with others?

So this is what I’ve been mulling over this weekend. I didn’t do much the last two days, and kind of missed out taking advantage of some unexpected good weather, but I was sometimes, for brief flashes, so incredibly happy. I just loved watching birds fly, and watching the clouds, and eating good food, and sleeping enough.

However, in spite of my overall good mood, I need to work on being a better, more moral person. I need to let other’s selfishness and idiocy roll off my back. This even goes with the stupid stuff, like getting annoyed that someone left their bags on the seats next to them on the train so I had to stand for my entire ride. Maybe the suitcases were tired and needed a rest? Ok, that was objectively annoying of the woman who left her bags there, but I should have simply talked with her and told them where there was a spot for their bags instead of being bitchy and whiny about it. I simply stood in the middle of the aisle, in the middle of the woman’s conversation with her seat-mate just to be as annoying as possible since she wouldn’t move her bags. I should have done my part in talking to this woman about how to be better and to care about sharing public spaces. I should have helped her learn to “work and play well with others”. And I didn’t, and that’s on me. I lost something in that incident.

Thank goodness I have Foro to help me remember not to take myself too seriously.