I've had a lot to do, and, what's worse, little inspiration for what to write. I think a lot, but it tends to be angst-driven whining that I doubt could be of use to anyone else.
It seems fair enough that we should start out with a discussion of opinions then. A recent discussion with some of my friends was about anyone's opinion can be wrong. The consensus at the time was negative.
I gave it a little more thought, and decided that, yes, in fact, your opinion can be invalid. This isn't to say "you're wrong, I'm right," or anything along those lines; rather, I believe that your opinion cannot be considered fully valid unless you have questioned it.
The idea is that if you've questioned it, you've had to defend it against yourself, and therefore now has not only your full backing, but you also know why you support it.
Unfortunately, not everyone is so critical of themselves as I may have been assuming when I decided this, so, like all heuristics, this only works with a subset of the population, and must be considered a mere guideline.
One of those things I feel should make enough sense that my stating it just increases my pedantic appearance. Oh well, lack of inspiration strikes again.
Any thoughts worth noting?
Friday, January 27, 2012
Monday, December 12, 2011
Presenting: Me!
Greetings! I'm Charlemagne, your co-host, and as my erudite companion, Constantine has said, we shall be discussing philosophy hereabouts. It shouldn't be hard to distinguish the two of us, as I tend to be infinitely more verbose and convoluted in my phrasing. Also we can sign our names. Since he gets a special typewriter font, I might as well pick one of my own; my choice: trebuchet! Because war machines are badass, and it fits with my name.
Right-ho then. I don't do well with examples, they just don't occur to me so often, so let's start with a concept: existence. I like to start here because there is an exceedingly sophomoric debate that springs up far too often, at least with some of the less mature people I talk to. We exist. There, that's done with, now we can get on with life. If you really need proof, I think Descartes did a pretty good job with his "Je pense, donc je suis" (cogito, ergo sum; I think, therefore I am). I won't insult your intelligence by going on about why this makes sense; you can figure it out.
To dive right in, let's tackle God. I'm not here to shove my beliefs down anybody's throat in this matter, except the belief that no one else should do any shoving either.
I am what you might call an atheist. I'm also what you might call a Jew. I call myself a pantheistic Jew.
Here's how it goes: what proof have we of God's existence? Eh? When it comes right down to it, there's nothing we have that cannot be explained or prevaricated away that proves God's existence or presence. However, we do have ample evidence as to the existence of the universe. I mean, it's all around you; it's everywhere (by definition; we'll get into multiverses and how ludicrous they are later). So you want to believe in something more than yourself? That's easy: it's the universe. Clearly it's larger than you. Not only that, but it is also the sum of, if not greater than, everything accessibly extant. The universe is connected by grace of everything being within it. There are inescapable liaisons between all objects of matter (gravity, to name one). Why not call them, these "Laws of Physics" what they are? God. They rule everything. They created everything. Indeed, they are everything. It's about time we started to appreciate what is, and how fantastic that is, rather than trying to convince ourselves and others that there may be, somewhere in the universe some other being that made us. If this were the case, even then the universe would be greater than whatever creator you choose, and so would still be worth more of our attention than this hypothetical deity.
There you have it: the universe is God. That is pantheism. You don't have to agree with me, but you really should recognize my thoughts. When it comes right down to it, all philosophy is is the exchange of thoughts so we may all begin to (or continue, or finish, as the case may be) build our own senses of self, of morality, of the world, and of life as a whole, among other questions.
I apologize for the brevity, but I suck at time-management.
Cheers,
Charlemagne
Right-ho then. I don't do well with examples, they just don't occur to me so often, so let's start with a concept: existence. I like to start here because there is an exceedingly sophomoric debate that springs up far too often, at least with some of the less mature people I talk to. We exist. There, that's done with, now we can get on with life. If you really need proof, I think Descartes did a pretty good job with his "Je pense, donc je suis" (cogito, ergo sum; I think, therefore I am). I won't insult your intelligence by going on about why this makes sense; you can figure it out.
To dive right in, let's tackle God. I'm not here to shove my beliefs down anybody's throat in this matter, except the belief that no one else should do any shoving either.
I am what you might call an atheist. I'm also what you might call a Jew. I call myself a pantheistic Jew.
Here's how it goes: what proof have we of God's existence? Eh? When it comes right down to it, there's nothing we have that cannot be explained or prevaricated away that proves God's existence or presence. However, we do have ample evidence as to the existence of the universe. I mean, it's all around you; it's everywhere (by definition; we'll get into multiverses and how ludicrous they are later). So you want to believe in something more than yourself? That's easy: it's the universe. Clearly it's larger than you. Not only that, but it is also the sum of, if not greater than, everything accessibly extant. The universe is connected by grace of everything being within it. There are inescapable liaisons between all objects of matter (gravity, to name one). Why not call them, these "Laws of Physics" what they are? God. They rule everything. They created everything. Indeed, they are everything. It's about time we started to appreciate what is, and how fantastic that is, rather than trying to convince ourselves and others that there may be, somewhere in the universe some other being that made us. If this were the case, even then the universe would be greater than whatever creator you choose, and so would still be worth more of our attention than this hypothetical deity.
There you have it: the universe is God. That is pantheism. You don't have to agree with me, but you really should recognize my thoughts. When it comes right down to it, all philosophy is is the exchange of thoughts so we may all begin to (or continue, or finish, as the case may be) build our own senses of self, of morality, of the world, and of life as a whole, among other questions.
I apologize for the brevity, but I suck at time-management.
Cheers,
Charlemagne
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Welcome To Omelas
Hello! Welcome to this philosophy blog. I will be helping run this blog. I'd prefer to use an alias, so for now you can call me Constantine. The other blogger on here will be Charlemagne. With any luck, you'll be able to distinguish our posts from each-other based on our wording and other such actually relevant things, but for now at least, I'm going to post in Courier, which I like better than TNR anyway because it looks a little like a typewriter and hey, typewriters are AWESOME.
Okay, so, rather than bore you with the details of my biography, let's jump into the meat of the matter.
Because of a character I play, I've been examining "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" lately. For those not in the know, "Omelas" is a short story by Ursula K LeGuin (by the way, awesome name or the AWESOMEST name?). I'll give you the cliffnotes.
Omelas is a utopian city. All people there are happy, polite, thoughtful, kind, intellectual, virtuous, and probably even have really big penises or whatever. Point is, its a sweet place to live. But, there's a catch. As it turns out, the happiness of everything, and everyone, in Omelas relies entirely on one very unfortunate child being tortured.
Citizens of Omelas are given a choice when they come of age.
A) Continue living in Omelas, knowing your life depends entirely on a child's torture
or
B) Leave. Risk everything. But at least you're not living of a kid's pain, yeah?
That there's an interesting question, one I want to look a little more into. Since it all boils down to "Can you live with yourself if you stay?"
Is it RIGHT that a small child should be tortured for the safety and security of a utopia?
A lot of us instinctively think "Oh, so that's the catch." We distrust Utopias naturally. And this one, well, this is pretty damn horrific. Look, this kid is going through living hell so you can sit there with your tea and cakes and whatever. Not only that, but you do it in full knowledge that this child, this innocent, unlucky child, is going through hell beneath you. You're just ignoring it. Can you really have that on your conscience?
It seems obvious. You have to go.
But is that the right choice? I want to examine this situation a little, and then I'm gonna show you some alternate, similar situations. Let's see if those are any different, the same, or whatever.
Let's look at some of the details of Omelas.
I: Utopia.
Utopia is an intrinsically paradoxical notion. Can any one society be perfect for everyone?
Look at our society right now. Look at phenomena like the Tea Party, or Occupy Wall-Street.
We're gonna take for granted that the Tea Partiers and the Occupy Movement live in the same, American society. I'll save some comments on whether or not THAT'S true for later, for now, let's say they are. Imagine going to a Tea Party meeting and asking them "Restructure America to be perfect." Then go down to your local Occupation and ask the same thing. Do you really think, well, ANYTHING would be the same?
I, for one, doubt it. Therefore, it certainly seems like there can be no PERFECT society. A perfect society would be one in which everyone is happy. You can't have that, because your Utopia should upset another group.
But here, in Omelas, intrinsic to this whole idea, we have a Utopia. You are HAPPY in Omelas. Omelas is HEAVENLY. What's wrong with Omelas? What's wrong with YOU?! Its everything you want. Its absolutely perfect. In every way. If you want drugs legal, then they're legal. If you want them illegal, then there are no drug users. Omelas is utopia, and the reader has to imagine that Omelas is whatever THEY think Utopia is. Its a, pardon the pun (and I should warn you, it will be painful) Youtopia. Everyone is satisfied with the society. If they're not, they leave. That said, the only thing anyone is ever dissatisfied with is this awkward child torture thing.
2) It's A Child
This is another important point. To maintain Omelas, to maintain this utopia, a child must be tortured. This, again, is something that is incredibly important. It has to be a child. While there's the obvious point that children spark a protective instinct in us, children are better symbols of innocence, there's another, much bigger, reason for this. A child cannot choose.
Now, that sounds ridiculous. Children make choices all the time, of course. But they aren't reasonable, well-considered, intelligent decisions. A child cannot make the choice to be tortured based on the knowledge it will protect everyone else. Children can't make that sort of decision. Its beyond their capability. So there's a key point. Omelas must rest on the back of a child. Not an adult, or even a teenager. A child, who does not understand what is happening or what their role is.
Not only is the child innocent of any crime, they're Adam-or-Eve-like. They don't know right from wrong. All they know is endless, firey pain. Ouch.
You can't console yourself in Omelas that you're resting on the backs of a criminal, or of a volunteer. Omelas tortures an innocent child. You must KNOW that Omelas's victim is innocent.
3) Departure = Suffering
If you choose to walk away, you WILL suffer. You're not taking your chances that maybe you'll come across a better Omelas. You might find some other ex-Omelasians, you might die of starvation. But it won't be easy. You're abandoning your life of comfort and security for not only uncertain survival, but certain pain. Sure, maybe its not as bad as the little kid beneath the city, but don't kid yourself, this is gonna HURT. In Omelas, nothing bad happens (with that one exception). Outside, everything bad happens. You can work to make it better for the refugees, alleviate their suffering, but you can't take it away. You can ease the pain, but its still pain.
There will be pain. There will be blood. There will be all sorts of uncertainty and anguish for you, and for everyone else who walks away. For everyone else who couldn't suffer the idea of living off the back of an innocent, they'll get it bad. You'll probably die young.
4) You Can't Forget
When you're in Omelas, you have to live with the knowledge that this kid is suffering. You have to spend every day knowing that everything around you depends on this kid's torture. That everything in your life is based on this. That without the anguish of whatever millions of torments this kid goes through, you would have nothing. You couldn't sleep in your bed, hell, you probably wouldn't have a bed. This kid gets a fate worse than death. This kid is going through hell, for you, so you and everyone else you know can be happy. And he doesn't have a choice in the matter.
It would probably be a lot easier if you could just forget the suffering - Something I'll examine further in the future, when I look at some Omelas scenarios with some of the details changed - and go on with your life. But you can't. You must always know the secret of Omelas. You can ignore it, or you can dwell on it and drive yourself crazy, but you can never forget.
You can't forget outside of Omelas either though. In fact, you're probably being constantly reminded, as surely as the luxuries of Omelas remind its citizens what the child is going through, you know you made this choice, and you know why. You know you left Omelas. You know you left safety behind. And you will always remember exactly what sparked that choice.
5) You Can't Change It
Here's another big one, and its right in the title. "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." Not "The Ones Who Revolt Against Omelas," or "The Ones Who Work To Change Omelas," or even "The Ones Who Write Angry Letters To The Omelas City Council," You don't get that option. You don't get to say "Let's stop torturing the kid." The people who walk away from Omelas are only given that choice. Stay, be happy, or leave, and suffer. This is entirely on YOUR conscience. You can't save the kid. You can only rest yourself in the knowledge that you're not benefiting from it. You can condemn it all you want, but ultimately, you're powerless to do anything to alleviate the kid's suffering.
So let's look at the question again, again. I'm going to try to put myself in the role of an Omelas citizen to make the choice, and I want you to as well. You're not you, the person from outside Omelas. You're you, the person who spent their whole life in heaven, and just found out how it happened.
I'll say it here. This may be a radical stance, but... Omelas sucks. I don't want there to be an Omelas. I wouldn't grab a kid and throw him in the dungeon if I thought it would make everyone else happy. This is a binary choice. Stay, or Walk Away. There is no third option.
Its A Utopia, Its A Child, Departure = Suffering, You Can't Forget, and You Can't Change It.
The utopia is the hardest for me to wrap my head around, since it seems to go against everything I know about people. Nevertheless, them's the breaks. Does this heaven, this perfect society, justify what's going on? Maybe. Maybe not. But it IS Utopia.
The fact that its a kid is probably the biggest part. I know people who would probably take that kid's place. Talking to a friend of mine about it, he said he didn't need a society. He'd take the kid's place for a hundred. Some people are literally selfless - Without self. They don't care about anyone else less than themselves. They'd do it for one person. But whatever it is, its not them. Its a kid, who doesn't have a choice, and doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know what his pain supports.
Departure = Suffering. For a hedonist like me, that's a tough one. I really don't want to suffer. I mean, let's face it, suffering sucks. Some suffering sucks more than others, some suffering we volunteer for. But that's a key point - If I'm going to suffer by leaving Omelas, I've made my choice. I'm going to suffer outside Omelas. I know that, from any perspective, for me, Omelas is better. I will be happier, healthier, etc.
I can't forget. I don't have the option of zapping the knowledge away when I'm in Omelas. I don't have the option of forgetting what price is being paid for my life of luxury. I. Know. I will ALWAYS know. And stay, or walk away, this will always be on my mind. I will know what's happening in that godforsaken city, whether I live in it or I live outside it. Whether I sip from its tainted fountains or not, I. Will. Know.
For me, its the last one that seals the deal. That I don't get to change it. That my choice has no effect on anyone, either in Omelas or outside of it, except for one person. Me. I get to decide whether I live in comfort, with the knowledge of what's being done to this innocent child, or I can live in pain, with the knowledge of what's being done to this innocent child. My burden doesn't ease his. This kid will always be crushed. That's the definition of Omelas. As long as there is an Omelas, there will be this one, singular, miserable person in it. But the thing is, there will ALWAYS be an Omelas. I can't do anything about it, whichever I choose. Its my conscience. I don't help.
So.
I made my choice.
Welcome to Omelas.
-Constantine
Okay, so, rather than bore you with the details of my biography, let's jump into the meat of the matter.
Because of a character I play, I've been examining "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" lately. For those not in the know, "Omelas" is a short story by Ursula K LeGuin (by the way, awesome name or the AWESOMEST name?). I'll give you the cliffnotes.
Omelas is a utopian city. All people there are happy, polite, thoughtful, kind, intellectual, virtuous, and probably even have really big penises or whatever. Point is, its a sweet place to live. But, there's a catch. As it turns out, the happiness of everything, and everyone, in Omelas relies entirely on one very unfortunate child being tortured.
Citizens of Omelas are given a choice when they come of age.
A) Continue living in Omelas, knowing your life depends entirely on a child's torture
or
B) Leave. Risk everything. But at least you're not living of a kid's pain, yeah?
That there's an interesting question, one I want to look a little more into. Since it all boils down to "Can you live with yourself if you stay?"
Is it RIGHT that a small child should be tortured for the safety and security of a utopia?
A lot of us instinctively think "Oh, so that's the catch." We distrust Utopias naturally. And this one, well, this is pretty damn horrific. Look, this kid is going through living hell so you can sit there with your tea and cakes and whatever. Not only that, but you do it in full knowledge that this child, this innocent, unlucky child, is going through hell beneath you. You're just ignoring it. Can you really have that on your conscience?
It seems obvious. You have to go.
But is that the right choice? I want to examine this situation a little, and then I'm gonna show you some alternate, similar situations. Let's see if those are any different, the same, or whatever.
Let's look at some of the details of Omelas.
I: Utopia.
Utopia is an intrinsically paradoxical notion. Can any one society be perfect for everyone?
Look at our society right now. Look at phenomena like the Tea Party, or Occupy Wall-Street.
We're gonna take for granted that the Tea Partiers and the Occupy Movement live in the same, American society. I'll save some comments on whether or not THAT'S true for later, for now, let's say they are. Imagine going to a Tea Party meeting and asking them "Restructure America to be perfect." Then go down to your local Occupation and ask the same thing. Do you really think, well, ANYTHING would be the same?
I, for one, doubt it. Therefore, it certainly seems like there can be no PERFECT society. A perfect society would be one in which everyone is happy. You can't have that, because your Utopia should upset another group.
But here, in Omelas, intrinsic to this whole idea, we have a Utopia. You are HAPPY in Omelas. Omelas is HEAVENLY. What's wrong with Omelas? What's wrong with YOU?! Its everything you want. Its absolutely perfect. In every way. If you want drugs legal, then they're legal. If you want them illegal, then there are no drug users. Omelas is utopia, and the reader has to imagine that Omelas is whatever THEY think Utopia is. Its a, pardon the pun (and I should warn you, it will be painful) Youtopia. Everyone is satisfied with the society. If they're not, they leave. That said, the only thing anyone is ever dissatisfied with is this awkward child torture thing.
2) It's A Child
This is another important point. To maintain Omelas, to maintain this utopia, a child must be tortured. This, again, is something that is incredibly important. It has to be a child. While there's the obvious point that children spark a protective instinct in us, children are better symbols of innocence, there's another, much bigger, reason for this. A child cannot choose.
Now, that sounds ridiculous. Children make choices all the time, of course. But they aren't reasonable, well-considered, intelligent decisions. A child cannot make the choice to be tortured based on the knowledge it will protect everyone else. Children can't make that sort of decision. Its beyond their capability. So there's a key point. Omelas must rest on the back of a child. Not an adult, or even a teenager. A child, who does not understand what is happening or what their role is.
Not only is the child innocent of any crime, they're Adam-or-Eve-like. They don't know right from wrong. All they know is endless, firey pain. Ouch.
You can't console yourself in Omelas that you're resting on the backs of a criminal, or of a volunteer. Omelas tortures an innocent child. You must KNOW that Omelas's victim is innocent.
3) Departure = Suffering
If you choose to walk away, you WILL suffer. You're not taking your chances that maybe you'll come across a better Omelas. You might find some other ex-Omelasians, you might die of starvation. But it won't be easy. You're abandoning your life of comfort and security for not only uncertain survival, but certain pain. Sure, maybe its not as bad as the little kid beneath the city, but don't kid yourself, this is gonna HURT. In Omelas, nothing bad happens (with that one exception). Outside, everything bad happens. You can work to make it better for the refugees, alleviate their suffering, but you can't take it away. You can ease the pain, but its still pain.
There will be pain. There will be blood. There will be all sorts of uncertainty and anguish for you, and for everyone else who walks away. For everyone else who couldn't suffer the idea of living off the back of an innocent, they'll get it bad. You'll probably die young.
4) You Can't Forget
When you're in Omelas, you have to live with the knowledge that this kid is suffering. You have to spend every day knowing that everything around you depends on this kid's torture. That everything in your life is based on this. That without the anguish of whatever millions of torments this kid goes through, you would have nothing. You couldn't sleep in your bed, hell, you probably wouldn't have a bed. This kid gets a fate worse than death. This kid is going through hell, for you, so you and everyone else you know can be happy. And he doesn't have a choice in the matter.
It would probably be a lot easier if you could just forget the suffering - Something I'll examine further in the future, when I look at some Omelas scenarios with some of the details changed - and go on with your life. But you can't. You must always know the secret of Omelas. You can ignore it, or you can dwell on it and drive yourself crazy, but you can never forget.
You can't forget outside of Omelas either though. In fact, you're probably being constantly reminded, as surely as the luxuries of Omelas remind its citizens what the child is going through, you know you made this choice, and you know why. You know you left Omelas. You know you left safety behind. And you will always remember exactly what sparked that choice.
5) You Can't Change It
Here's another big one, and its right in the title. "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." Not "The Ones Who Revolt Against Omelas," or "The Ones Who Work To Change Omelas," or even "The Ones Who Write Angry Letters To The Omelas City Council," You don't get that option. You don't get to say "Let's stop torturing the kid." The people who walk away from Omelas are only given that choice. Stay, be happy, or leave, and suffer. This is entirely on YOUR conscience. You can't save the kid. You can only rest yourself in the knowledge that you're not benefiting from it. You can condemn it all you want, but ultimately, you're powerless to do anything to alleviate the kid's suffering.
So let's look at the question again, again. I'm going to try to put myself in the role of an Omelas citizen to make the choice, and I want you to as well. You're not you, the person from outside Omelas. You're you, the person who spent their whole life in heaven, and just found out how it happened.
I'll say it here. This may be a radical stance, but... Omelas sucks. I don't want there to be an Omelas. I wouldn't grab a kid and throw him in the dungeon if I thought it would make everyone else happy. This is a binary choice. Stay, or Walk Away. There is no third option.
Its A Utopia, Its A Child, Departure = Suffering, You Can't Forget, and You Can't Change It.
The utopia is the hardest for me to wrap my head around, since it seems to go against everything I know about people. Nevertheless, them's the breaks. Does this heaven, this perfect society, justify what's going on? Maybe. Maybe not. But it IS Utopia.
The fact that its a kid is probably the biggest part. I know people who would probably take that kid's place. Talking to a friend of mine about it, he said he didn't need a society. He'd take the kid's place for a hundred. Some people are literally selfless - Without self. They don't care about anyone else less than themselves. They'd do it for one person. But whatever it is, its not them. Its a kid, who doesn't have a choice, and doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know what his pain supports.
Departure = Suffering. For a hedonist like me, that's a tough one. I really don't want to suffer. I mean, let's face it, suffering sucks. Some suffering sucks more than others, some suffering we volunteer for. But that's a key point - If I'm going to suffer by leaving Omelas, I've made my choice. I'm going to suffer outside Omelas. I know that, from any perspective, for me, Omelas is better. I will be happier, healthier, etc.
I can't forget. I don't have the option of zapping the knowledge away when I'm in Omelas. I don't have the option of forgetting what price is being paid for my life of luxury. I. Know. I will ALWAYS know. And stay, or walk away, this will always be on my mind. I will know what's happening in that godforsaken city, whether I live in it or I live outside it. Whether I sip from its tainted fountains or not, I. Will. Know.
For me, its the last one that seals the deal. That I don't get to change it. That my choice has no effect on anyone, either in Omelas or outside of it, except for one person. Me. I get to decide whether I live in comfort, with the knowledge of what's being done to this innocent child, or I can live in pain, with the knowledge of what's being done to this innocent child. My burden doesn't ease his. This kid will always be crushed. That's the definition of Omelas. As long as there is an Omelas, there will be this one, singular, miserable person in it. But the thing is, there will ALWAYS be an Omelas. I can't do anything about it, whichever I choose. Its my conscience. I don't help.
So.
I made my choice.
Welcome to Omelas.
-Constantine
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