Philosophy Now Forum

Dubious wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2024 11:57 am
Where would philosophy be if we didn't ask the same questions endlessly!

K: and feel free to tell me the answers to those ''same questions
endlessly!?''

the point is one of two things... either we have failed to ask
the right questions, or there are no answers to those questions....

you tell me.....

but there is a third option....

K: and here we are going to discuss the third option.......
but we have to give some context....

with each generation, we ask the same questions, ''what
am I to do?" ''What should I believe in?" ""What am I to be?"
"What does it mean to be human? ''What can I know?"

the very familiar questions of philosophy that have been around forever...
and have never really been answered... as I pointed out, it might be
because we haven't asked the right questions, or there are no
answers to these questions, but I did say something about a third way/option....

that each generation has a different environment, a different understanding
of the world... The Greeks for example believed that the universe was
rational and could be rationally explained...so, in asking what does it mean
to be human, will get one a different answer in the Greek age, then in the Roman
age and a different answer in the Medieval age......different ages will get
different answers because of the different environments people find themselves
in.....our environment is vastly different than the Middle Ages and so our
questions might be the same, ''Who are we'', the answers will be vastly
different......different environments will create different answers as to
the perennial questions of philosophy..... 

I was born before Vietnam and Watergate and Reagun....
and my childhood milieu was vastly different than those who were born
after 1900....or even 2000..... I was 42 when 9/11 happened... so my
perspective of is vastly different than yours because I was of a different age.....
born of a different environment... or as one person has put it,

''We all, are victims of our times''...

and for me personally, the questions of philosophy look different because
I was born of another time, I lived in a very different milieu... where
we saw America as the ''City on the hill'' today, not so much......

the perennial questions are still the same, but we answer them differently
because of the difference in our ages..... we see them differently
because of the difference in our milieu of childhood.....
where most of us have our life's philosophy indoctrinated into us...
where our theories, values, beliefs are indoctrinated into us,
by the state, education, the media, our family, society.. the church.....
and we keep those values and beliefs until we engage in a reevaluation
of values, where we examine our beliefs to see if they are actually our
beliefs or if they have been indoctrinated into us when we were children.....
and until we do reexamine our values, our beliefs, we must assume that
our precious values/beliefs are actually the values and beliefs of the
times we were born in....

the third option is we examine our questions, ''Who are we'', and ''What
are we to do?'' among the many questions that have existed for human beings
since the beginning of time...in light of our changing environment.....
today those perennial questions look different to me because my
own environment is different...

and that is why we must keep asking the same old questions that
don't seem to have any answers.. it's because those questions
are different in light of our different and changing times.... our
environment...... Socrates asked the exact same questions I do,
he got a different answers than I do because we live in different
times, different environments......same question, different answers...
and every single generation will ask the same questions and because
of their experiences and environment, they have different answers...

Kropotkin

the question, ''How can I lead a moral/ethical life" is a different question
today than it was 100 years ago or in the age of Socrates....
as morality/ethics has changed... which kinda destroys the
argument that ethics/morals are universal and forever....
ethics do and can change given the different way we live today......

when I was a kid, a politician that lied and discovered to have lied,
their careers were over..... Thomas Eagleton was a vice presidential
nominee in 1972 for McGovern, and he was found to have mental
illness that several times had him hospitalizes, this was discovered
and boom, he was gone in minutes... his career and Mcgovern
chance for the presidency, was gone....... he lied and that was enough
for him to be gone.... today, we elect liars for congress and
one of the greatest liars of our time, is, yet again, a candidate for
president.... spoiler alert, it isn't Biden.... being a liar isn't
the career ender that it once was..... and that is a change in the times.....
not a change for the better, I might add......

given the endemic lying that exists in our workplace, our politics,
our economics and in our leaders, lying is no longer the problem
that it once was..... it is now expected from our leaders....
my own former manager was a very skilled liar.... and he got
promoted... no one is expected to tell the truth anymore....
and how do we then expect people to hold or lead ethical,
moral lives when lying is not only tolerated but expected....
in all walks of life.....

the very concept of being moral, ethical has been shattered into
a million pieces because the goal is not to be moral or ethical,
but the goal is to be rich or famous or powerful or have plenty
of material possessions... and to achieve those goals, one is expected
to lie and cheat and steal..... the goal is the important thing, not
the way we got the goal....

so, morals and ethics fall by the wayside because it is no longer
valued.... and in fact, it hinders the real goal of America,
that is to be wealthy or famous or powerful or have a title....

the end goal suggests the means or method of achieving that goal....

one need not lie about how they achieved wealth or material possessions....
to be unethical or immoral is now expected in becoming wealthy or famous....
and that is the point, not to be ethical or moral, but to be rich and anything
goes in trying to achieve that goal....

what is ethical or moral? it is situational, the situation dictates
the ethics, the morals of any situation... and thus, we no longer
have any type of universal ethics, or morals... we have situational
ethics... the situation dictates the ethics....
and thus lying, stealing, cheating is now accepted and indeed,
expected... and how does one lead a moral/ethical life when lying
is now the expected norm?

Kropotkin