Anchors Away

[00:00:00]I am a couple of videos [00:00:01]behind getting the videos posted on the playlist, [00:00:04]but I'll, I'll get them so the classes can catch up on [00:00:11]it. [00:00:12]You know, in the past, of course, a couple of schedule changes.

[00:00:19]Um, so yeah, since we didn't finish chapter five on, well, two things. [00:00:25]One, I didn't finish chapter five on Wednesday. [00:00:28]The other thing is [00:00:29]I left [00:00:30]the day off the off the syllabus, like one day, just like, like, uh,

[00:00:36]I think October 19th, just like, isn't on. [00:00:38]They're still having class that day and stuff. I just left it off. [00:00:43]So I'm going to shift everything back one day. [00:00:45]So today we'll finish up chapter five. [00:00:47]Um, then Wednesday to chapter six on Logic.

[00:00:52]Um, no class on Monday because it's Indigenous Peoples Day, um, [00:00:56]then chapter seven on next Wednesday. [00:01:01]And then that'll be, that's the end of unit one. [00:01:04]So that's the end of our basic philosophical tools. [00:01:08]So then we shift into unit two after that.

[00:01:11]So, um, [00:01:13]so podcast to cover, you know, everything since your last podcast. [00:01:16]So basically finishing up those, [00:01:20]those tools on logic and [00:01:23]ontology and uh, today on first principles,

[00:01:28]um, so core, so that is a Sunday, Sunday, October 16th. [00:01:35]If it's a day or two around, then it's okay. [00:01:38]But ideally you really want to try and get it in, you know, before we [00:01:42]you want to do it before we were before we start doing it too. [00:01:46]So that's just, you know, that's the, that's definitely the goal.

[00:01:49]Um, my question. [00:01:53]Kool and the Gang? [00:01:57]Um, words. All right. Um, [00:02:01]so [00:02:04]I sure I'm finish up, uh, first principles of philosophy.

[00:02:11]So what are the first principles of philosophy [00:02:33]of tire today, huh? [00:02:35]I need to get some pep [00:02:40]to [00:02:41]start bringing coke or something to class

[00:02:45]or meth [00:02:46]Yeah. [00:02:48]It's starts with the reality of yes. [00:02:52]That's true. [00:02:53]Philosophy only begins with a meaningful reflection

[00:02:56]on the reality of death. [00:02:57]But by first principle. Right. [00:02:59]So when we're talking about, um, what we reviewed on um, Wednesday, [00:03:05]systematic philosophy, how do we make decisions right? [00:03:09]Organizing all philosophy into,

[00:03:12]um, the sort of decision making process we got ontology at the center, [00:03:18]which is Chapter seven, live guides, [00:03:25]epistemology [00:03:29]and language. [00:03:32]Next, Epistemology, Chapter two

[00:03:38]language we'll kind of do in connection with logic, [00:03:41]but we've already done some, right? [00:03:43]We started by talking about it and homology and that sort of thing. [00:03:46]Um, on the next reading Logic [00:03:51]Desire,

[00:03:53]um, so Logic is chapter six [00:03:57]Wednesday [00:03:59]and esthetics, which we may get to later. [00:04:03]And the later in the semester, is listen to the podcast, [00:04:09]not from this class, but from another class.

[00:04:12]And they were a little puzzled by esthetics and why it's on there. [00:04:17]But, you know, if you think about how people make decisions, [00:04:20]especially major, [00:04:21]you know, [00:04:21]like who to marry

[00:04:23]or who like how to choose a partner or that kind of thing, right? [00:04:27]Boyfriends, girlfriends, partners, lifelong partners. [00:04:30]A lot of times esthetics comes into play. Right. So you don't [00:04:34]people tend to get married to people that they're attracted to, right? [00:04:37]So physical appearance and right.

[00:04:40]That's basically the whole thought process behind like Tinder, right. [00:04:45]Um, [00:04:47]is esthetics but also like, you know, how you choose, [00:04:51]how you live your life, right? [00:04:53]So I mean, if you're somebody who, somebody like me

[00:04:56]who like really means to be in touch [00:04:57]with nature all the time and, and just [00:05:00]feels my energy and stuff from nature. [00:05:03]It's why I live on a farm and that kind of stuff. Right? [00:05:05]And so

[00:05:06]if that, for that type of person, then living in a city, [00:05:09]probably not going to bring you happiness, right? [00:05:12]But if you like the, like the late night party [00:05:15]in, in the club kind of thing, then that's more your scene, right. [00:05:18]So those are also esthetic. So,

[00:05:22]you know, we make [00:05:23]decisions on these three things. [00:05:26]Next thing is first principles of philosophy. [00:05:28]So it goes out there. But. [00:05:33]Not yet. People, some performances.

[00:05:36]So that's one of them. Right. [00:05:38]So what is philosophical anthropology? [00:05:48]Oh, my goodness. [00:05:54]We did this in chapter one. [00:05:56]We reviewed it the other day.

[00:05:58]Yeah. [00:05:58]Um, basically go into things and think, what does it mean? [00:06:05]Yeah. [00:06:05]So, I mean, doubting things, it's all philosophy, but yeah. [00:06:10]So anthropology is what does it mean to be human?

[00:06:13]What does it mean to be? Yeah, that's the Anthropocene. This, um. [00:06:17]What does it mean to be a human person, right? [00:06:18]What does it mean? [00:06:19]Yeah, I mean, to be human person. [00:06:21]Or another way of asking the question is to my

[00:06:28]or who are we? [00:06:30]Right. [00:06:31]Remember, we went through this recipe be in your notes the other day [00:06:35]and um. Yeah. What does it mean to be human person? [00:06:38]What's another one?

[00:06:44]Existentialism. Yeah. So existentialism. Why am I here? [00:06:48]Right. [00:06:48]And, uh, existentialism that we covered. [00:06:54]Yeah. Especially in chapter four. Right. [00:06:56]A meaningful reflection on the reality of death

[00:06:58]helps us to think about. [00:07:00]Well, what does it mean to exist, right? [00:07:01]Why am I here? What's the purpose of life? [00:07:03]Why keep going on? Right. [00:07:05]I've talked about the Buddha

[00:07:06]and you know why he decided to just give up, right? [00:07:10]What made him suicidally depressed over the [00:07:14]pointlessness of existence. Right. [00:07:16]And then it was so what caused them to [00:07:21]what? What caused them to get up?

[00:07:23]Well, why did the Buddha. [00:07:25]So he felt that nihilistic depression. [00:07:27]And then what caused them to like find that existential purpose? [00:07:32]Probably [00:07:36]don't remember.

[00:07:37]Yeah. The only. [00:07:40]Sympathy more. [00:07:44]Okay, anyway. Yeah. It was was something. [00:07:49]No Connor or anything like that. [00:07:53]It came to the realization that it's like life is meaningful.

[00:07:56]It's really. [00:07:57]Meaningful. Yeah, exactly. [00:07:59]And, and then so [00:08:01]and then so to make life meaningful, [00:08:03]you make each moment meaningful, right?

[00:08:05]If you make it [00:08:05]if you have a meaningful moment in the day, [00:08:08]if you live some part of your day with purpose, right. [00:08:11]You give that day purpose [00:08:13]and then you give to the next day purpose and the next day purpose.

[00:08:15]Then your life has a purpose that ring a bell. Now the line [00:08:21]and what's the what's the last one [00:08:25]that you remember? [00:08:25]The last one, Krista [00:08:32]Patrick.

[00:08:35]Yeah. So what is cosmology. [00:08:39]In [00:08:40]cosmology asking. We're [00:08:44]sure. Yeah, I mean, that's true, right? So who am I? [00:08:47]Where am I?

[00:08:51]And why am I here? [00:08:57]So that's, like, illegible, right? [00:09:04]Cosmology is the study of the cosmos, right? [00:09:08]What does the cosmos world? Yeah. [00:09:12]And what is the world?

[00:09:17]Is it like everything in once? [00:09:20]Yes, it's everything around me, right? I'm always at the center. [00:09:24]You're always at the center. Right. [00:09:25]So we're in each other's worlds right now, right? [00:09:28]Um, and so, yeah, it's a study of your surroundings.

[00:09:33]Where am I? Right. What's what's around me? [00:09:35]What are these other people? What are these other humans? [00:09:37]How do I. What responsibility do I have to them? Right. [00:09:41]There's somebody around me that's starving to death. [00:09:43]Do I have a responsibility to feed them or kick them or steal their shit or share a blunt with them?

[00:09:53]or all of the above? [00:09:54]No, don't be all that be mean or look behind you before you back up. [00:09:59]Right, that kind of stuff. Right. [00:10:01]So what responsibility do we have to those around us? [00:10:05]Um, cool.

[00:10:10]All right, [00:10:11]so when we were doing these first principles of philosophy, why. [00:10:15]Why do philosophers want to have some first principles of philosophy? [00:10:19]I mean, what? Why? What's the point of them? Yeah. Lena? [00:10:25]Mm hmm.

[00:10:26]So you got to have some firm foundation in and knowledge, right? [00:10:31]We talked about Descartes, and Descartes was trying to find something. [00:10:35]Um, something that's beyond all doubt, right? [00:10:40]Something that could be a firm foundation [00:10:42]so that you can build your philosophy on top of that. Right?

[00:10:45]So what's something that. [00:10:48]Right, because, [00:10:50]you know, he grew up [00:10:51]and then he realized that his parents [00:10:52]had told him some things

[00:10:53]that weren't true [00:10:54]and his teachers had told him things that weren't true and [00:10:57]people around him and told him things that weren't true. [00:10:59]Although, you know, [00:11:00]you've got like Copernicus

[00:11:01]and like all sorts of new discoveries [00:11:03]about the world and science going on and that sort of thing, right? So [00:11:10]as we learn more about our surroundings [00:11:12]and some people have more scientific understanding than others. Right? [00:11:16]And so Descartes had more than his parents did.

[00:11:20]And so he grew up and then realized, oh shit, like [00:11:23]my parents were wrong about all these things. [00:11:25]And that shook his foundation. [00:11:26]So I was looking for something. [00:11:27]A firm foundation, right?

[00:11:29]Something to build philosophy on top of and what do to come up with. [00:11:33]Yeah you know [00:11:35]that's he doubts everything, but he cannot doubt that he's doubting. [00:11:39]Therefore, [00:11:41]it is real.

[00:11:43]Exactly. Right. Yeah. [00:11:44]Yeah. So I doubt very well that I doubt the existence of everything. [00:11:49]So I doubt [00:11:54]everything except what. [00:11:58]Except that there is a doubter.

[00:12:01]Yeah. Or there is doubting. [00:12:03]Except that I in doubting [00:12:11]it. [00:12:11]Right. [00:12:12]And then from there he concludes, I think therefore I am

[00:12:24]cogito ergo sum [00:12:27]and then hunky dory, right? [00:12:30]Everything's groovy. Everything. The whole world makes sense. [00:12:34]Everybody's super happy. Descartes fixed philosophy. [00:12:37]We solved all of our problems, right?

[00:12:40]He found this firm foundation, that thing [00:12:43]which is beyond doubting, right? [00:12:45]And everybody bought into it because it definitely fit with their, [00:12:50]like, um, worldview and that kind of stuff. [00:12:54]And then David HUME comes along and David HUME says, What.

[00:13:01]Is this crazy, [00:13:03]right? Yeah, yeah, nicely put. [00:13:06]I think I said, he's full of shit or something like that. [00:13:08]Yeah, I have one sentence. He said, yeah, that's true. [00:13:14]That's a good, that's a good sign. It's the right.

[00:13:16]Yeah I there is no I, there is no I [00:13:25]what we call I. [00:13:29]It. [00:13:32]Is just a stream. [00:13:36]I don't, I see it as a stream of consciousness,

[00:13:39]but it's yeah, I like that [00:13:45]a [00:13:47]stream of conscious events. Right. [00:13:49]And so that stream we talked about a river and straight is a river. [00:13:55]Does a river exist or is a river just an idea or something like that?

[00:13:59]Right. [00:13:59]And so that notion of is there an I [00:14:03]that is the same throughout my whole life [00:14:05]or in my constantly changing and um, [00:14:09]yeah, I mean, my body's changing, my cells are changing, I eat poop, I,

[00:14:14]you know, drink and urinate. [00:14:16]I mean, my hair changes, my everything about me changes, right? [00:14:20]My thoughts change, my understanding change, my knower changes, right? [00:14:24]So the knower [00:14:26]Descartes wanted to put the anchor in the nowhere,

[00:14:32]right? [00:14:32]Um, let's see. [00:14:38]Um, he wanted to anchor [00:14:42]the knowledge and the knower, right? [00:14:47]Yeah.

[00:14:55]And a lot of time to spin on a shitty little anchor, right? [00:14:58]Descartes wanted to anchor the knowledge in the knower so [00:15:02]well can be the firm foundation of knowledge. [00:15:04]Well, the fact that there is a knower [00:15:06]and then from there I can build out everything else, right?

[00:15:09]The existence of everything else built around this [00:15:12]indubitable, being, you know, indubitable notion that I am, [00:15:17]I think therefore I am, I am this knower who knows things. [00:15:21]But then HUME is like, well, okay, but the knower is the one who knows [00:15:26]knowledge, right?

[00:15:27]And every time, you know, knowledge, then the knower changes, right? [00:15:31]And so the knower [00:15:33]constantly changes what it means to be a no or you can't be a knower [00:15:36]unless there's some content of your knowing, right? [00:15:40]And so the knower knows something.

[00:15:42]And as that something changes, so too does the knower, right? [00:15:46]So as our thoughts change, as our ideas change, then we change. [00:15:51]So there's no right. There's no [00:15:56]there's not. [00:15:56]That can't be the anchor

[00:15:58]for I think that's as far as we got the other day, right. [00:16:03]Yeah. Okay. [00:16:04]Any questions of our [00:16:07]book review? [00:16:11]All right, then.

[00:16:14]Can't. [00:16:15]Yeah. [00:16:21]Huh. [00:16:22]Immanuel Kant [00:16:30]So you've got, uh, Descartes, French, Hume's Scottish

[00:16:38]and then cons [00:16:41]German. [00:16:45]So. All right. Can't comes along. [00:16:51]I mean, they're at the same time they knew each other and stuff. [00:16:54]And Converse was like, fine,

[00:17:01]you know, like deep sighing, like, irritated [00:17:06]him. Unfortunately, makes a really good point. [00:17:10]Right. Humans, right. [00:17:12]Hume's logic is sound, right. [00:17:15]Um, and so he's he's disproven Descartes, right?

[00:17:20]Descartes wants to put the anchor in the knower. [00:17:23]And HUME has says nothing but the anchor and the knower. Right. [00:17:28]That's because that no where it's constantly changing in cons [00:17:32]like I mean, you're right, it's right. He's right. But can't add this [00:17:39]can't add this fear, right?

[00:17:41]This concern about society. He felt that the humans and society, [00:17:48]if they lost their firm foundation, their confidence in in knowledge, [00:17:54]confidence, and how do we know what we know? [00:17:57]Then they would lose confidence in ethics [00:18:00]and then they would descend into a society without morals.

[00:18:06]Right? The people would no longer follow rules or follow ethics. [00:18:11]They wouldn't be good people anymore, [00:18:13]that they would lie to each other [00:18:15]and they would lied and lying, which is big concern [00:18:19]lying from for him. Lying.

[00:18:21]Everything starts with lying, right? [00:18:23]So [00:18:24]people would lie to each other [00:18:26]and try to deceive each other and that sort of thing. [00:18:30]Um, so he felt that like without a firm foundation and knowledge,

[00:18:36]a firm [00:18:38]without [00:18:39]logically sound, philosophical system, [00:18:42]then we can't have logically sound ethics, right? [00:18:45]And so his concern was we've got to have a society

[00:18:50]with ethics. [00:18:51]If we're going to live in the same society, [00:18:53]we need the same system of ethics, right? [00:18:56]So that we can [00:18:58]you know, you can have a system of ethics

[00:19:00]over there and a system of ethics over here. [00:19:02]But if we're going to live in this society, [00:19:03]then we have to have some common values [00:19:05]and some common ethical principles. [00:19:08]And for that, we have to have some common philosophical principles.

[00:19:12]Right. [00:19:12]Something for those ethics to stand on. [00:19:15]Right. Some firm foundation for the ethics of stand on, follow me. [00:19:18]So if I'm [00:19:19]right and so Khan said, I mean, basically he's saying, all right,

[00:19:26]Hume's right. [00:19:28]He's disproving Descartes [00:19:30]or at least shown an alternative alternate, you know, [00:19:35]an equally plausible, equally logical alternative to Descartes. [00:19:41]But we really need a firm foundation rates.

[00:19:45]We're not just looking at this firm foundation for fun, [00:19:49]but we really have to have one in order to live in a society [00:19:53]where people don't lie [00:19:54]and steal and cheat and deceive one another right. [00:19:57]And harm one another.

[00:19:58]We've got to have some firm foundation for ethics. [00:20:02]And [00:20:04]I know I'm repeating myself, [00:20:05]but just to make sure you get the point, right, [00:20:08]so that you write it down

[00:20:10]and remember it for next class, those sort of things. [00:20:13]And so Kant said, what we've got to do [00:20:16]since we really need this firm foundation [00:20:19]and we can't we can't find it great. [00:20:23]We can't find something.

[00:20:25]His solution solution to this problem [00:20:27]is so incredibly unsatisfying that it's it's super frustrating. [00:20:32]But his solution was we have to stipulate [00:20:40]we have to stipulate the first principles. [00:20:44]And what does stipulate mean.

[00:20:51]I'm not sure. [00:20:54]So if you're going to play a character like basketball, right? Yeah. [00:20:58]So if you don't play like pick up ball, right. [00:21:04]Do you ever play Make It, Take It. You're not really know. [00:21:09]And I guess in a way, I mean, I guess so.

[00:21:12]I love it. [00:21:12]Three on three too. [00:21:13]I guess when you make it, you get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:21:18]You play that too. [00:21:20]So sometimes you do.

[00:21:21]Sometimes you don't. Yeah, it does. [00:21:23]It does it really matter if you play with that rule or not, [00:21:27]but does matter if you stipulate it or not. Right. [00:21:31]You can't like make a basket and then decide, [00:21:33]oh, we're going to play, make it, take it

[00:21:35]or the other team makes the basket [00:21:37]and you're like, No, we're not playing make it. [00:21:38]That's not fair. Right? [00:21:40]So you have to like stipulate are we going? [00:21:42]Where are the rules we're playing by, right? Makes sense.

[00:21:46]So we just got to stipulate let's make up the rules. [00:21:50]We can play by these rules we can play make it take it fine. Right. [00:21:53]We can play not make it take it fine. [00:21:56]It doesn't matter. Right? Or chess. Somebody plays chess and [00:22:04]my son and I play chess.

[00:22:05]And there's this old rule, like super old rule [00:22:10]with a queen could move like any piece on the board. [00:22:14]Now you play the in typical way of playing. [00:22:16]Now the queen can move [00:22:19]any way

[00:22:20]except the way that the knight moves, you know, [00:22:22]so they can't, like, jump. [00:22:24]But sometimes we play what we call “OP Queens,” right? [00:22:29]So where queens can can jump like knights [00:22:33]and again, like, it's super fun both ways.

[00:22:35]It totally changes the game. [00:22:37]That final rule change changes the whole game, right? [00:22:41]But it's fine to play either way as long as everybody stipulating [00:22:45]this is a role playing by makes sense, right? [00:22:47]So you kind of said we can

[00:22:51]we can go with sort of Descartes theory [00:22:53]or we can go with Hume's theory [00:22:55]or we can look for another theory or whatever. [00:22:57]But it says we really have to have a firm foundation. [00:23:00]We have to,

[00:23:02]you know, for all these reasons, mostly [00:23:04]as the ethical, social, societal, [00:23:07]those sort of things, we have to have an ethics in society. [00:23:11]And for that we need to have a firm foundation in our knowledge. [00:23:14]And for that, we have to stipulate something, right. And so

[00:23:19]already I find that super unsatisfying, right? [00:23:22]I get it. Definitely get it. [00:23:25]But I don't know. [00:23:27]It's not satisfying, is it? [00:23:30]But what really bothers me is what he stipulated. Right.

[00:23:36]What he said deleted. [00:23:37]Basically what he said was, we have to stipulate, we have to choose. [00:23:42]And so we're going to go with Descartes, right? [00:23:46]We're going to go with Descartes and we're going to anchor [00:23:49]all epistemology.

[00:23:51]Right. [00:23:52]Where does our knowledge stand on? [00:23:54]We're going to anchor all epistemology and the know. [00:23:56]We're going to follow Descartes. [00:23:59]Why that super frustrating.

[00:24:09]I mean, he recognized [00:24:10]that HUME has already kind of destroyed that theory, right? [00:24:14]I mean, HUME [00:24:16]HUME showed why it can't be true. [00:24:18]And it was like I mean, you're right.

[00:24:22]But then don't go to Descartes. [00:24:26]Why? [00:24:32]Just because he didn't know it. [00:24:35]So, yes, true. But why that one? [00:24:40]Because you're talking about how he doesn't like it.

[00:24:45]There's like a division of ethics in society and society and stuff, [00:24:50]like one and stuff. [00:24:52]So I guess because you have Descartes viewpoint [00:24:56]and then you have Hume's [00:24:58]from its new viewpoint that the new skew point might cause the division

[00:25:05]between what Descartes said. [00:25:08]So that's quite controversial. [00:25:10]So it's kind of going with the majority [00:25:12]then like most people side with that. [00:25:14]So then if we,

[00:25:15]if we start listening to him, then that will disrupt to many people. [00:25:19]Is that what you mean or am I adding something? I'm adding. [00:25:24]Descartes philosophy was the exact story [00:25:30]of. [00:25:31]Yeah, everybody was following Descartes.

[00:25:32]Yeah, yeah. [00:25:34]That's right then. [00:25:35]And you got to have beliefs in order to [00:25:39]in order to have a stable society, you must have [00:25:43]everybody must have this or that.

[00:25:45]Yeah. Right. [00:25:46]And so at that time, everybody was following Descartes already, right? [00:25:52]So so it was just like just, [00:25:56]you know, let's just acknowledge him, [00:26:00]but then, you know, ignore or whatever, right?

[00:26:06]But why [00:26:09]the answer, I don't know, [00:26:15]may not surprise you, but the answer is not not racist. [00:26:24]The answer is definitely racist. [00:26:26]So at this time,

[00:26:28]right at this time and in the world, right, [00:26:33]there was slave trade going on. [00:26:34]Global slave trade was a big thing, right? [00:26:37]And slavery was a big thing. Right. [00:26:41]And if you can't have slavery under something like, you know,

[00:26:46]this perspective [00:26:47]where everybody is just to see your stream of conscious events, right? [00:26:51]And then you, [00:26:52]you know, you put Lena in a totally different context [00:26:55]and then she's somebody else, right? Or can remake herself. Right.

[00:26:59]Or Abby can remake herself based on context and that sort of thing. [00:27:03]Right. But with Descartes, you are you are right. [00:27:08]You're born with this identity [00:27:11]and you're that stable identity your whole life, right? [00:27:15]So I mean, if you're you are never you can never be who you aren't.

[00:27:20]You always are who you are. [00:27:22]Right? [00:27:23]So then if someone is born a slave, [00:27:26]what's because they're a slave race? [00:27:29]Their if they're born with this particular,

[00:27:33]you know, genetic code or ethnicity or whatever, [00:27:35]then that's just who they are. Right? [00:27:37]They can't change their that's part of their human nature. Right. [00:27:41]It's part of why [00:27:42]whoever named this course named it philosophy of human nature. Right.

[00:27:46]There's something about [00:27:47]human nature which is natural and permanent [00:27:51]or really real and unchanging. Right. [00:27:54]So there's some part of Griffin that's always Griffin. [00:27:57]That's just who he is. Right.

[00:27:58]And he can't escape that nature. Right. [00:28:01]And so following. Right. [00:28:04]And this is how most people were thinking. [00:28:08]And it was like, you know, [00:28:11]there's something that seems right about it or whatever.

[00:28:14]People are who they are. They can't change their nature. [00:28:17]And so if you're a bad person, you go to jail or if you're, you know, [00:28:22]whatever, if you're born royalty, then you're royalty. [00:28:25]If you're born rich, it's because you were supposed to be or whatever. [00:28:29]Right. Makes sense. There's another layer.

[00:28:32]There's another layer of the racism to [00:28:35]that's definitely one. [00:28:38]But to redeem Kant a tiny bit... [00:28:43]There was also at that time a lot of censorship, academic censorship, [00:28:49]something that's becoming super popular in America to

[00:28:55]act. [00:28:58]Yeah, academic censorship [00:29:06]and can't actually wrote yeah definitely redeem can't in this in this [00:29:14]on this point [00:29:16]because it did actually write quite a bit

[00:29:18]and he was very outspoken about academics but censorship [00:29:21]and the fact that [00:29:23]you know what I mean by academic censorship, you know, people like the [00:29:27]the department chair or the president of the university or, you know, [00:29:34]the government

[00:29:36]censoring academics, [00:29:38]especially philosophers, [00:29:38]saying you can't say this or you can't teach that [00:29:41]or you can't argue that point or whatever. Right. [00:29:44]Because it contrary to or the church. Right.

[00:29:47]And the church, especially in in the German context. Right. [00:29:52]The the church was super powerful [00:29:55]and it still is actually and in German, the German academy. [00:30:02]And so the church had a lot to say about how philosophy was taught [00:30:07]because philosophy is the handmaiden of theology.

[00:30:09]So you've got to like teach things that are going to be consistent [00:30:13]with the theology [00:30:14]that they want to teach, which is that, you know, you, [00:30:18]you have an eternal soul, right? [00:30:20]That you're born into a body

[00:30:22]and you stay the same throughout your life, [00:30:25]and then you do good things or bad things, [00:30:26]and then after you're dead, then you still exist, right? [00:30:30]You just lose your body. [00:30:31]And then you go to heaven or hell or whatever after that. Right.

[00:30:35]But some sort of eternal I. So this is what the [00:30:40]the church and the government and everybody [00:30:42]and the academy wanted its philosophers to teach, [00:30:46]spoke out against that, saying there's all this censorship. Right? [00:30:49]They're telling us what to teach. And that's not right.

[00:30:52]But it didn't change the fact that it was happening. Right. [00:30:56]And so one of the things [00:30:59]I like to think about it like I'm a big [00:31:03]I'm a big Harry Potter fan. [00:31:05]And so, you know, in Harry Potter,

[00:31:07]there's like in the library, there's the restricted section, [00:31:10]you know, like some books that are. [00:31:12]Anybody read Harry Potter? [00:31:14]No. Yeah. So, you know, like the restricted section, you know. [00:31:19]And so back in this time, you know, books for books

[00:31:24]were harder to come by, right, than they are now. [00:31:26]You can't just, like, order something off of Amazon or something. [00:31:30]So their books are a lot more expensive. [00:31:33]Books were harder to get, that sort of thing. [00:31:36]And the books that there were,

[00:31:38]you know, there were some books that were super rare, right. [00:31:42]And among those super rare books where were mostly books from? [00:31:47]Like [00:31:51]books from like, you know, from India, [00:31:54]from the east, from Asia, from Africa, from,

[00:31:58]you know, non-Western countries. Right. [00:32:00]And they had copies of those books in the libraries, [00:32:03]but they were kind of in the restricted section. [00:32:05]They were in the restricted section for a couple of reasons. [00:32:07]The main one

[00:32:08]was that they were in a language in languages [00:32:11]that very few people could read. Right? [00:32:13]So you had to know Sanskrit and you had to know Pali [00:32:16]or you had to know these languages. [00:32:18]Tamil or whatever, in order to read them.

[00:32:22]But some of them had been translated. [00:32:24]And among the ones that have been translated at this time, [00:32:27]which David HUME read [00:32:29]and can't read, [00:32:30]both of them read, were these Buddhist texts - these texts

[00:32:36]written by Buddhist philosophers [00:32:38]on the nature of the self and that AnAtman [00:32:41]Remember, we talked about that when we were covering that [00:32:44]in chapter four, [00:32:45]right on, um, on the no self doctrine,

[00:32:48]you know, stuff that should be at the, [00:32:49]into your notes on chapter four, right? Um, is it [00:33:08]Doctrine of No Self? [00:33:11]is it not? [00:33:12]The hypothesis of the Self is logically unnecessary

[00:33:16]That's it. [00:33:16]That's what I'm okay. [00:33:17]I just give you the name, then [00:34:08]that hypothesis of the self is logically unnecessary. [00:34:12]Is the doctrine of no self.

[00:34:15]Sorry. Okay. So yeah. [00:34:18]Sorry. Okay. So yeah. [00:34:20]So the doctrine of no self [00:34:21]is that there's the hypothesis of the self is logically unnecessary. [00:34:27]Right. So this right.

[00:34:30]I mean he's arguing, I mean humans just reading Buddha [00:34:37]and then repeating the same philosophy. [00:34:39]But in Western terms. [00:34:42]Right so and Kant knew that -- Kant was like [00:34:46]eye roll right like I read those Buddhist philosophy books to write.

[00:34:52]I know what you're doing here. [00:34:53]You're trying [00:34:53]to sneak this Eastern philosophy in [00:34:57]right around these academic censors, [00:34:59]which may be something you can get away in Scotland,

[00:35:02]but you can't do it in Germany. Right. And so [00:35:04]make sense. [00:35:05]Um, so, um, there's two reasons why at least two reasons [00:35:09]why I went with Descartes and, but nevertheless [00:35:15]Kant was right that I don't know, I think Kant was right.

[00:35:19]At least a lot of folks agree with Kant... It's hard. [00:35:23]I haven't seen an argument against it, but like [00:35:26]how do you have a common set of ethical values? [00:35:30]How do you have a society where you have [00:35:33]ethics, right?

[00:35:34]Common set of ethics where we can have rules [00:35:37]that we agree on ethical principles and that kind of stuff. [00:35:40]How do you have something like that? [00:35:42]Unless you can have a consistent philosophy of [00:35:45]what does it mean to be a human person, right?

[00:35:47]If you're following, if you follow this line, then slavery, racism, [00:35:52]Um, sexism, [00:35:55]right? [00:35:55]Sexism too, right. [00:35:57]There's somebody is born,

[00:35:58]um, that your soul has a particular gender, right? [00:36:02]And then so part of who you are, it's the nature of the soul, right? [00:36:06]You can't change that nature. That's part of human nature. [00:36:10]But again, like where the title [00:36:13]of the course in the course catalog comes from, right?

[00:36:15]That notion that you can't change your nature. [00:36:17]Um, so racism and sexism and [00:36:21]slavery and all these sort of things [00:36:23]are justified under this system, [00:36:25]but falter under this other perspective. Yeah. I mean.

[00:36:30]I think this [00:36:35]ignorant mindset about okay, I don't agree with that part [00:36:42]for that reason, [00:36:43]but most of the time, so it's like we've got to come to something [00:36:50]as a journey and, and have my baggage

[00:36:54]because it doesn't seem open to anything else. [00:36:56]Yeah, I, I mean, I agree. [00:36:58]I mean, because I'm teaching it so yeah. [00:37:00]That's definitely my view, right. [00:37:03]Yeah.

[00:37:03]We could listen to people who are experts [00:37:05]and maybe they would defend him more, right? [00:37:08]I'm sure that they would. I'm sure other can't. [00:37:10]Kantian scholars would say “you're being unfair to Kant” [00:37:15]but that's the way I read it. Right?

[00:37:17]Is that like, he's super smart. Um, [00:37:21]I really enjoy reading Kant - super smart, but, like, [00:37:25]how can you be so closed minded like that, right? [00:37:27]How can you say, [00:37:29]how can you read Hume and then still go with Descartes after?

[00:37:33]Doesn't make sense to me, right? It seems. Um. Yeah. [00:37:38]I. [00:37:38]I agree with everything [00:37:43]nevertheless. Right. [00:37:45]What do we do with this problem? Right. We still have to.

[00:37:47]Don't we still left? [00:37:49]Aren't we even, like, deeper? [00:37:50]And the problem now, [00:37:52]the problem is [00:37:53]we have to have some basis from firm basis for our knowledge, right.

[00:38:01]So where are we going to put this anchor? [00:38:03]We can't put it in the nowhere and we can't put it in. [00:38:06]Obviously, we can't put it in knowledge [00:38:08]because knowledge is constantly changing. [00:38:10]And the nowhere is constantly changing.

[00:38:12]So. [00:38:15]Right, I mean, Tim is saying there is no anchor [00:38:20]part of why I named [00:38:23]chapter two [00:38:25]Unmooring. Right?

[00:38:27]Um, it's. [00:38:32]Unmooring. [00:38:35]Um, when we talked about that, uh, [00:38:39]between a moor and an anchor - a moor [00:38:42]something like super permanent, right?

[00:38:44]Like, like a harbor or a dock or something appear, you know, [00:38:50]something like permanently attached versus an anchor or something. [00:38:53]You can lift up and it ground for forms a similar function, [00:38:57]but it's portable, right? [00:38:59]Um, you can think about like your dorm room

[00:39:01]if you live on campus, right? [00:39:03]You're like your dorm room is your anchor, right? [00:39:06]But it's not your home, right? [00:39:08]It's not where your parents are [00:39:09]and like and stuff that's more like your,

[00:39:12]your mooring. But part of why I chose it [00:39:17]was this kid, um, I'm not going to try and spell his first name, but [00:39:20]Nietzsche. Nietzsche was another German philosopher [00:39:24]who came along later, [00:39:26]and he basically was like, you know, this thing, like,

[00:39:30]really wanted us to more ourself or anchor ourself [00:39:35]or like ground our philosophy in notion. [00:39:39]And yeah, it's just that now it's it's kind of fallen apart, right? [00:39:44]Nobody nobody believes it anymore. [00:39:47]It's all we've become unmoored. We've become untethered.

[00:39:50]We've lost our faith and grounding [00:39:53]and this and [00:39:55]For Nietzsche that's like where, you know, all of our morals [00:39:58]and ethics and society fell apart. Right. [00:40:01]And he had a very dim, dark

[00:40:04]view of the future, [00:40:05]which I think if you're around today, he'd be like: “Told ya” [00:40:12]anyway, he said, you know, we've become unmoored, [00:40:16]some feeling that [00:40:18]or borrowing that or meaning that or riffing on that

[00:40:21]or whatever, um, sampling that, um, from, from Nietzsche [00:40:26]anyway, follow me so far, um, okay. [00:40:27]So we've got [00:40:29]Descartes who wanted to put the anchor here, right? [00:40:34]and Hume said, you can't because the world is constantly changing

[00:40:42]and everything, right? [00:40:44]Um, the knower knows the world. [00:40:46]And as the world changes, everything's changing. [00:40:51]And Kant said, we need to stipulate something, right? [00:40:55]And then he goes back to that.

[00:40:59]But there's, there's another option here, right [00:41:03]there. Another option here. [00:41:05]So other option. [00:41:10]Yeah. [00:41:10]So existentialism is another option, right?

[00:41:13]So then what if we start putting our anchor [00:41:16]some kind of anchor up here, right. [00:41:19]And so Lemme give another [00:41:25]metanarrative history. Right. [00:41:28]This time I'm going to finish.

[00:41:30]So kind of the second half of [00:41:33]second half of chapter five. [00:41:36]Now um, so another metanarrative, metanarrative, [00:41:42]just a reminder, right? Meditative is like a, a big, like [00:41:49]history, like big story about history

[00:41:51]is a made up story about history [00:41:53]in order to, like, communicate something over. [00:41:58]That's not untrue. [00:41:59]Right? Right. I'll tell you anything. [00:42:00]That's not true.

[00:42:00]But it's a I'm going to cover like [00:42:07]850 years or so in a few minutes. [00:42:10]Right. [00:42:11]So, uh, so it begins with Socrates [00:42:19]and he died and uh, 399 BCE.

[00:42:25]So, you know, around [00:42:28]was around 400 BCE. [00:42:31]Uh, then you got Plato. [00:42:33]Now Plato was [00:42:36]kind of a student, definitely a disciple or a follower of Socrates.

[00:42:41]And Plato founded what's called the Academy. [00:42:50]Um, in fact, [00:42:51]that's where we get the word academy or academics [00:42:54]where it all comes from, [00:42:56]from Plato, who started this school called the Academy.

[00:43:01]And the academy was like a place where you go and study philosophy. [00:43:04]I mean, you go and study philosophy with Plato, right? [00:43:08]And you would do like they would do performances [00:43:11]and that kind of stuff. [00:43:11]A lot of his one theory is that his dialogs

[00:43:15]were actually like performances. [00:43:16]Those plays that were kind of [00:43:18]they were performed in public in order to advertise for the academy. [00:43:22]Like come to the academy. [00:43:23]You can have conversations like this all the time, right?

[00:43:27]Oh, by the way, over the door, it's just kind of an aside. [00:43:31]But over the door of the academy, [00:43:34]it said [00:43:36]None shall enter here [00:43:42]who do not know

[00:43:46]mathematics. [00:43:51]That may be a little foreshadowing for Wednesdays class. [00:43:55]When I go to logic, we'll talk [00:43:58]the relationship between logic and mathematics. [00:44:01]But anyway, he started that.

[00:44:04]He started the academy [00:44:05]and he was obviously the head [00:44:08]like the principal of the academy until he died. [00:44:11]And then he died. [00:44:12]He couldn't be principal anymore because he was dead, you know. Right.

[00:44:16]And then anybody who took over, um, [00:44:19]this kid named Aristotle took over. [00:44:22]I was always taught that Aristotle was Plato's student. [00:44:26]But I don't know, um, they seem to be more rivals than anything else. [00:44:33]Aristotle kind of held

[00:44:37]in many cases, [00:44:38]like the exact opposite view of Plato on a whole lot of issues. [00:44:41]Right? Um, whole lot of issues. [00:44:44]They, they just are on opposite ends of the spectrum. [00:44:48]In fact, Plato, uh, everything that he wrote, he always wrote dialogs,

[00:44:55]dialogs like philosophy as a mode of discourse [00:44:57]for the sake of training, intellect [00:44:58]by cultivating a desire [00:45:00]for wisdom, truth and justice through inspiration. Right. [00:45:04]That's that's a definition that Plato would or built on.

[00:45:08]Plato's philosophy. [00:45:09]Philosophy is a mode of discourse. [00:45:11]When we get to unit two and a couple of weeks then, [00:45:16]then we'll, uh, we'll start reading some of Plato [00:45:19]reading some of the dialogs.

[00:45:21]But he wrote dialogs Aristotle. [00:45:23]Then Aristotle wrote monologues, right? His text. [00:45:25]Or just like these long treatises of all his thoughts. Right? [00:45:29]So this is just what I think in these long monologues, basically. [00:45:33]So dialogs and monologues, they just

[00:45:35]they just really were on different sides of pretty much every issue. [00:45:42]And then, you know, after Aristotle died, [00:45:46]there was like another class affair and another philosopher [00:45:50]and another philosopher. Right. [00:45:52]And basically the pattern

[00:45:53]that was [00:45:54]that was Plato followed Socrates, Aristotle then, and Aristotle [00:46:00]design thing, right? [00:46:01]So then the idea was as soon as you became [00:46:05]like head of the academy, you could do your own thing, right?

[00:46:08]So then you could teach whatever philosophy you wanted. [00:46:11]So the Academy kept changing year after year, [00:46:15]you know, based on who was the prince of all of the academy, right? [00:46:20]Then [00:46:21]this kid came along, um, you know, a color just changed colors for fun.

[00:46:26]Um, named Plotinus [00:46:28]but I'm not way far off somewhere like 300 350 CE Right. [00:46:32]Um, this guy named Plotinus, [00:46:36]you know, so Plotinus came around [00:46:39]and Plotinus became head of the academy.

[00:46:41]And if you remember, I was teaching Husserl in chapter three, right? [00:46:47]Husserl. Forster was very pissed. [00:46:50]Ah, he was like very unhappy with how philosophy had been done. Right. [00:46:56]And it's like there's a lot of bad philosophers around it. [00:46:59]Just like he totally wanted to change how philosophy was done.

[00:47:03]Plotinus the same thing. [00:47:04]He was super unhappy with all these thoughts, [00:47:07]all these people that had come since Plato, including Aristotle. [00:47:12]And he was like, What are we doing here? [00:47:14]Like every time, every time somebody dies,

[00:47:17]we totally change philosophy, right? [00:47:18]We're not making any progress. [00:47:20]We're just like every generation has a totally different philosophy. [00:47:23]What's the point? Right. [00:47:25]So I come up with another philosophy

[00:47:27]and then I come up with a new philosophy, and then it's like it's [00:47:30]the same set over and over again. Right? [00:47:32]But it's always different, right? [00:47:35]There's no we're not making any progress. [00:47:38]So we've got to be more disciplined with our philosophy.

[00:47:41]We've got to have some sort of anchor, right? [00:47:43]Something that grounds our philosophy, some firm basis [00:47:47]in our philosophy. And [00:47:50]he's like, you know, we're not going to agree with each other. [00:47:53]Right? Connor is going to have different ideas than me.

[00:47:55]That's that's actually what Plato and Socrates said. [00:47:58]Right [00:47:58]Everybody's going to have Connor's views [00:48:00]and Patrick's views and Ryan's views and exact use. [00:48:04]Right? We all are different.

[00:48:06]So those ideas, even the same idea, right? [00:48:10]Take the same idea of something like justice, right? [00:48:12]That's going to have a different perspective [00:48:14]on what justices than Lane is. Right. [00:48:16]And so that's just that's the whole point of having dialogs, right?

[00:48:21]So the so how do you have an anchor or a common anchor [00:48:26]in a world where we all have different views? All right. [00:48:29]So you can either keep change. You see the problem, you keep changing, [00:48:34]changing heads, and then everything changes. [00:48:37]And we're just like following this

[00:48:38]leader, following that leader, following this leader. [00:48:40]But how can we have it [00:48:42]where we don't have a leader that we're following, [00:48:45]but we have a place [00:48:46]where everybody can have differing views on a topic,

[00:48:50]but something that still anchors our perspectives. Right. [00:48:54]And Plotinus his answer was this [00:48:57]We need to anchor our philosophical discourse in a common set of texts. [00:49:04]So a text that we all agree on. Right. [00:49:08]So it's not so much that we are sharing.

[00:49:13]Right? [00:49:13]Leena is going to have different perspective [00:49:16]than I'm going to have free, but a different perspective on what. [00:49:20]Right. [00:49:20]Let's have something in common that we're all looking at.

[00:49:23]Right, something in common that we're all talking about. Right. [00:49:27]And so it could be a lot of things. Right. [00:49:30]There's a lot of candidates, right. [00:49:33]For this common set of texts. [00:49:38]Plotinus is suggestion was well, the academy was founded by Plato.

[00:49:43]Right. [00:49:43]So if we're going to do [00:49:46]philosophy in the academy, [00:49:48]then we should take the dialogs of Plato, right? [00:49:51]And have that as our center right.

[00:49:53]Lena could read [00:49:54]dialogs of Plato [00:49:56]and Nick [00:49:56]and read the dialogs of Plato [00:49:58]and come to totally different perspectives on the text,

[00:50:01]totally different views on the text, [00:50:03]because Nick and Lehner are different, right? [00:50:05]And Abby and Griffin are right. [00:50:08]So we can see things from differing perspectives, right? [00:50:12]And that's part of what the magic or the beauty of Plato's

[00:50:16]texts are, is that they are dialogs where, you know, it's like [00:50:21]you've got lots of different perspectives even in the text, right? [00:50:24]Even in the text [00:50:25]there's lots of different perspectives and it's almost like, [00:50:29]yeah, that's kind of what the text is modeling.

[00:50:31]It's not like I don't, I don't, I don't believe anybody, honestly. [00:50:36]I believe any philosopher [00:50:37]who goes and says, Plato [00:50:39]believes this or Plato thinks this, like, well, I don't know. [00:50:42]I mean, if you'll read the texts, Plato's

[00:50:44]presenting more than one side of pretty much everything, right? [00:50:48]So, like, [00:50:50]I don't know what Plato think. [00:50:51]He thought that the [00:50:53]he thought that the diversity of perspectives was valuable. All right.

[00:50:57]It was good to have a diversity of perspectives. [00:51:00]And so if all of I'm saying, okay, so [00:51:05]so it's not exactly existentialism. [00:51:09]What's not really existentialism, [00:51:12]but another word

[00:51:15]that that we might put up here is theology. [00:51:22]So now theology is a tricky word because what most people think of, [00:51:28]especially in this country [00:51:29]and when most people think of theology, [00:51:31]they think of Christian theology and they think of that theos things.

[00:51:37]But the sort of the euro [00:51:44]and [00:51:46]Greek means I see. Right? [00:51:50]So we get words from those like theory, right? [00:51:55]A theory is a way of seeing something,

[00:51:57]a perspective like a lens, right? [00:51:59]Like you can look through history through different lenses, right? [00:52:02]And you can look at history through the lens of religion. [00:52:05]You could look at history through the lens of social order. [00:52:09]You could look at history through the lens of war.

[00:52:11]You could have history through the lens of what? Marxist. [00:52:16]Sure, yeah. [00:52:17]Social, social perspectives and those sort of things. Right. [00:52:21]So many different ways you can look at [00:52:24]look through

[00:52:25]history, different theories or lenses or if you're studying, [00:52:30]let's say biology, right? [00:52:32]If you're studying biology. So you want to study biology [00:52:37]over there, right? [00:52:38]You want to study the life of the trees and the ecology over there.

[00:52:44]You know, I love this room. It's my favorite room. [00:52:47]I don't know if I've mentioned that before, [00:52:48]but this is my favorite room to teach in. [00:52:51]And partly because I get to look out there and this is the nice right. [00:52:55]But if you wanted to study the life over there,

[00:52:57]how could you go about it? [00:52:59]What are some of the different [00:53:00]lenses that you could use to study the life over there? [00:53:06]Could you do it from here [00:53:10]a little bit? You could do some here. What could you do from here?

[00:53:13]Maybe if you had binoculars, you could study the [00:53:17]birds right, and [00:53:20]trees and things. [00:53:22]But if you were to go over there, if you had a shovel, [00:53:26]you know,

[00:53:26]and you could dig up [00:53:27]the micro-organisms and the dirt [00:53:29]or you could study the mammals that are there at night, [00:53:33]you know, all kinds of things. Right. [00:53:34]So you could study,

[00:53:37]right? [00:53:38]You could do chemistry, [00:53:40]study the biochemistry, you could study all sorts of things. Right? [00:53:43]You can study different lenses. Right. [00:53:46]So a theory is just a way of looking at something, right?

[00:53:50]A theory or perspective for us. [00:53:53]So we get this word mostly from Plotinus and his students, ProQuest [00:54:01]came after Plotinus [00:54:04]and he wrote this book called The Elements. [00:54:13]Of.

[00:54:15]Theology. [00:54:19]And for them, [00:54:21]theology meant putting the works of Plato at the center right. [00:54:26]So again, it's not like [00:54:28]I mean, it's not exactly like calling Plato scripture, right?

[00:54:33]But it's not totally different from that either. [00:54:36]Right? [00:54:36]So it's like saying these texts are important [00:54:39]and we're going to put these texts at the center, [00:54:41]we're going to use them to anchor our discourse right?

[00:54:46]And so if we put these the texts of [00:54:55]Yeah. [00:54:55]So not, not Descartes, where we're anchoring it in the knower [00:54:59]and not HUME, where there is no [00:55:05]and not where it's like, well, let's just put the anchor over here

[00:55:08]anyway, right? [00:55:09]But instead saying, [00:55:11]all right, [00:55:11]we need a common set of texts right that we can use to anchor our [00:55:17]discourse.

[00:55:20]Now, everybody following me? [00:55:24]So there should be two things that come to mind, right? [00:55:28]One is so we're going to anchor [00:55:31]our discourse and a common [00:55:35]set

[00:55:38]of texts. [00:55:41]Right. [00:55:42]And then [00:55:44]we're not saying that these texts are right or wrong, [00:55:47]but instead we're trying to get everyone's different perspective right.

[00:55:52]So that what matters is [00:55:56]what matters is actually not so much the texts themselves. [00:56:00]Texts just become a way to anchor our discourse. [00:56:04]What matters more is the discourse that we have [00:56:07]between one another, right?

[00:56:10]So [00:56:16]hopefully [00:56:18]you're seeing how the pieces of this [00:56:21]first half of the course are starting to fit together. Right. [00:56:23]So this is phenomenology where we're looking at

[00:56:29]something, right. [00:56:31]Which anchors our perspectives [00:56:33]and then having discourse with one another. Right. [00:56:38]Like in your podcast discussion [00:56:40]or in this class,

[00:56:41]when we get to the second half of the class, [00:56:43]we'll have a lot more discourse and discussion. [00:56:46]But right now, just kind of getting the basics right. So then [00:56:51]you get the benefit of it right. [00:56:52]So we can stipulate a common set of text, right?

[00:56:58]So following what they call what concept, [00:57:01]we need to stipulate something. Well, can we stipulate, right? [00:57:05]Does it matter? On one hand, it doesn't matter. [00:57:07]If you play, make it, take it or don't make make it take [00:57:09]it doesn't matter if you play opp queens or don't play opp queens.

[00:57:13]It just matters that you stipulate it, right? [00:57:15]So that we all agree on the rules ahead of time. Right? [00:57:19]So then if we all agree on this common set of texts, [00:57:22]then we can have discourse around those texts and clinic [00:57:25]and have her perspective.

[00:57:26]And Austen can have his and they can have his and I can have mine. [00:57:29]And we learn from that discourse that we have around it. Right. [00:57:33]And so what matters again, what matters is the discourse. [00:57:38]But what makes the discourse productive [00:57:41]is having something in common that we're discoursing about.

[00:57:45]Right. [00:57:45]Do you ever had that where [00:57:50]like pretty much every conversation I have with my parents, [00:57:55]we're like, you're saying one thing [00:57:57]and they're saying something that's just, like,

[00:58:01]unrelated, right? [00:58:02]It's like you're having a conversation and I'm like, [00:58:06]you know what I mean? [00:58:07]Where you just kind of talking like alongside of each other. [00:58:10]We're like,

[00:58:11]it's not even that you're arguing against each other because you're not [00:58:14]you're just just no one's hearing each other, right? [00:58:17]We're just kind of like saying just you know what I mean? [00:58:21]Like, this is super frustrating, right? [00:58:23]When you have this conversation that are just, like,

[00:58:26]out of sync, right? Where you're not you. [00:58:28]So you're you're just missing. Something's missing, right? [00:58:32]There's, like, no common vocabulary or common. [00:58:35]Right. Something in common. [00:58:37]So common ground or something where you can have the discourse.

[00:58:40]So that's right. [00:58:42]This is what this [00:58:44]solution of stipulating a common set of text is trying to solve. Okay. [00:58:50]You probably by now [00:58:53]have a clear understanding of what the problem is, right?

[00:58:56]So you got the benefit. [00:58:58]What's the problem? [00:58:59]It solves pretty good solution. [00:59:04]You think it's a pretty good solution [00:59:09]or you think there's a big problem with it?

[00:59:12]So you can bring up the big problem if you want. [00:59:18]Yeah. [00:59:19]Patrick [00:59:21]said everybody was going to be different. [00:59:25]That's a pretty big problem then, right?

[00:59:27]So then how do we agree on what those common side effects are? [00:59:31]We could do that, right? [00:59:35]Just that little minor problem. Right. [00:59:38]But that's a huge problem. Right? [00:59:41]There's a lot at stake in that problem.

[00:59:43]Right. [00:59:44]Do we choose texts that are from Greek tradition? [00:59:48]Right. [00:59:50]That's I mean, they're good options. [00:59:53]But what about texts from Indian traditions?

[00:59:59]Right. [01:00:00]No reason not to choose those. [01:00:05]But then how do you agree? Right. [01:00:06]How do you have some common set of texts? [01:00:09]You could say, well,

[01:00:09]we don't know Sanskrit, but we don't know Greek either. [01:00:13]So like, how do we [01:00:16]right or Al-Ghazali or [01:00:20]right or Rumi or all sorts of different texts [01:00:24]that we could choose, right?

[01:00:25]The Hadith or all sorts of different texts that we could choose. Right. [01:00:29]So how do we choose [01:00:31]texts in common that we can have these discourses about? [01:00:36]There's a lot at stake in that, right? [01:00:38]There's a lot of power in that.

[01:00:40]Right, in who gets to decide. So that's the question. [01:00:43]Who gets to decide? [01:00:46]Who gets to decide? [01:00:47]Nine. I don't know. [01:00:52]I don't really think anyone should be able to say that

[01:00:56]more than one person is slightly [01:00:58]more democratic. [01:01:00]Yeah. Who decides right now? [01:01:05]Well, I mean, on a practical level, who decides for this course? [01:01:09]No doubt about that, right?

[01:01:11]I get to choose the tax, write, but is there a way I mean, and I'm [01:01:18]you know, I've chosen some text by Plato, [01:01:22]but there be a more democratic way to do it, a way to to say, [01:01:27]all right, we're going to do some of the texts of Plato. [01:01:30]But you know what we all want and discuss.

[01:01:34]But what texts should we include? [01:01:37]Should we [01:01:39]include Spanish language tags? [01:01:43]Should we include, you know, what texture we choose? [01:01:46]Which should should we exclude?

[01:01:54]Yeah, kind of like what we said earlier in [01:02:00]in Puerto Rico. [01:02:02]Mm hmm. [01:02:04]Okay. So. [01:02:08]Yeah, I'm down.

[01:02:11]Well, what you're saying, it's like, especially as you said, [01:02:16]because I know, like, [01:02:20]I remember, but, you know, like, there are [01:02:25]certain sections of texts like English. [01:02:29]Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Oh, really?

[01:02:34]I mean, it does seem like this, and. [01:02:38]Mm hmm. And this and all of that. [01:02:42]Mm hmm. And we'd once. [01:02:45]So what do you think if we were to do that? [01:02:47]If we were to have a democratic,

[01:02:49]you know, [01:02:49]like voting on those texts, [01:02:53]don't you imagine that the first of all, the canon of text, [01:02:57]the selection of texts, would have a pretty big effect. Right. [01:03:00]We have to keep, you know, adding to that canon.

[01:03:04]But to be pretty diverse [01:03:06]group of tax rate texts from all over the world, [01:03:09]from all different cultures, from different backgrounds. Right. [01:03:12]And then you also have some other problems in there. [01:03:15]Like some cultures and histories don't use written text.

[01:03:21]It's more about storytelling, right? [01:03:22]And like Native American traditions [01:03:24]tend to be oral traditions and verbal traditions. So they're not. [01:03:28]So the texts, right? [01:03:30]The stories are super important,

[01:03:33]but the stories are only told in certain contexts [01:03:36]by certain people and only orally, not intentionally, [01:03:40]very intentionally, not written down. [01:03:43]Same thing in a lot of African cultures. Yeah, but. [01:03:46]Also it's exactly like who gets to vote

[01:03:49]and how do you decide who gets it? Yeah, absolutely. So. [01:03:53]Right. So we've got a clear sense of like the problem. Yeah. [01:03:56]Or if the, you know, like texts that we're like, [01:04:01]like different [01:04:02]of books

[01:04:03]or we could argue about [01:04:05]whatever the topic would be like for like, let's say history. [01:04:09]Do you just like the liberal side and like, that's it. [01:04:13]Like someone would only have that muted [01:04:15]if you throw in, like, everything.

[01:04:17]Mm hmm. Look at all that. And, you know, like, [01:04:21]all of that. Stuff. Yeah. [01:04:23]The problem is, though, if we have too many things in there, [01:04:26]we lose the commonality of it, right? [01:04:28]So, like, if everybody

[01:04:30]if there's too many things in there, [01:04:32]then we're not all then we're all just sort of reading our own thing [01:04:35]and then not talking about the same thing. Right? But I get you. Yeah. [01:04:39]I think the next three days probably extended from that would be that [01:04:43]if you take even say

[01:04:46]like a massive set of facts [01:04:48]that are all kind of about the same philosophy or whatever it is, [01:04:53]it's like [01:04:54]it's just always going to be people who would rather something else [01:04:58]or just don't believe in whatever the text is written about.

[01:05:02]So, I mean, I feel like you could never totally [01:05:07]include [01:05:08]everybody that would [01:05:10]I don't think everybody could ever agree on something this concrete. [01:05:14]Is that so far we definitely have it right.

[01:05:19]And yeah, I mean, on one level, I think you're right. Right. [01:05:23]We're never going to agree. [01:05:26]But there's the other problem that related to what you just said. [01:05:30]Right, which is that, [01:05:32]I mean, on the one hand, you don't have to agree with Plato.

[01:05:35]Right? You don't have to agree with Plato or Socrates. [01:05:38]You don't have to agree with anything in the text. Right. [01:05:40]So having a common set of text doesn't [01:05:43]necessarily mean what does not absolutely does not mean that you agree [01:05:48]with the text. Right.

[01:05:50]That can be a perfectly valid perspective on the text, [01:05:54]but it does mean that you have to anchor yourself to the text. Right. [01:05:58]You have to tie yourself to it. [01:06:00]You have to read it and you have to say you have to take it seriously. [01:06:03]Right?

[01:06:03]You have to take it as like, [01:06:05]okay, I'm going to I'm going to argue against it. [01:06:08]I'm not going to like [01:06:09]pretend that it says something different than it says. [01:06:12]I'm just going to take it, read it.

[01:06:14]This says this. I disagree with this. Right. [01:06:16]And here's why I disagree with that. [01:06:18]Totally fine. Right. [01:06:19]That's a valid that's that's why the discourse is the important part. [01:06:24]Right.

[01:06:25]But the problem is, if you're like, I don't want to read that text. [01:06:29]Right? [01:06:30]I don't want to [01:06:30]I don't value [01:06:31]that text enough to read it closely or read it carefully or

[01:06:36]even to argue against it. [01:06:38]I'm just going to dismiss it outright [01:06:40]then that's then it's not performing that function of being an anchor. [01:06:44]Right. So I have to choose. Right. [01:06:47]Good.

[01:06:47]I think you got a pretty good idea of like the solution and the and the [01:06:51]pros and cons of this. [01:06:54]I don't know if the solution, but [01:06:57]yeah. What do you think? [01:07:00]Still a pretty

[01:07:03]fantastic thing to discuss in your next podcast, [01:07:07]How to Choose Tax Attitudes. Right? [01:07:10]This problem and the benefits and the upsides and downsides of it. [01:07:14]Um, challenges and things. [01:07:18]What if we, um.

[01:07:22]All right, so, [01:07:23]I mean, so looking at the syllabus, right? [01:07:31]Um, looking at the syllabus. [01:07:34]So we've got three texts by Plato, [01:07:38]um, in there, and then we've got one text.

[01:07:43]Yeah, one text from the Upanishads, [01:07:47]so one text from India and three texts from, [01:07:50]um, from here. [01:07:55]I wonder if we could, like, not take those out, [01:07:57]but I wonder if we could add to it.

[01:07:59]I wonder if there's some [01:08:01]common thing that we could do radically to side together [01:08:07]that's going to anchor our discourse [01:08:09]and your podcast discussions, but also in class, right? [01:08:12]In addition to those tax which I have chosen my prerogative on that.

[01:08:17]Right. Um, but, but also [01:08:23]instead of tax rate, it doesn't always have to be [01:08:27]texts in terms of like something written. [01:08:31]But what if is there something this is a challenge that I find [01:08:37]just a challenge in our world today.

[01:08:39]Um, part of why I like meeting with everybody in the beginning [01:08:43]and I ask you things like what, [01:08:44]what kind of music you listen to or what shows you watch or whatever. [01:08:47]I'm trying to find something that we have in common, [01:08:49]like a show that we watch or movies

[01:08:51]that we watch or something in common. [01:08:53]Right. Um, and even like, even like Harry Potter. [01:08:58]No, not everybody's into, like Harry Potter, right? [01:09:01]So, like, what is it? [01:09:03]Is there anything that we all watch or all would watch

[01:09:10]just in order to have something in common to perform this function? [01:09:16]Right. [01:09:16]So not attacks, but like a show or a movie [01:09:23]anything come to mind, you know, and think about it. [01:09:26]But, you.

[01:09:27]Know, I mean, I have seen a million things [01:09:32]in the past. [01:09:33]Um, [01:09:34]so I've done a few of times in the past, [01:09:36]right, with classes like we choose a show

[01:09:40]and then we just watch that show. [01:09:43]You know, I don't get homework. [01:09:44]So your homework would be like, watch this show, right? [01:09:49]Um, in the past, I've used the good place a couple of times of you. [01:09:56]You've seen the good place

[01:10:00]now. Have you seen the good place? [01:10:03]It's pretty damn good. [01:10:05]Um, you wanna think about it? [01:10:12]Why don't you think about it? [01:10:13]And, uh, on, on. On Wednesday.

[01:10:16]We'll throw out some ideas. Okay. [01:10:19]Um, come up with some shows or something. [01:10:22]Not doing squid game, even if everybody's seen it. [01:10:28]Don't want to talk about it. [01:10:29]I've seen it.

[01:10:30]How many have you seen? Squid game? Yeah. [01:10:34]If you haven't seen it, don't watch it. [01:10:36]Um, yeah, but yeah, we can stop there today. [01:10:41]Okay, let's try to find something that we have [01:10:44]and something that we can have in common. Right?

[01:10:47]Even if you've seen it before, we can watch it again. [01:10:49]Um, yeah. [01:10:52]It can literally be anything, right? [01:10:58]If we can't come up with something, I'll choose the good place. [01:11:00]But I have already chosen that, so I'd rather. Huh?

[01:11:04]Yeah, it's a NBC show with, like, [01:11:08]Kristen Bell and a [01:11:11]bunch of other people. [01:11:13]Who love something like [01:11:15]40. Dude, I'm always down for Rick and Morty.

[01:11:18]Rick and Morty. Black Mirror could be another one. [01:11:20]Black Mirror takes us in a different direction. Rick and Morty. [01:11:25]How many watch Rick and Morty? [01:11:28]So. [01:11:29]Okay, um.

[01:11:34]All right, let's think about it. Okay. [01:11:36]Bring up some ideas, and we'll. [01:11:38]We'll try and have a vote on it on Wednesday. Cool. Weird. [01:11:43]See you then. [01:11:44]I would say that's another one.

[01:11:47]I'm not going to finish that. Okay. This is the.