RE: the unexamined life (was: Me and my macaroni)
jason varsoke (jjv@caesun.msd.ray.com)
Thu, 05 Aug 1999 09:44:42 -0400 (EDT)
On Wed, 4 Aug 1999, Sean Draine (Exchange) wrote:
>
> Catherine: "As a friend says, 'why live if you don't try to understand what
> it all means?'"
>
> Do you mean to tell me that "the unexamined live isn't worth living"? On the
> contrary, as soon as you start analyzing life, you are no longer living it.
> Even if I did believe that search for meaning was important, I still don't
> see what this has to do with majoring in philosophy.
There is an inherient bias in the statement "A unexamined life isn't
worth living." I believe Socrates favors the intellect. He's saying that
if you go through life and have no idea why things happened, who you are,
what you mean to your friends, realize the perfection of a moment, then
you are simiply a mindless ball of sensory organs. Epiphany only comes
through reflection. Rapture comes through being. I believe here Socrates
alines himself with the Hedonists. Simple pleasure from eating chocolate
is nice, but the greatest pleasures are from completing a diffyQ problem
set. Personally, I get greater satisfaction from reflecting on a perfect
moment than experiencing it. Of course, I guess that's why I sit down and
write for three hours a day, rather than play basketball.
As for what this has to do with Philosophy? Well, it depends what
flavor you're talking about. Existentialism, Trancendentalism, Hedonism,
Utilitarianism, tis the essence of these things. But if your talking
about Logical Positivism, Empiricism, Rationalism, Logistics, and
Analytics well then I'd say you're on the wrong track.
Unfortunately much of todays Collegiate Philosophy concerns it self with
it self. Stock Philosophers take jabs at doctrine, trying to exploit
small chinks in armor, failures in language, but missing the larger point.
Philosophy in the raw fails because language is imprecise. Only
Philosophy bound with the ambiguity of Literature stands a chance of
evading the snipe hunters and getting something "writ large."
As a former philosophy major I can say, study philosophy. Ignore the
contemporary philosopher.
-j