Welcome to the first in a series of
explanations of ancient western philosophy. I hope you find these articles
helpful and thought provoking.
You are probably wondering why read about
ancient western philosophy. This knowledge does not add practical value to your
life nor is it entertaining. In fact, there seems to be no value in thinking
about ancient western philosophy.
Since you are still reading you may find it
worthwhile to spend a couple minutes thinking about the reason for learning about
ancient western philosophy. Perhaps you can’t put your finger on it, but you
have an inkling there is worth in pursuing knowledge of ancient western
philosophy. Intuition is not enough. The skeptic’s attack drowns out the hint.
The skeptic’s claim is:
Ancient
western philosophy is not a worthwhile investigation. It does not add to our
lives. Our time and energy is best spent on things of pleasure and practical
value.
At first glance this claim seems to take the
wind out of our sails, and we haven’t even left the harbor. Certainly, the
“pleasure objection,” as we will call it, has some force. If I have a choice
between reading Plato and taking in the aroma of facebook, I often choose facebook.
Likewise, cats chasing lasers tastes better then reading Zeno. Yet, this is not
what the pleasure objection is saying. It is saying that ancient western
philosophy is worthless.
The irony of the pleasure objection is that
it follows the path it objects against. By offering the claim ancient western
philosophy is worthless, it is promoting a specific philosophical position that
lies within the tradition of ancient western philosophy. Really, the objection
is saying that it thinks itself has no value. That is a self-defeating claim.
A Stronger Objection
Perhaps we can salvage the pleasure
objection. We will call it the sophisticated pleasure objection. It goes something
like this. Humanity has gone beyond ancient philosophy. Technology and science
are the foundation. Man is becoming more and more sophisticated and the world a
more complex place. Ancient western philosophy is no help because we live in
such a different world. In other words, there is no longer a need to study ancient
western philosophy because it is obsolete.
We are forced to concede something. First, we
agree that the world is much more complicated then it was back when ancient
western philosophy wasn’t ancient. Furthermore, Western society no longer
functions even just a 100 years ago, much less over 2,000 years. The
foundational principles of the west have eroded away. A pseudo-postmodernism
reigns triumphant. We see it in art, movies, and culture. At its foundation
lies trust in science and technology to solve problems and make sense of the
world around us. This we are forced to concede.
Yet, we are not forced to concede to the
objection if we can show on the contrary that ancient western philosophy is not
obsolete.
We can’t stop people from thinking but we can stop people from
thinking poorly.
Good thinking doesn’t come naturally. It comes
from constant hard practice and from a teacher. That’s what philosophers do.
They teach us how to think well. When you read and consider Plato’s forms, you
are not just figuring out if he has gotten it right but being taught how to
think from one of the influential minds of the west. Over time, it will rub off
on you if you are committed to constant hard practice.
It is not an easy task nor is it for the
faint of heart. Careful thinking requires diligent labor. It’s long and hard labor
that takes years before fruit begins to grow. The fruit is well worth the wait.
So join me in this summer of reading about ancient western philosophy. I think
you will find it to be profitable.
A Story for Your Consideration
A couple weeks ago I was discussing with my students the
ethics of the Opium Wars between China and the British Empire. I asked my
students whether countries are ethically obligated to stop trading a good if the
other country asks them to stop. Our discussion naturally revolved around
today’s drug wars. One of my classes took the discussion in an interesting
direction.
Two claimed it is not possible to answer the question. They
said there is no one who can say there is right and wrong, “it’s all just our opinion.” My response was that there seems to be
universals about what is right and wrong. My two students interjected that
there are multiple opinions about morality and we can’t clearly see these
universals throughout all cultures. “It’s just too hard to figure it out,” said
one. Quickly I pointed out that they would agree that actions of genocide and
rape are wrong, have always been wrong and will always be wrong. There is no
context, for instance, where the Holocaust can be ethically justified. One
conceded but the other did not.
He spoke tentatively. “Yeah, the Nazis saw what they were
doing to be right and good. So it was right and good for them. How can I figure
out how they are wrong?” Sadly, I never answered his question.
What was troubling about the discussion was not my student’s
positions but their lack of reasoning. They found the very existence of a
contrary moral claim to be evidence that moral intuitions are inherently
defective. One student was even willing to go as far as to say he couldn’t find
reason to claim the Holocaust is wrong. Clearly one could argue, as the Nazis
did, such treatment is justified, but there are a host of reasons to
confidently disagree.
Though you might take my student’s position about the
relativity of ethics, I hope you can see the shallowness of my students
thinking. They hadn’t rubbed shoulders with powerful arguments and claims of thoughtful
writers. He probably never will. How do you know you’re not in the same position?
It is worth reading about ancient western philosophy because it forces us to
think and even to think carefully. So, join me in this blog series on ancient
western philosophy.