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The Courage of Cynicism
I love the Cynics and I wish I were courageous enough to be one. I think they are essentially right in everything they say. A student once expressed surprise at this, when I said as much in a lecture, pointing out that I had celebrated Socrates’ prioritisation of the ethical. Weren’t the two incompatible? Socrates says there is nothing more important than living a decent life; the Cynics go around spitting in people’s faces and generally causing trouble. However you justify it, there’s not much ‘decency’ in Cynic life. I think that’s true, and I was glad to have the…
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Shouting from the Sidelines
I’ve often thought there’s something absurd about a philosopher shouting from the sidelines of society, accusing everyone of being miserable. Most people seem quite content to go about their business; they don’t seem particularly tormented by being in ordinary society; it’s only the philosopher that is. Who is more miserable here? The one who is happy in the world or the one who lives outside of it? But then I look at the brief biographies of famous and successful people, or our leaders, the great and good, the paragons of ordinary society, the pictures of success, and although it is…
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Philosophy is a Fruiting Tree
Whenever I consider introducing philosophy to people, it always seems like it’s the wrong time: too late for the old, because they don’t have time or inclination to change themselves, and too soon for the young, because they don’t understand why it could be needed. Only the young person who has suffered knows why you might need to defend yourself against life with an art of living. A philosopher can only offer what they have, which is philosophy. But philosophy is made of ideas and ideas are only seeds. Seeds are not fruit. Some of these seeds might take root…
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It is better to be better than feel better
Anyone who has lived with depression or anxiety will be very accustomed to getting a lot of advice. People want you to feel better, so they will talk to you about what makes them feel better. They don’t understand that you live in different worlds. It is the ‘let them eat cake’ of mental health: talk that advertises ignorance. And yet there is a paradox, because what they say is both ignorant and true: they will say that these things will improve your mood, and they are right, because cake is nice.
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The Lighthouse Keeper Simile
There is an old philosophical simile that says: we are in this life like a sentry at their post. The underlying thought is that we have a moral duty not to commit suicide. I have always found it to be a provocative and challenging thought. We have a personal duty to hold the line against the forces of despair, because if we break, the enemy will break through and the battle will be lost. Our comrades will fall. We will have let them down. You need to stand your ground. Over time, I have come to question the militaristic connotations…
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The Ship
Imagine you are a ship. The hull, mast, and sails are your ‘body’; your feelings, thoughts, ambitions and aversions, wants and fears, everything that makes up your ‘soul’, are the crew. The ship needs to sail, but in order to do so the crew needs to be organised. You need to hoist the sails, plot a course, catch the wind, and navigate the seas. The ship needs a captain. Who do you put in charge? Who tells the ship what to do and where to go? Each of the crew members thinks they have the best claim to the captaincy.…
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Ask the Right Question: The Laches
Socrates is always asking questions. But not just any questions: he wants to ask the right questions. Understanding which, of all the questions, is the right question, and how to ask that question in the right way, is one of the most important things you can learn from philosophy. If you ask the wrong question you will always get the wrong answer.
An experiment with philosophy as a way of life
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