Teaching Philosophy and Human Nature

I'm still digesting course evaluation results. It's always frustrating, and it seems like that's the case no matter how good or how bad the results are, judging by the comments I hear from everyone. If nothing else, it feels like the comments are worthless, much of the time - the students aren't even trying to learn, so who are they to judge our worth as teachers?

But I do think that there is another side to the issue, and sometimes I as a philosopher forget that. I and my field are but one moment in the totality of human life. True, Socrates was a gadfly, and he was executed for that; but let us not merely blame the crowds for doing so. I want to live in a world where everyone is open to new ideas, but new ideas also disrupt society, which creates real problems for real people. People, like our students, are trying to build up a life for themselves, and let's face it, philosophy is often a destructive process. We philosophers tear down the edifices everyone else builds for the sake of a new creation. This is important for the sake of overall progress and I certainly would prefer to have a rational, informed public. But even we need to live in a society that runs more or less stably. The skills that keep order and community are often opposed to those that encourage universal, rational considerations.

I'm not completely apologizing for the ignorance of college freshmen, nor am I proclaiming that I have nothing to work on even on my side of the debate; but I do think that I, personally, need to step back and look at the larger picture of human nature sometimes. There are different forces required in society, often forming said society only through their conflict, and I am but one moment in that flux.

Thoughts on Bin Laden's Death

It should come as no surprise to those who know me that I find the hubbub about Bin Laden irritating. "But shouldn't we rejoice that there is less evil in the world, however minute?" "Why can't you let your countrymen rejoice?" Because we get too distracted by a mere symbol to actually confront the real problems in our world.

This death is symbolic, nothing more, and possibly even harmful. We aren't going to pull out of Afghanistan or Iraq. Iraq in particular was never about these terrorists, as anyone with any clue about Middle-Eastern politics has known since the beginning, and we still have other problems in Afghanistan (the Taliban, together with the mess we, yes we, America, have made of the place). The terrorists aren't going to stop. If anything, they have a martyr to rally behind now. All we did was get the satisfaction of an all-too-expensive revenge. Are we such animals that we can only live for hormonal, emotional responses, when they come at a cost to real lives and real goods we could put to work elsewhere? Are we mere gorillas that can only pound our chests, or can we actually rationally think about matters?

Most of all, I'm concerned that this is a mere distraction. There is real evil in the world. Yes, Osama was a horrible person - I'm not going to deny that. But there are bankers in Wall Street who would let our country burn if it gained them a profit. There are companies in our very nation who have quite literally stolen money that could have fed the poor and aided the sick. And there is the utterly apathetic lack of concern about educating our public so that they would have the tools to govern themselves wisely - we spend money on bombs and bureaucracy while impoverishing the minds of our youth, all the better to be molded to the persuasions of the powerful.

There is real evil in the world which needs to be fought. Osama's defeat is a cheap victory, his death a gaudy celebration which takes no effort and no time from our lives, which ultimately gives no justice. Justice is not as simple as a shell or as easy as ammunition. It is not only a negation of what we hate, but the building up of our own lives, of putting aside the myth of our perfection and taking up our own toils, of fashioning and forming ourselves.