As an introduction to our online discussion, I thought I'd post my entire article below, since I think it's relevant to this present topic, and also demonstrates the broader social implications of the debate.
Sorry it's so long. Feel free to comment on it directly or on anything else discussed at our last meeting. Click on the title for all comments and article.
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We can never have too many thinkers around here. So, if you have an intellectual bent, come on in, and share with us your thoughts! This blog is setup as an extension to a group of amateur philosophers who meet on a monthly basis in La Jolla, Ca. We hope it will not only provide a common "meeting place" between our meetings, but will also serve as a forum to share ideas and thoughts by other thinkers. Either comment on an existing post or create a new one with a different topic. Welcome!
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Next meeting December 6
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Urban Grind, San Diego
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Urban Grind, San Diego
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AN UNEXAMINED FREEDOM
By Peter S. McConnell
Is it just me or is Lady Liberty looking a little chunky these days? HARDLY the bod to grace the cover of Cosmo! And what’s with the robe? Not exactly the Haute Couture one would expect from the French. And don’t get me started about those breasts! Either give that chick a makeover or let’s get a more suitable model of American freedom! Something more to the likes of Pamela Anderson might be more fitting. Lord knows our values have at least as much silicone!
America is harshly criticized for its superficial values, which to many global spectators is a product of too much freedom. While much of this criticism, albeit stereotypical, is well warranted, does this reflect an excessive wealth of freedom, or, rather, a careless squandering of it? Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. I really don’t think it’s my place to condemn or condone the prevalent values of our time. I wish, rather, to consider whether they are borne of our own careful choosing or an unexamined way of life.
It’s certainly not my charge that all Americans are superficial, self-centered, spoiled brats…. with excessively augmented breasts. And neither does the entire world believe that! Such ostensible vices are played out on the world’s stage, while the undercurrent of virtue goes largely unnoticed. Still, such American stereotypes, like a caricature of Jay Leno’s super hero chin, can point out some very prominent features. We’re 230-year-old spoiled brats. We’re nouveau riche rock stars with four dollar (and twenty nine cents) per day latte habits. We’re ego driven hip hoppers obsessed with out bling-blingin’ the Jones’s. We’re Paris Hilton playing “reality” roles. We’re those covetous kids furiously searching for the golden tickets to Willy Wanka’s Chocolate Factory. We’re the Wicked Witch of the West and her battalion of creepy flying monkeys! Ok, maybe we’re not that, but those monkeys are pretty creepy.
But what is to blame for what might be considered overindulgence? Excessive freedom? Spoiled Americans who didn’t have their hands slapped enough for reaching into the cookie jar? I maintain that the open cookie jar policy is our greatness, despite our naughty little selves! This point is illustrated beautifully in the novel, “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck. Perhaps the greatest word in all of mankind is “Timshel”. It’s the Hebraic word which literally means, “thou mayest”. In Genesis, it’s the word God uses to instruct Cain that he mayest rule over sin…. lest it will rule over him. Cain chose poorly, of course, and whacked his brother anyway. The story, whether literal, figurative, or just a cute fable, demonstrates that the inherent greatness of man was not lessened by his yielding to impulses of pride, hatred and selfishness, but, rather, strengthened by the reality of his empowerment to choose otherwise. Man was endowed with the power of potentiality. The capacity to transcend his impulses, and be whatever he chooses. And so it is with this great nation. Whatever virtue or vice may spawn from its collective conscience, we cannot add or take away from our inherent greatness to choose them freely. But we can’t choose to be a nation of strength, noble character, and core values without first examining what we wish to become. In fact, character to me is not defined necessarily by mere behavior, but by the care in choosing what that behavior will be and represent. Are we becoming a more virtuous people marked by deliberate values, or an unchallenged culture fattened by its gluttonous appetite for self?
America represents to the world man’s best and worst. On one hand, as Ayn Rand's objectivist philosophy points out, our highest potential for innovation, creativity, and prosperity is fully realized only by our unfettered pursuit of and unlimited reward for both our personal aspirations…and selfish ambitions. There is, indeed, much to be admired in what has been reaped from the soils of our unprecedented freedom. On the other hand, it can easily be abused by our egocentric and often unhampered human nature, and we often exploit it at our brother’s demise. The world witnesses this split personality with much ambivalence. Paradoxically, many of the same people who denounce us, admire us with equal vigor. But despite the love/hate relationship we have with the rest of humanity, our choices should never go unchallenged and unmeasured. There’s often a fine line that separates virtue from vice, and it’s our human nature to each cross that line daily. Neither we as individuals nor as a country are wholly on one side or the other of that squiggly line that separates yin from yang. But if we accept the universal principle of reaping that which we sow, we should consider carefully the harvest of American choice. Are we, as individual citizens of this great nation, actively sowing its seeds, or just passively consuming its fruit?
It’s hard to be human and build strength of character. I think that’s the idea, though, isn’t it? Where’s the virtue in character if it just sprouts up like that stuff on a chia pet? Just add culture, and “WATCH IT GROW!” An unexamined life will instinctively yield to its cultural norms. A simple human slant called “conformity”. Well, here’s the problem with that - our culture seems to approve almost anything that is simply “human”, under the precept of liberation. So we now have to fight the current of both humanness and culture to achieve any measure of character. That’s quite a challenge. However, while arguably the most powerful force to exploit our penchant for conformity, culture is not necessarily something we instinctively consume like lions over a dead carcass. Conformity is, after all, not merely an animal instinct. It’s still a choice. But it seems to be the easy choice to which we are too quickly inclined - to feed the ravenous appetites of our egos and participate in the feeding frenzy without pause. I realize that sounds very harsh, so let me soften it up. I will rather liken us to Winnie the Pooh and the honey tree. That’s a tamer image of us very civilized, cute, and pudgy Americans who just love that sweet, glittering, golden money (I mean, honey)! I don’t deny my own proclivity to many societal norms. I still do often capitulate to certain trends without giving them a second thought. The seduction of conformity is that it requires little effort and guarantees approval. Vulnerable minds are exploited everyday because of this lazy impulse. But this might just be our country’s Achilles' heel – surrendering to fashionable trends and embracing every cultural value without due consideration of their merit. That is not an examined life.
Are such “slaves of fashion” truly slaves indeed? We are slaves only to that which we choose to surrender our wills. Are we mere byproducts of culture or creatures of impulse to conform to it? Certainly not. Or, let’s hope not! We are creatures of choice. This is the great distinction between us and lesser animals (except Pooh). This is why we are greater than any non-free country. Whether we choose to be set adrift by the winds of culture or to navigate a more independent course by some personal faith or philosophy, it is still a choice we make. If we choose to be swept in the current of greed and selfishness, or strive towards some higher ground of ambition and self-actualization it is a choice. “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”, says the great lyricist, Neil Peart. But if you have not decided the fate of your character, rest assured culture will decide that for you. And where is the dignity in jumping into formation with the masses without reflecting deeply if that is the form in which you wish to be cast? That is not an examined life.
Our character is not developed by abandoning recklessly and blindly to standards established on our behalf. I’m not only referring to our broader societal pressures here. The same listless mentality can be found in churches, political parties and many other sub cultures. If you’re “raised” to believe something, does that mean you’re bred to believe it like my Labrador is to fetch a dead duck? If you’re a member of a religious or political organization, have you surrendered your rights to disagree with it? Should you speedily defer to the popular opinions of your friends so you’ll get put on the A list? Many strong Americans yield to the lesser traveled road of true independence as their choices and views transcend (though not necessarily oppose) the standards by which their society, religion or political persuasion measures them, because they choose to be products of nothing but their own tried and tested convictions. In the midst of such powerful forces, our character and our beliefs are made stronger as we discover ourselves independent of them and allow ourselves to at least challenge the doctrines to which we can so easily default. A postmodern theologian, Roger E. Olson, paraphrased the Socratic principle. He says, “The unexamined belief is not worth believing”. I don’t think anything can elevate a man’s virtue more than the exercise of his will and freethinking mind to take personal ownership of his/her beliefs and values. It’s not my place to tell America what those should be. That’s’ not exactly my point here. My point is that, whatever they might be, we should choose them with great care in order to maintain our intellectual, spiritual, and personal integrity. The strength of our mental and moral fiber can only be weaved by the governance of our own minds and self-determined principles. It cannot be simply had by following the path of least resistance.
Going against the flow for the sake of going against it is not the point either. I’m not suggesting we all become punk rockers (or whatever the kids are calling it today). Of course, if we did, the entire culture would become counter cultural. That would sort of defeat the purpose. If that happened, punk rockers would probably begin wearing suits and ties, and the rest of us would have painful holes in our nipples. Obviously not everything that is fashionably American or politically correct or doctrinally sound is in itself bad. But if you are an independent man or woman of conviction, you won't stand in line for a beverage without asking, “hey, what’s in the cool-aid?”. Finding ourselves independent of those forces, especially when doing so is necessary to establish and maintain our own personal integrity, is not only respectable, but a luxury that our wonderful freedom affords us. We boast of such individualism here in America. I see too little of it. I see a greater trend of laziness, and of yielding too quickly to status quo and surefire acceptance, squandering freedom in our own shameful apathy. That is NOT an examined life.
As I see it, it’s time to grow up and become a people who take a greater accounting of its character than its currency. As a nation and as human beings, we are endowed with a remarkable freedom to live by values and conduct of our own careful choosing. That’s quite a privilege. It’s the substance of our greatness, to which I hope we will each respond with great humility and dutiful care.
September 8, 2007 3:27 PM
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The issue of freewill and determinism is essential it seems to almost every philosophical debate as well as the materialist one. If we are merely subject to physical properties which determine our every behavior, choice does not exist. It is an illusion. Neither would the mind exist. So the questions of "character", "wisdom", "goodness" become irrelevant, as does justice, and personal culpability. It's an important debate. On one hand, if we say that we are, indeed, responsible for our behavior, we agree that there exists a reality beyond the physical. On the other hand, if we say that reality is limited to the physical universe, we agree that our behavior is not subject to choice, which is trans physical, but determined solely by our physical properties. We are, therefore, not responsible for our actions and should, therefore, refrain from judging any decision based on right and wrong.
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