PhiloBfastQs

 

Back on 2 April 1998 the New York Times ran an article about "Philosophy Cafes" in France. That story, like a seed crystal falling into a supersaturated solution, triggered the formation of a "Philosophy Breakfast" table every Friday morning. We meet at 7:45am not-so-sharp. Usually half a dozen people, plus or minus half a dozen, show up to scratch their heads together for forty-five minutes. Questions that came up during our February and March 2001 round-tables:

  • If you woke up after a 100-year-long nap, what questions would you want to ask first?
  • What's the rôle of the "Public Intellectual" in society?
  • Is there a stylistic contrast between the USA and Europe — as caricatured in the advice, "Go to America to get something done" — e.g., real-world engineering versus theoretical formalism? Practical problem-solving vs. intellectualism?
  • Two ways to rate a "philosophy" (from Richard Hooker):

  • Does it help you understand the world? * Does it help you live your life?
    • * Must one keep promises made to a dying person after that person is dead?

    • On war: Are there "Just" wars? Is "Total" war moral? How about the "Mutual Assured Destruction" strategy of deterrence? Is war just a word for "organized murder"? What differentiates a "police action" from war? When is the initiation of force justified? Is capital punishment ever OK? How about assassination? Or "assassination from a great distance" via bombing or missile attack?
    • Can there be a Global Social Contract? When may one country impose its values on another? Or is all morality relative?
    • Can one design a morality around entropy minimization? — that is, assign high weight to preserving historical artifacts, endangered species, human life, etc.?
    • What is the trade-off between privacy and safety?
    • When faced with a bureaucratic threat, is the archetypal response to "Boldly Reorganize!"?
    • When should "sub-cultures" be respected and preserved? When do they become disruptive of the greater social web of trust?
    • What makes someone convert from one religion to another? How true is the aphorism, "When you've lost your goals, you become a fanatic and redouble your efforts!"?
    • What are the dangers of fame — the downside of becoming a Nobel Laureate, say?
    • What's the distinction between charisma and leadership? Can a leader really cause significant social change, or does s/he more likely simply get in front of a trend that was happening anyway? Is "leadership something that adheres in a person that s/he can use to any purpose"?

    (Thanks for ideas & comments to JB, JC, BD, GdM, JJ, KM, AP, LR, BW, and others. See also ^zhurnal 6 October 2000, 2 & 1 August 2000, and 27, 25, 22, 18, 12, and 11 July 2000.)

    Monday, April 09, 2001 at 06:01:59 (EDT) = 2001-04-09

    TopicPhilosophy - TopicSociety

    (correlates: MoralToPhysical, ThinkingThroughPrejudice, Comments on SimpleArtOfMurder, ...)