What constitues the good life?

In the search of 'the good life' or a higher moral way of living your life, Aristotle chose the route of 'Virtue ethics' and came up with four 'cardinal virtues':

1. Temperance - moderation in all we do
2. Justice - Being fair and reasonable
3. Courage - Being able to act in the face of fear
4. Prudence - acting with and showing care for the future

Now to me, that list of four 'cardinal virtues' is not only something I could stick to, but also something worth putting in to practice daily. 

Healer or money maker?



But tell me, your physician . . . is he a moneymaker, an earner of fees, or a healer of the sick?” - Socrates.

 

During a period of unemployment, I paid a visit to my dentists surgery. I couldn't get to see my regular dentist and acceded to seeing another dentist. At the end she rattled off lots of treatments I 'needed' then asked how I would like to pay.

 

Her assistant told the dentist I do not need to pay as I am currently unemployed, to which the dentist backtracked and said that in that case I should be ok for another 6 months, just come back next week for a cleaning.

 

For two weeks she was on the sick, by the third week I was told she had left the practice. Whether sacked for gross misconduct or left from shame/guilt I do not know.

 

The question Socrates asks of a physician is a valid one, whether doctor, dentist, optician, et al, are they a moneymaker, an earner of fees, or a healer of the sick?

 

The temptation for a professional healer to make more money from their patients is great. We have no way of knowing if we are being lied to or the truth is being bent in order that our healers can extract more money from our purse.

 

Even with an ethical code of practice, even if swearing the Hippocratic oath, how can we be sure these people do not succumb to temptation when taking money from us, or the state for that matter. How can two dentists in the same practice at the same level of qualification find one with many faults and another with none?

 

The healing profession demands a far higher level of virtue from us as people, something that should be considered before entering the profession, rather than seeing it as a cash-cow. Yet how many of us can truly say we put the pursuit of wisdom and virtue before material trifles and financial gains?

 



The scheme of life



Diogenes Laertius is quoted as saying that our possessions are mere trifles. That our human body is simply a vessel of clay containing a quart of blood.

 

What Diogenes was attempting to put across was that, over time, in the long run, our 'possessions', even our body, is of no real concern. They will age, decay and eventually be left behind.

 

The only real possession which we own is our character and our scheme of life. How we live our life, what we do with our life, how our actions impact and impinge upon others, that is what we must protect and that is what we must pay attention to.

 

The pursuit of wisdom and virtue need supersede all other worries. How do we cringe when asked what our job is. When we have to tell people it is low paid, menial work and they are in a better paid job with higher social status.

 

A job is just another way a person grabs hold of what we are. But we are not our job, we are not our title, we are our character and our character can be what we choose to make of it.

 

We can choose to moan and groan, to complain about our lot in life or blame others for our circumstances. We can choose to flatter others as a way of ingratiating ourselves in to their favour. Or, we could accept responsibility for who we are, where we are and devote ourselves to the pursuit of wisdom and virtue, not to be better than others, but simply to improve our character and our scheme of life.

 

What sort of man spends more time on his car than his character? Or a woman that spends more time in the beauty salon than on her character?

 

If your only true possession is your character, who you truly are, then don't you owe it to yourself to devote loving care and attention on what really matters?

On being dead

 

As a philosopher, I have came to the conclusion that greater minds before me have came to and that there is nothing to fear from death itself, it is just, nothingness. Like being asleep but not dreaming.

Have fun and make other people's lives better as best you can.

Live your life with honour and integrity and death shall hold no fear for you.
 

No personal achievement will matter to you once you are dead, the only thing that will live on after your death will be your impact on the people that are still alive. Hopefully your impact will be positive!



How to 'BE' a philosopher

The first thing to say about Philosophers is, some of the greatest and best remembered Philosophers were anti-authoritarian. 2500 years on and Socrates is still remembered as one of the greatest Philosophers to ever grace this planet and he was a self admitted political gadfly. So here's my punt on how to 'be' a philosopher.

1. Write it down: Ever wonder why some Philosophers question why you would want to chase fame and fortune, but they have written voluminous works? Write your thoughts down. Be it a personal diary, a jotter pad, a blog or a book proposal, get something written down. Diaries and general personal blogs are great for rambling thoughts. More serious writing involves more serious thoughts and cleaned up literature. While there are lots of 'junk' philosophy books out there, do yourself a favour and try to emulate the 'classics' in both style and thought.
2. Drink: This one is easy, coffee and good coffee is preferable to cheap dishwater stuff. A cup of good strong coffee, preferably in a situation where as you drain one cup, the next cup is right to hand. Don't use those pretentious thimble sized cups, they're for show, like that 'intellectual' book people haven't read but leave on their 'coffee' table to make them look smarter than they actually are. Get a decent coffee cup, not a mug, experiment with the correct constituency of coffee and get slugging that bad boy down. Caffeine is king, decaff needs to be binned, there truly is no point to it.
3. Food: This is pretty common sense stuff, life is way too short and were philosophers, not nutritionists. Peter Singer is a strong advocate of vegetarianism and he does have a point to a degree. However H.G.Wells advocated the working class eating the rich so Singer may need to add an extra chapter to his book. On one level I see the point, on another level a proper home made cheeseburger with real cow and onion inside the mix is too delicious for me to pass up for the rest of my life. If you can go veggie, great. If not, don't beat yourself up about it. Fresh meat, fruit and vegetables is good food. Processed foods, sweets, biscuits, processed drinks, all bad. We know what's good and bad for us, we don't need to be trained nutritionists, just think before putting something in your mouth and you should be ok.
4. Clothing: What you wear defines you. The problem is, any Philosopher worth his literature is going to be anti-authoritarian by choice. We don't like to fit the mould. We don't follow fashion 'trends', we like to wear what we feel comfortable wearing. That's not to say we should deliberately wear the opposite of what is expected of us. I am in my forties and prefer to wear hush puppies, trousers and shirts. To each his own as long as you are not deliberately conforming to the norm due to societal pressures, wear what you are comfortable with.
5. Music: Again, listen to what you enjoy. Sure you could but the collected works of Wagner on 45 cd's in an attempt to 'intellectualise' yourself, but if you have a passion for Elvis and Roy Orbison, go for it.
6. Reading: You should really do yourself a favour and read the original source classic philosophers, especially the complete works of Plato as a jumping off point. Then if you find yourself falling in to a niche, focus on that niche. For me political philosophy is my bag, I have enjoyed the works of Ayn Rand but must admit Hannah Arendt maybe the greatest political philosopher of the late 20th century.
7. Thinking: True thinking really is a forgotten art. With bold headlines in the newspapers, we react with a knee jerk and then move on to the next topic. Asking "What is behind that headline?" Digging for the truth, checking the statistics (a working intuitive knowledge of statistics can really help) all goes a long way to improve thinking skills. Take your time, come to a conclusion, challenge and counter challenge your conclusions and if possible, WRITE IT DOWN!
8. Living and dying well: Cicero wrote the book on this, so if you haven't already, read that! We intuitively know how to live well, be a good person, do right by others, be genuinely nice and kind, give time rather than money. Basically you have two things in life, your name and your reputation. Don't be tempted to tarnish either of them. On dying, well, Philosophy is a lesson on how to die well. Come to a conclusion you either go to a better place or it is the end and you won't know any different anyways. Imagine the freedom form all the pain and suffering life throws at us. If you read enough of the 'classics' you will face death stoically enough.
9. Work: Just remember, even the greatest of philosophers had to grind lenses for a living. I work in retail, that's a grind in itself. But we all need to be somewhere and whatever our 'job' is, we should do it the very best of our abilities. In our time, that's when the real work of the philosopher can be done.
10. Love: We all get hit with cupids arrow sometime, sometimes we have a partner for life, sometimes its unrequited love. Love hurts like a bitch at times and other times makes us glad to be alive. Just remember mutual respect and a stoic attitude.
11. Children: One thing a child craves is the attention of their parents or carer. Above all the gifts, toys, money, holidays and clothes a child just wants to be shown love. With parents stressed out and all the weight of the world upon their shoulders, it's the kids that get the short end of the stick. Make sure you spend quality time with your children, let them know everyday that you love them, take that T.V. out of their bedroom and most importantly, read them a bed time story, every night! Take the time for your children while they are young, it makes a world of difference and no matter what, they do appreciate the sacrifices you make for them. Your children didn't choose to be born in to this world, the least you can do is try to give them the very best start in life.



Human capital



I went in to town early this morning and in a roofed and enclosed line of bus shelters, there was a homeless person covered in a sleeping bag, lying down covered head to toe. Reflex reaction was someone needs to help this person, why as a society are we allowing people to lay in the streets like this.

 

After the initial hit, the philosopher/economist kicked in. Why is this person lying there? Is it really not a homeless person but someone trying to make a political point? Perhaps this person has refused all help from local council officials of various sorts and prefers this lifestyle to others? Mental illness, drug abuse, &c.

 

On reflection today this took my thoughts back to a Socialist that enjoys writing sophistry to the letters pages of our local Gazette. He asked why should Bill Gates be sitting on $Bn of wealth while half the world starves. His answer of course is Socialism, an ism that has failed everywhere it has been tried, unless we talk of mixed economies.

 

But to answer the question why Bill Gates is rich, relative to most on this planet is 'human capital'. Strip Bill Gates of all his assets and his human capital, his life skills, training, and knowledge would allow him to thrive. Strip Tiger Woods of everything and loan him some golf clubs, he will be winning tournaments.

 

I chose not to go to school, to college, to university. I chose not to get a trade. I chose to take low paid manual work in the safe knowledge that I would never really achieve the dizzying heights of being one of the 'rich' and would stay working class while I refused to invest in human capital.

 

Top lawyers, surgeons, footballers, and internet gurus are rich because they invested time, energy, money, whatever it took in increasing their personal human capital.

 

How many people can kick a ball like David Beckham? Now how many people can say 'would you like fries with that?' The Beckham's of this world are limited, the McDonald workers are plentiful.

 

Instead of hating or feeling envy towards those that have done better than ourselves, surely we would be better off, where applicable, to invest in our own human capital and improve our own chances of success in the world?

 

With the exception of the minority that have genuine disabilities that stop them getting ahead (see Stephen Hawking for a person that more than overcame disabilities), we all have the opportunity to invest in ourselves.

 

There are numerous free courses of education available, public libraries are great places of learning for free. For those with time and money, going back to college/university or learning a trade can be a great starting point.

 

We can't all be a Bill Gates or David Beckham, but we can all start investing in our own human capital instead of eating crisps and drinking beers on the sofa in front of daytime television.

 



There is no true path



I come across a lot of people trying to figure out what their true calling, their true path in life, their mission of which if they found it they could live life with passion and to the full. Happiness incarnate, the secret formula to never having to work again.

 

I can tell you now I have followed Philosophy down the path of nihilism and asked the question of why we don't all commit suicide. Richard Dawkins can tell you we are an accident of evolution while Albert Camus can show you we stay alive out of force of habit more than anything else. Socrates can point out death is nothing to fear and Cicero can show you that life is long if you know how to live it.

 

Aristotle would have us work on the middle ground, not the endless pursuit of financial gain, neither a monkish life of abstinence and poverty. Socrates believed instead of the body beautiful, we should dedicate ourselves to improving our souls.

 

Well let me just say, after 40 years on this spinning planet, there is no absolute true path, there is no one passion, one all consuming thing that we must follow to the end of days. Am I the same person as when I was born? How about my thirteenth birthday? eighteen, twenty one, thirty?

 

The only thing I have absolutely retained from childhood is a love of reading. Fantasy fiction was my thing, now my tastes have changed and evolved and over the years I have encountered a wide range of interests.

 

No doubt my tastes, my pursuits, my aims and ambitions will change again over the next forty years. What I do know is, there is no true path other than the path you decide for yourself. Careers advisers, parents, friends, money, status, all will have an influence on the path you take, but the only true path in life is the one you give yourself, the one where you look in the mirror and you are happy with your choices.

 

Some will pursue financial gain, others to be a great parent or partner. Others will commit themselves to their art and live on subsistence wages. Some will devote themselves to helping others, while some will lie, cheat and steal their way through life.

 

The only person you are morally accountable to is the person you see in the mirror and if you can look yourself in the eye and honestly be proud of the path you have chosen, then you know you are on the right path and nothing anyone says should matter to you.