"Numbness or anxiety: are these our choices? Humanism points to another possibility...humanists should find ourselves well equipped to flourish, given the circumstances. Now is an apt time to ponder the fact that the human condition means living under the shadow of death." But... https://t.co/2YIXHKijJt— Phil Oliver (@OSOPHER) April 12, 2020
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Humanism and the shadow of death
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Yes, this reminds me of remarks by Cornel West that I recently heard in a nice philosophical documentary called Examined Life (cited below). West describes philosophy as being about the "ponder[ing]" mentioned above, as being "fundamentally about about our finite situation." West goes on to say in his typically clever fashion, "We can define that in terms of we're beings toward death . . . featherless, two-legged, linguistically conscious creatures born between urine and feces whose body will one day be the culinary delight of terrestrial worms. That's us" (2:27-2:48).
ReplyDeleteIndeed. So much depends on how we properly reckon with that existential fact. So much harm is caused by our failure to do so. This, I think, is what makes the fruit of wrestling with human finitude by philosophers--like Hagglund--so necessary and enduring. Until human nature no longer involves finitude--and would it still be human nature at this point or something else?--this reckoning remains a fundamental part of our reflection on the conditions and meaningfulness of life.
https://mtsu.kanopy.com/video/examined-life-1
That's a more graphic and compelling way of emphasizing our due humility than Plato's "featherless biped"! If we ever lost our mortality we'd also probably lose any shot at humility, and that couldn't bode well for our survival.
DeleteI've seen bits of "The Examined Life" but not the whole film in its entirety, must put it on the "to view" list. I found time to inflict "No Time for Sergeants" with a very young and hick-ish Andy Griffith on my family this weekend, I ought to have time for Cornel... who btw I notice has said he will support Joe Biden, after NOT supporting Hillary last time.