Today
Philosophy is often thought to be the obscure and overly complicated ideas contained in books written by grey-bearded men in ivy-covered universities. But today young philosophers, healers and TikTokkers are thinking new thoughts on new subjects — subjects that relate more directly to our contemporary lives and the societies we live in. Philosophies of rage, complaint, travel, wellness and healing are all now part of philosophic scrutiny. And these ideas are readily explored by both young philosophers in academic institutions as well as those outside the traditional academies. In today’s Daily Dose we take a look at contemporary ideas ranging from Plato to Vasquez-Lavado.
– with reporting by Matthew Blackman
Bright Young Thinkers
Myisha Cherry on Rage
Rage has had a bad rap both recently and historically. Philosophers from Aristotle to Martha Nussbaum have argued that people in a state of rage act irrationally and participate in aggressive acts. But Myisha Cherry, an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside, argues that rage has a role in contemporary society. Cherry says that anger is an appropriate response to wrongdoing and racism. Rage, she says, can motivate people into correcting injustices. Using her own experience as an African American woman, she argues that anger has played an important role in her personal motivation.
Agnes Callard on Complaint
Complaining is often thought of as a negative thing. But Agnes Callard, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, thinks we should reflect on it a little more. As a mother, she says she “spends a lot of time listening to complaining. ” But as she realised, philosophers have generally ignored thinking about it. She points out a lot of stand-up comedy is a form of complaint. It is also an important form of protest. When we complain, Callard argues, we express the obligations that we have towards each other. By complaining we ask for what we are morally due.
YOUR VOTE: Is complaining, to you, a sign of an optimistic or pessimistic view on life?
Emily Thomas on Travel
Travel is not really something traditional philosophers have addressed. But this is not true of Emily Thomas, an associate professor in philosophy at Durham University. Thomas argues that travel can help us get to grips with cultural and ethical issues as well as being “mind expanding.” Philosophy can also tell us something about why we travel. Why, for example, did people suddenly begin enjoying mountain climbing? As she points out, up until the 18th century it hardly existed. Something in the way we think about space and nature changed. In her book The Meaning of Travel she addresses many of these fascinating questions.
YOUR VOTE:Has a vacation ever permanently changed the way you live your life, and if so, how?
Nontraditional Vantage Points
Silvia Vasquez-Lavado on Surviving and Conquering Abuse
Vasquez-Lavado grew up in Peru in deeply traumatic surroundings: She was a victim of sexual abuse. As a survivor, she has gone psychologically, spiritually and physically on a journey of recovery and healing. What changed her life was an out-of-body experience with a traditional healer using traditional medicine. This allowed her to look at her life in a new way, envisioning it as a journey around a mountain. That inspired her to become a mountaineer and explore how mountains are connected to spiritual and psychological healing. Mountaineering gave her an empowering feeling of strength and courage. With this philosophy as a foundation, she launched the remarkable nonprofit Courageous Girls, which helps survivors of sexual abuse.
Queen Afua on Healing and Justice
She may not be a philosopher in an academic sense, but this holistic health practitioner and wellness coach is bringing health, strength and personal healing to women through her bestselling books and her teaching. But as she points out, the healing of women can go further than that: It can also empower both the family and the community they live in. Queen Afua bridges the gaps between thought, wellness, diet and healing. Like Myisha Cherry, she believes that finding justice is the issue of our time.
YOUR VOTE: Has a change in diet ever changed your outlook?
Kazuo Ishiguro on Novel Philosophy
Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophical novels may be a thing of the past, but philosophical novels still do exist. The Nobel prize-winning Ishiguro has been dipping into philosophical ideas from his first book, asking: How do we deceive ourselves? Are our jobs performative, and how does this affect our psychology? What are the ethics of organ harvesting? Should we remember painful trauma and divisive history, or should we suppress it? And just what does identity look like in a world of artificial intelligence? Ishiguro is from a tradition that asks philosophical questions through storytelling on issues that formal philosophy finds difficult to get to grips with.
WATCH
UKRAINE SPECIAL: Sonya Zlotnick
#TikTokPhilosophy
The Prof of TikTok
Paul Blaschko, an assistant philosophy professor at Notre Dame, has taken to TikTok to share some of philosophy’s most intriguing and paradoxical questions. Last year he teamed up with Brian Cutter, and with the help of Free Style Rap Instrumental Beat they explained to the world just why “utilitarianism is so dumb.” It was one of the most viewed philosophy lessons on TikTok until Blaschko’s masterpiece the surprise exam paradox was viewed by well over 800,000 people. His other viral postings include proof that God exists, can you live TGL in a “burnout society” and the hell paradox.
YOUR VOTE: What would be involved in your own personal hell?
The Philosophy of the Others
Although Blaschko tops the TikTok charts of philosophy profs, there are others trying their (invisible selfie) hand at making them. Prof Nathan Nobis from Morehouse College has hit over 1,000 views with his video on ethics and morality. And using the rule that many selfie hands make light work, the whole of the Gonzaga University Philosophy Department have grouped together to shed some light in the TikTok cave of philosophical darkness. However, by far the most-viewed video they’ve produced is of staff reading, not their philosophy, but students’ criticisms of their teaching. Self-critique is, after all, an important part of the philosophical process!
The Baron of #TikTokPhilosophy
Baron Ryan is not an academic philosopher. But his TikTok account, AmericanBaron, with over 2.3 million followers, takes the dialectical method of Socrates and mixes it with the comic form that TikTok users expect. Ryan’s brilliantly produced videos on the paradoxes of contemporary life see him questioning assumptions about the modern world. He has taken on some of the great questions of our time, opening them up to his distinctive self-inquiry. From questioning the absurdities and difficulties of breakups to how the capitalist economy really works to thoughts on the drudgery of daily existence, Ryan’s video offerings are TikTok’s boom!
