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Essays, Opinion, & Commentary |
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by George J. Irbe
Some 2000-plus years ago when philosophy was young, the philosophers often talked to the people in the city square. In their day, of course, the world they surveyed was rather confined and the people they could reach not many. Nevertheless, by reaching into the general population with their teaching, several of them, most notably Socrates, incurred the mistrust and even fear of the establishment with dire consequences for himself. Others had to suffer the then popular means of getting rid of trouble-makers -- expulsion from the city state. Aristotle, too, had to make a discreet departure from Athens before things got too hot for comfort. Socrates and Aristotle were in their day the equivalents of what we would identify as agitators and propagandizers of ideas. The Athens establishment feared that they were filling the heads of the young men with all kinds of foolish and unsettling notions. There is a well-known saying that ideas do have consequences. The more widely the idea catches on and spreads in the general population the more profound are the consequences. The ideas are all started by philosophers. The ones that have appeal and become popularized in society inevitably translate into practical application by society through cultural mores and politics. Regrettably, our own times have seen the very bad political and moral consequences of some very bad ideas. It is worth noting that these ideas were disseminated mainly by one philosopher -- Karl Marx -- and by his zealous disciples. They were very successful in disseminating their ideas in the general population because they, too, carried their message to the man in the street. I am not a maker of philosophy; rather, I'm a user. The justification for the existence of philosophy and philosophers is the same as for any other product of what Karl Popper identifies as man's World 3 -- the world that we create with our own intellect. Like other products of World 3, philosophical ideas are created because there is a perceived demand for them. The consumer, the user of philosophy, me, can, like any other consumer of any other product, pick and choose what suits me best. What suits me as to philosophy is what I will call the three wise men of our own time: Mortimer J. Adler, Friedrich A. Hayek and Karl R. Popper. They may disagree among themselves on particulars, but their core ideas, taken together, constitute, in my opinion, a realistic, commonsense message for mankind today. Broadly speaking, each of these men propounds particularly excellent ideas in a specific area: Adler in personal ethics and morals, Hayek on the evolution and functioning of a free society, and Popper on science and knowledge. My three wise men have done their bit. Mortimer Adler is still doing it. I have, through a process of personal discovery, selected their product, their thought, because it serves me and my soul -- yes, soul -- the best. They, indeed, propound the Great Ideas. But, where are the disciples who would pick up the torch and carry their thoughts to the four corners of the world? There are establishments where the study, discussion and promotion of the commonsense ideas of philosophers like the aforementioned three is now made possible on the internet. This Center for Applied Philosophy, maintained by Jonathan Dolhenty, is one. Also, Mortimer Adler and Max Weismann maintain a Center for the Study of The Great Ideas, and publish a journal called "Philosophy is Everybody's Business." It would be wonderful if every man's interest in the Great Ideas could be aroused to where they all would make it their business. I would like to similarly stress the converse of that slogan: "Everybody is Philosophy's Business." The Great Ideas need not only be studied but, more so, they need active dissemination throughout the general population of the entire world. Today we can globalize just about everything. It makes eminent sense that the message about the Great Ideas should also be directed to all mankind. However, in order to deliver the message globally the messengers must of necessity have a global perspective. The acolyte philosopher who would be a missionary for the Great Ideas should be conscious of the fact that the message must be offered to average persons living in different cultural, religious and political settings; the message must be made at least interesting, if not captivating, and meaningful.That means that the message must be tailored to accommodate the various cultural, political and religious peculiarities of the different nations and societies. The larger portion of mankind lives in ignorance and oppression, or mental stultification, of one kind or another. Inspiring the members of these backward societies with the Great Ideas requires that the ideas be explained in a language that they can relate to in the context of the political, religious, or cultural bondage that shackles their initiative as individuals. In other words, the Great Ideas must be propagandized in a manner different from the polite, learned dissertation within the ivied walls. Some of us shoppers for the right philosophical product here in western society have the copious choices from which we can select the ones that make sense. Other societies do not have the luxury to pick and choose the most suitable and utile philosophical goods off the shelf, so to speak. Therefore, those who would be the ambassadors for the Great Ideas should endeavor to make their message simple and versatile, unencumbered by sophisticated, western-centered, embellishments. One has to present the Great Ideas differently to a Russian, a Chinese, an Indonesian, an Afghani, a Saudi, an Angolan, and so on. It goes without saying that the Great Ideas per se are unchanging and unchangeable. Not that every philosopher who is comfortably ensconced in the academia of Western centers of higher learning need to rush out and proselytize to the world dressed in sack-cloth. It is that these comfortable holders of tenure should, even as they may continue to talk mostly to each other in the old game of "how many angels on the head of a pin," consider if their deliberations have any significance and utility for the world outside the ivied walls. If not, it is highly recommended that they should consider tailoring their product -- the philosophical argument -- so that it applies to, and can be used by, the real world. Please correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that we lack the disciples with a dynamic drive for the dissemination of the Great Ideas, agitators comparable to the followers of Marx, who could reduce the message down to its essentials and sell it to the man on the street. It seems that the new batch of "philosophers" extruded by the modern education system lack any desire to be messiahs. And truly, the message of the wise men should be disseminated the world over with great fervor. In their thinking the new philosophers seldom venture forth into the world at large. They are content to analyze the entrails of the thoughts of the wise men while ensconced in the cozy corner of their own narrow world. If only a few would get inspired for the task. Questions/Comments? Post them in The Radical Academy Forum Mr. Irbe's Website: Classical Liberal George E-mail Address: George J. Irbe |
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