Hello, Dear Readers. It’s good to see you. This is my first post, so it seems only fitting that I should spend my time (and yours) letting you know what this blog is about since the title could be taken in several different ways. So, let me start off with a question…
Do you ever wonder what philosophy really is?
Probably not, I’m guessing. I mean, “What is philosophy?” isn’t a question that comes up as often as, say, “Can I park my car here?” or “Does this milk taste bad to you?” After all, those really are the kinds of important questions that shape our everyday existence because they have real consequences. Not being able to say what philosophy is doesn’t generally produce catastrophically negative results, and it’s a lucky thing that it doesn’t. Can you imagine a world where someone could be dragged out of the shower, hooked to a tow truck, and dragged nude through the streets just because he/she couldn’t define “philosophy”? After about a week, the entire planet would be nothing more than a giant impound lot filled with ignorant naked people, and I don’t know about you, but that’s really not the kind of world I want to live in.
But, look, just in case that sort of Kafkaesque nightmare does arise at some point, here’s one definition of “philosophy” from the dictionary widget on my computer (which as far as I’m concerned is the fount of all the linguistic knowledge you’re ever really going to need)—philosophy is “the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.”
Well, OK, so that’s huge. And kind of hard to see any practical application in, but hey, if it’s all that’s standing between you and the impound lot, it’s worth memorizing. So do it. Do it now.
The entry also adds that this definition is especially applicable when philosophy is considered as an academic discipline, and I think for most people, that’s the only way they ever consider it. I mean, I don’t know too many people who think of philosophy as a recreational activity or as a particularly good substitute for television. Such people probably do exist, though, and they’re probably sitting at home right now. Alone. In the dark. Crying.
(Being an academic philosopher also pretty much requires you to wear a tweed jacket, smoke a pipe, and have a beard. Even if you’re a woman…or violently allergic to rough-textured woolen fabrics. But, hey, no one ever said that the pursuit of knowledge wasn’t going to involve a little sacrifice).
Now, I have nothing against academic philosophy. Actually, I’m all for it. In fact, I think more parents should force their college-aged children into studying it. I mean, the world has enough business majors and aspiring sports psychologists. We need some people who can think about the inherent pitfalls of a purely analytic philosophical system if for no reason other than the sheer entertainment value of witnessing that kind of intellectual turmoil. And besides, nothing toughens a kid up for the harsh sting of the real world like a stiff course in symbolic logic.
But that isn’t really the kind of philosophy I’m interested in here. Trust me, I don’t want to involve myself in anything quite so daunting. Rather, I’m interested in the kind of philosophy that ordinary people engage in every day because whether we choose to see it or not, we ask philosophical questions all the time. Who hasn’t discovered a dead car battery and asked, “Is this really all there is to life? Endless heartbreak and despair?” Who hasn’t drifted off in a staff meeting, inadvertently focused in a on a colleague’s chest and wondered, “Are those real?” Who hasn’t been completely ignored in a restaurant and thus forced to ponder the veracity of one’s own existence? I mean, seriously, it’s not like philosophical questions are things we have to go looking for.
But beyond just conducting philosophical inquiries into somewhat trivial things, my interest is in looking at a specific class of trivial things, and that’s where the “Hungry Planet” part of the title comes in. First off, though, no, this isn’t going to be a blog about food or cooking. Blogs about culinary journeys of self-discovery have already been done, and besides, given that I’ve never successfully broiled anything without starting a fire, any cooking-based spiritual quest that I might go on would necessarily be a journey through hell and would likely involve a trip to the Emergency Room. So, I’m passing right over that route.
As well, this isn’t a blog about world hunger because I don’t have an awful lot to add to that discussion. Hungry people should be fed, and that’s about where I stand on that. Of course, how to feed all those hungry people is a whole other matter…which is likely being discussed productively and at length in someone else’s blog.
This blog is about hunger more broadly construed because at its core, hunger is about desire. It’s about want, and from what I’ve observed, most people don’t hunger after gigantic, life-altering, world-changing things. Global peace? Sure, most people really do want that, but they’re more likely to break into a libidinous sweat over the perfect set of radial tires or a TV so powerful that it can peer into Rachel Maddow’s soul. Real justice? Well, that would be nice, but I know more than a few people who would much rather have a good explanation as to why we kicked Pluto out of our solar system but decided not to rename Uranus as long as we were revising our view of the universe.
And I’m really no different than any other ordinary person. I want things, too. I want to figure out how I can qualify for the Meals on Wheels program so I don’t ever have to make dirty dishes again. I want to own 1000 pairs of underwear so I only have to do laundry every 2.73972603 years. I want to know if sleeping in a pair of Depends just for the sake of convenience is really such a terrible thing.
And don’t worry that I’m ultimately going to conclude that people shouldn’t want whatever they want or have whatever they’ve got because I’m no advocate for living simply. Personally, I think that life should be lived in as complicated a manner as is humanly possible and that an opportunity to become emotionally over-wrought or utterly confused should never be passed by. I mean, life is about learning, and no one ever learned anything by being level-headed, fully-informed, or completely devoid of meaningless possessions. We don’t, of course, have to elevate small questions to a level of global importance and then act as if the continued rotation of the earth depends upon our answers, but then again…what the hell! Let’s do it!
So that’s what this blog is about. It’s not about asking, “Can I park my car here?” It’s about asking, “Why can’t I park my car any damn place I want?” And it’s not about asking “Does this milk taste bad to you?” It’s about why I think it’s better to encourage your friends to engage in behaviors that might make them throw up than it is for you to engage in those activities yourself. It’s about all those random little philosophical inquiries that all of us make everyday into what we want, why we want it, and how we’re going to get it. And it’s served up hot and fresh every Friday.
It’s philosophy for a hungry planet.
Enjoy.
© R. Rissler, 2011. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment