Yours Tru.ly
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Blog 3 -- 2/10/14
Monday's discussion of themes present in The Fall led to some interesting conclusions, one of which seemed to be left unchallenged, or at least tossed aside as insignificant. The group presenting--and by group, I mean Seth--not only recapitulated, but appeared to support, the notion of friendship as an act of selfishness. Now, I am not necessarily in disagreement with the rationale, nor am I suggesting an alternative hypothesis, but I do feel the need to bring to light some other things for consideration. For starters, the term selfish bears a largely negative connotation--if not inherently, then certainly courtesy of Seth's implementation as such. This in mind, in conjunction with the fact that friendship as being selfish was left as though nothing shy of absolute truth, made for an interesting thought: If befriending someone is always attributable to the benefit of the self, which, needless to say, is morally questionable, is the act's antithesis (pursuing a life devoid of friendships, a life of seclusion), whereby cherishing one's own isolation, any less selfish? For example, during my first two years at ASU, I lived a life somewhat similar to that of a hermit. Everyday, I'd go to class and then return straight home. Not once did I go out of my way to meet new people, go to parties, explore college life, or the likes. Truth is, I loved being alone. Granted, I had a wonderful girlfriend, so I was never truly alone in the traditional sense, but I avoided extracurricular interaction at all costs so as to preserve my own solitude, to protect my time alone, to relish in the simplicity I called my life. Was I being selfish? Undoubtedly. Is this sort of selfishness any better, or worse, than that described during the presentation and depicted in Camus' The Fall? Or, perhaps selfishness, as we know it, is unsuitable for either situation. After all, both scenarios comprise the very ebb and flow of being introspective, all-the-while social, creatures.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Fellow philosopher, nice surname and blog atmosphere, really adds to the reader experience. As far as the philosophy itself, I like the chokehold you put the course content through. With the argument that having friends is a selfish act being somewhat an extreme statement, you took it to the other end of the spectrum talking about what you call “being a hermit” and surprisingly, similarities appeared. I appreciated your thought process because I too like to blow things almost out of proportion to see what effects they have in at incredibly large and small scales. But you see, as a thought experiment and method to think about things, this works just fine, but in reality some people practice life in these extreme forms, and therein lay the problem. I use the word “problem” quite sparingly here because for some people it serves their personality best to stay at one end, but for the most part every person can relate to both sides. I, for one, consider myself and extrovertedly-charged-introvert, fueled by collaboration and discussion, at the end of the day I feel a want to just throw on a sweater and get lost in a reading, writing, or drawing. And that’s just it, in a world filled with labels and sports teams to get behind, it’s easy to think in terms of either being this or that, but in truth we live in a world of thissy-that’s and thatty-this’.
ReplyDelete