The main question here is what exactly does Critchley argue is the real role of philosophy? My first thought was that he thinks philosophy is something to be used to free us from the mental captivity of fear, in particular, fear of death. As I kept reading, I thought I nailed it- but after thinking about it I realized I only had a part of it. The role of philosophy, according to Critchley, is to allow us to accept our mortality. Even though there is anxiety and other 'flaws' of human nature, we can't forget that we have an ultimatum and it's inevitable.
To connect with the world we are in today, we can explore how this applies to the pandemic. It's very obvious that the pandemic has caused a sudden wave of intense anxiety globally. And it serves as a reminder that we are mortals. We can get sick and we can die. This, of course, relates directly to what Critchley was saying about human fragility and our weakness. We know we are weak mortal beings, but in the very end he proposes that "our weakness is our strength." We can even dissect that sentence further by saying that the weakness can be represented by COVID and our strength is how we as a body of people have persevered to the point where we now have a vaccine. It's interesting to read especially since this was written before the vaccine was a possibility.
I have to say I kind of agree with Critchley. I never really thought of philosophy in this manner much. Typically you focus on the 'living' aspect, not the fact that we're all going to die whether we like it or not. That being said, I do agree that the role of philosophy is to have a sense of realism in our lives and to acknowledge death and mortality, but I also think a big part of philosophy is that 'living' aspect.
I think you make a good point that philosophy not only functions to talk about life, but also about death and coming to terms with it. In terms of the pandemic and how it has affected our way of life, I think you make some good points about how humans have worked hard to make a vaccine in spite of the deaths that have occurred around us. Overall, I think your blog post was good and raised some points that I had not considered when I was reading the article.
ReplyDeleteI think you brought up a lot of great points that I didn't think about when reading the article. I thought the aspect on living during covid was a truly great point and I also think with the vaccine as weak we looked during covid we also gained strength.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Critchley was arguing the role of philosophy is to accept that our death is inevitable. Living during this pandemic is extremely challenging as we are constantly reminded that we are mortal beings. The news reminds us how quickly our lives can be taken away. We live in a constant state of anxiety. This pandemic reminds us of death's approach in our every day lives. I like how you pointed out the vaccine we created and the strength we have. I believe we are resilient and we will continue to live even though death can occur at any time.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your last paragraph. I also did not think about philosophy in that way but I think it is a really good view point. It is important to just live your life and not fear things you cannot control.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I never thought about philology this way before either. I personally don’t spend a lot of time thinking about death and what happens when we die, I’m curious to see if there’s some sort of poll out there that shows how much people do think about this. Maybe there’s a certain age group that needs to read this specifically
ReplyDeleteI like how you interpreted covid being are weakness and our strength being how we've tried to recover. With that being said, it can be hard at times to find strength in weakness. Throughout this pandemic its definitely been hard for me to see that light at the end of the tunnel. I never thought of philosophy to be a sense of realism, so it was interesting to me when you made that point.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you said about Covid being our weakness and how we persevered being our strength. I never really thought of it that way but after reading your blog it really opened up my eyes to that metaphor.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said in this post and you did a great job providing evidence backing it up! I think that when people focus on fears they can't control anxiety and mental health gets worse. What we should be focusing on is our morality and the things that we can control in our life. After reading this blog I agree with what Critchley has said and we can't get wrapped up in the fears of the pandemic and death. Those things are out of our hands and we need to focus on what is going on beyond that like our thoughts and morality.
ReplyDeleteI believe that you are right that humans care very much about mortality. I think the pandemic has only heightened the fear of death amongst the population. In order for people to become at peace with themselves, I agree that they need to stop worrying over things they cannot control. Easier said than done of course.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your views that were taken from Critchley's article. In his article he talks about how we need to find acceptance with death and learn to live while doing so. This relates perfectly with the pandemic we are currently in. This pandemic has caused a large amount of anxiety onto people and they need to learn to look at it in a different perspective. We can use this anxiety to live for death rather than fear death.-Trisha Gagne
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