Is philosophy the act of ‘‘constructing systems’’
as Hegel did or as Kant did? Or is philosophy
about reaching as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche did,
what does it mean to be human, without the
''Will to create a system?"
It is quite clear I have no interest in systems per se…
to hold to isms, as in capitalism and communism,
is to hold to a system…it is the modern version of
Hegel…but the large does not and cannot explain the
small moments of existence where we must define
our own existence by some means…to understand
what it means to be human, we must discard all the
crap and drivel that stand between us and understanding…
''What am I to do?“…
''What can I know?”
''What ought I believe in?"
These are not questions that need or want systems
to answer them… We can understand what being
being moral/ethical means without recourse to a system…
On what basis do we judge being moral/ethical on?
Catholicism, (which is a stand-in for all religions)
is a system which includes ethical and moral
considerations… and Catholicism has a metaphysical
basis… a beginning and an end… and yet, we can
work out a human basis for ethics and morals that
don’t involve a beginning or an end…
We do not need nor require metaphysics
to work out our ethical or moral basis…
We simply have to understand human needs…
We are flesh and blood… living beings and as such,
we have basic bodily needs and basic psychology
needs…among them is the need for food, water, shelter,
health care, education… those are fundamental, primary
human needs… and without them, we die… that is
where all morality and ethics begin… with our primary
needs…
We also have psychological needs… of love, of a sense of
belonging, of esteem, of safety/security…
and all ethics and morality revolve around us reaching those
basic needs… and something preventing us from reaching
those basic bodily or psychological needs are immoral, unethical…
In America, health care is tied directly into having a job…
no job, no health care… it is pretty much that simple,
and ethically and morally wrong…for a person to be held
hostage to gain health care is wrong… health care is not
a privilege but a right of being human… but Kropotkin,
how do you know?
We human suffer, we age, we become diseased, we die…
that is the human condition… and in as a basic function
of being human is to become sick, to be injured, we must
also then make health care as basic as our being diseased…
a basic human need requires a basic human response…
if we tire, we must sleep, if we are hungry, we must eat,
if we thirst, we must drink… basic human needs…
that every single living thing has… that all human beings have…
and we cannot make basic human needs conditional/transactional…
you can only eat if you do this… for all human needs must
be meet, not transactionally, but unconditionally…
otherwise, we are just animals of the lowest kind…
just as my bodily needs are not conditional, my
psychological needs are also not conditional…
I must have love… it is a primary human need…
that is not conditional… in other words, unless I met
my society/states conditions, I cannot find love…
regardless of my relationship with the state/society,
I still need love and esteem and safety/security…
and ethically, morally it is wrong to prevent people
from finding love, safety/security, esteem…
That is the basis of ethics, of morals… creating
the basis or conditions where everyone, regardless
of their relationship with the state/society, can have
their needs met… That is what being ethical, being
moral means…meeting our bodily and psychological
needs… that is bottom line ethics/morals…
That is why ethically, morally, America is wrong…
America turns our basic bodily/psychological needs
into conditional actions… you can only eat, drink,
be educated if you act transactionally with the state…
you work… you get fed, you work… you get health care…
you work… you get safety/security… the America isms
operates transactionally… that is the heart of capitalism…
our religion of choice…
There is no higher or lower in a transactional system…
there is no becoming better, there is no moral improvement,
there is no right or wrong… there is simply the transaction
between the state and the individual… you work, and we will
feed you… create profits and you get esteem and safety/security
the entire American system can be summed up by this Latin saying…
‘‘Quid pro quo’’
that is the heart of capitalism and America itself…and this
‘‘Quid pro quo’’ keeps the American systems, isms at
the basic, lowest level of human relationships…
this is not the highest level of human relationships,
but the lowest… there is no movement on this level
of engagement… we are simply working for our food
at the simplest level of existence…
How do we then make the next step of becoming human?
for in a transactional existence, the type we have today, there
is no movement, higher or lower…everything is equal…
you want to know why we haven’t improved as a species?
it is because we are trapped into a transactional state of
existence instead of a mobile state of existence…
Which is to say, instead of living ‘‘Quid pro quo’’
we exist as beings moving toward a goal of becoming
more human… and what does this mean?
We need to examine, explore what our individual
and collective possibilities are…
At work, I run the self-checkout machines… there is no
movement to become better or smarter or wiser…
those goals are unimportant to the corporation in regards
to running the self-checkout machines… I am to maintain
profits and prevent stealing, which lowers profits… there
is no higher or lower here… just maintain what is there…
and that in essence, the heart of the American system…
there are no transformations or self improvement…
I am the same today as I was yesterday and will be tomorrow…
and that is all the company wants… no change…
But change is the heart of what it means to be human…
‘‘Quid pro quo’’ doesn’t allow for or even wants change…
maintain or increase profits, has no need for change…
so, ethically what does this mean?
How am I to act, given the corporate world
''Quid pro quo?"
Treat everyone with dignity and respect… but that is never
said nor is it even implied… the corporate world only wants
profits, and my actions, ethically, morally revolve around
holding onto and increasing profits… nothing more…there is no
higher or lower in this…
the point of ethics/morals is in movement, in a higher or lower…
in change… to achieve what is possible for me to achieve, to
become… and that is denied in the ‘‘Quid pro quo’’ of America…
transactional systems have no need or nor a desire for change
or in becoming better… to be blunt, ‘‘Quid pro quo’’ is a call
for mediocrity… ‘‘Quid pro quo’’ is a call for an exchange
of services, nothing more… where does change come into this?
Kropotkin