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Oct. 4, 2008 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
48:40
1164 Stef on the Badnarik Radio Show Part 1

Takin' on da Christyans!

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Why stand we here idle?
The second American Revolution has already begun.
The ideological battle between tyranny and liberty.
The conflict between communism and the Constitution.
The assault by corporations against the individual.
I am your host, Michael Badnarik.
I am the stepfather of the Constitution.
The defender of everybody's individual rights and your navigator back to the land of the free.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
It is Thursday, September 25th and I'm very pleased to have Stefan Molyneux as my co-host this morning.
Our subject today is philosophy and in particular a short presentation delivered by Ayn Rand To the United States Military Academy at West Point.
That was delivered March 6, 1974.
And it is a short speech titled, Philosophy, Who Needs It?
And that's what we're going to be talking about.
Very basic.
We're not going to talk about the heavy philosophers, Aristotle and Plato and those guys, what they thought.
But we'll be talking about philosophy as a science in and of itself.
I want to welcome all of my regular listeners and let everybody know that we're here broadcasting live from 7 a.m.
to 9 a.m. Central Time on We the People Radio Network, WTPRN. We are also rebroadcast from noon to 2 p.m.
on KTAE. That's 1330 a.m.
radio throughout Central Texas.
And you can download the archived MP3 files at the WTPRN website.
So I want to let everybody know that we are an international program.
We literally have people listening around the world.
We support liberty, everybody's liberty, whether your country has a Constitution and Bill of Rights or not.
That's the philosophy of liberty that we are trying to promote.
We are a talk show, and we strongly encourage you to exercise your freedom of speech.
We'd love to have you call in.
Our number is 512-646-1984.
That number again, 512-646-1984.
646-1984.
You are not required to agree with me or my co-hosts.
You are simply required to be polite.
No ad hominem attacks are allowed.
We are very pleased to be on KTAE Radio, broadcasting to an area that has approximately 2 million people.
And in order to do that, we are sponsored and supported by Roberts& Roberts Brokerage.
Our friend Tim Fry down in Florida will make silver, gold, and platinum available to you.
And these difficult economic ties, that is a recommendation that I am personally Making to you.
Get rid of your Federal Reserve notes.
Trade them now while they're still worth something.
And do so by calling Tim Fry at 800-874-9760.
And I also recommend that you start focusing on your own personal food supply.
You can purchase...
Large supplies of food that have already been prepackaged for long-term storage.
You can also think about growing your own food.
If you've got a lawn, you can dig that up and put it in a garden.
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Her phone number is 877-596-2727.
That number again, 877-596-2727.
As always, you are welcome to send me an email.
You can comment on the program.
You can offer suggestions for topics or co-hosts that you would like to hear on our program, Lighting the Fires of Liberty.
You can contact me directly.
my email address is scholar that's S-C-H-O-L-A-R scholar at constitutionpreservation.org scholar at constitutionpreservation.org and if you would like to purchase a copy of my book you can go to www.constitutionpreservation.org the name of my book Good to be King we have 300 million
We're kings and queens in the United States, and we are the source of all political power.
At least we're supposed to be, and we certainly can be, and this program is all about taking action, learning what you need to know about the way the government is supposed to work.
And then taking action.
Liberty is not a spectator sport.
You're going to have to get involved.
And hopefully we can motivate you to do that.
My co-host this morning, Stefan Molyneux, coming to us from Canada.
Good morning, Stefan. How are you this morning?
Good morning. It's great to be here.
Thank you very much. I am doing just fine.
How are you? I'm excellent.
I'm very excited about today's program.
Philosophy is one of my favorite subjects.
I don't get a chance to discuss it with too many people.
Most people think that philosophy is terribly sophisticated.
College professors with curly hair and beards will sit around at these upper echelon meetings to discuss philosophy.
But philosophy is just really a A way of looking at life, isn't it?
How would you describe philosophy in 25 words or less?
A philosophy is the pursuit of truth according to reason and evidence with the goal being that if you think rationally then you become happier and so the real goal of philosophy is happiness because it's the one thing that we want that doesn't have to have something else doesn't need something else if we aim for happiness We can only get there.
Reason equals virtue equals happiness is the basic equation of philosophy.
If you don't have reason at the beginning, you can't live a consistently virtuous life.
You can't be consistently virtuously happy.
It's sort of like the nutrition for the mind.
You have to understand something about food in order to live a healthy life.
You have to understand something about truth in order to live a happy life.
And the science of nutrition and the science of philosophy are the only ways that you can consistently achieve true knowledge, wisdom, and happiness.
Well, if you go out and buy a new computer, I mean, you know, you bring the box home.
As you're unpacking the computer, there's always a tech manual in there.
A lot of people don't bother to read it, but that book is supposed to be everything you ever need to know on how to use that particular computer.
And when we're born, we have this incredible, incredible computer in our head that the brain is able to store amazing amounts of information and do all sorts of rapid calculations.
But you don't come with a user's manual.
There is no reference book for how to use your brain.
And I point out to people that because we are alive, It is inevitable that we are going to die.
I mean, it's not a pleasant thought necessarily, but it's unavoidable.
And during the time that we are alive, almost every decision that we make is, at least indirectly, related to prolonging our life.
And if we could, if it were possible to make 100% correct decisions.
To never, ever make a mistake.
That would certainly be the goal.
Well, how would we achieve the next best thing?
To make as few mistakes as possible.
Well, philosophy is the answer.
Philosophy does not tell us what to think, but philosophy does tell us really how to think.
What's important? How do you go about analyzing all of this stuff?
And it is basically, as I like to refer to it, it's a user's reference for the brain.
And I like your definition.
It all starts with rationality.
You have to have a...
A logical process that you go through.
And so that's basically the topic for today, is philosophy.
It's not just for tenured college professors.
Every one of us has our own philosophy.
And each philosophy can be slightly different.
They are all unique, just like our DNA. What prompted you to study philosophy, and why are you interested in it?
Well, I first began with Ayn Rand, as most people do, who gained that sort of populist entrance into philosophy.
I read her when I was about 16.
The great rock band Rush was a friend of mine's favorite band, and Neil Peart, the drummer, is a big objectivist.
That's sort of how I got into it to begin with.
And what it did for me was it was sort of like waking up to reality, you know, like that movie The Matrix where you pop out of that goo and into reality, which isn't always pretty, but it's far better to live in what is as compared to, you know, what you're taught in government schools or other places where error is the norm.
And I just felt that I really wanted to connect and to ground what it is that I thought In reality.
And it was a pretty ruthless impulse in me.
I really had to attack a lot of my own...
I shouldn't say my own illusions, but just the illusions that I was raised with.
You know, there's a lot of allegiance to governments, allegiance to false idols and so on that we're taught when we're growing up.
Carving all of those away and getting into a productive, positive and healthy relationship with reality was...
It was just a real drive for me and it has really continued.
Philosophy can be a lifelong pursuit.
And I just wanted to mention that...
We understand that whenever the government touches anything, it really complicates it because the more confused people are, the easier they are to control.
So we know that the economy becomes horrendously complicated because of government intervention.
I would say that the same thing is true of philosophy, that philosophy has been really complicated because it's actually quite simple in its essence.
And it's over-complicated because if people can think clearly, then it's not very good for the powers that be, to say the least.
In fact, it's the most powerful weapon against the powers that be is philosophy, in my opinion.
So people get the perception through basically government-sponsored academia that philosophy is this big, horrible, abstract, confusing mess Which is vaguely nihilistic.
That's the sort of postmodern approach.
So, you know, don't let people fool you that philosophy is all too complicated.
In its essence, it is like the free market.
The principles are very basic.
It just gets really complicated by the powers that be to keep you away from the power of the truth.
It is very, very simple, and since we're talking about Ayn Rand, her definition, she says that a philosophic system is simply an integrated view of existence.
As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy, the fact that your eyes are open.
I mean, you have to make decisions in your life.
And she says, your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought or whether you let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions.
And I think all of us have experienced that.
We learn things or we're told things as children and we assume that they are true.
The Easter Bunny will bring you chocolate eggs in the spring, or your baby brother or sister was delivered by the stork.
And as we grow up, we discover that those pieces of information do not fit with reality.
We realize that some of the information that we had as children, or the information that we were given as children, Is blatantly wrong.
And we have to go back and correct that.
We learn that the Easter Bunny doesn't hop with eggs and the stork does not deliver our siblings.
And we correct that.
But once you realize that some of the information that you learned as a child could be wrong, It should open up the possibility that all of the information that you learned before might be wrong.
And I think that's one of the reasons that philosophy can be scary to some people, is because it opens you up to the possibility that you are operating on mistaken information.
The task, I mean the monumental task of going over everything that you possibly knew at one point to check to see if that information still seems valid to you.
Is that an experience that you've had?
Have you had to go back and analyze everything that you thought you knew?
Oh yes, absolutely.
And we start with basically a foundation which is largely propagandistic, you know, about the virtues of the government and so on.
To go back down to that, and there is an emotional component to philosophy that is very, I think, important.
You know, for all of the amazing glories that Ayn Rand brought to the philosophical arena, and she's an incredible philosopher in my opinion, I think that she felt that if we give people rational arguments They will accept them, and I think history has proven that that is not a simple explanation.
There is a resistance that we have, because we are tribal animals, I think, and we kind of like to get along with people.
There is a resistance that we have towards the truth that is more emotional than intellectual, and I think understanding that aspect of how to communicate to the truth in a way that is more inviting than alarming is a real challenge, and I think that's one of the reasons I wanted to be on your show this morning, to help people to understand that.
We are talking about philosophy this morning.
Do you have one?
Do you know what it is?
Give us a call, 512-646-1984.
We'll be right back after this three-minute commercial break.
Don't go away. Everywhere around the world They come into America Every time that flag's unfurled They come into America Got a dream to take them there They come into America Got a dream they come to share They come into America They're coming to America.
Wake up, America.
You are listening to Michael Badnarek.
I am the stepfather of the Constitution here on WTPRN.com.
I'm also on KTAE 1330 AM radio throughout Central Texas, stretching from approximately Waco to Austin to College Station.
Again, I want to give a special invitation to my KTAE listeners to send me an email.
My email address is scholar, S-C-H-O-L-A-R, scholar, at constitutionpreservation.org.
I'd love to hear from you and find out where you are listening to this program.
My co-host this morning is Stephan Molyneux, and we are discussing philosophy and whether or not you need it.
We're talking about it from the point of view that there are no contradictions.
As we grow up, we are told things that are not true, like the Easter Bunny brings you chocolate eggs, and then later you discover that that information is not true.
And, Stephan, I actually utilize this technique or this fact at the very beginning of my Constitution class.
I ask my students a series of very simple questions that they know the answer to.
I ask them when the Declaration of Independence is, and they know that that's 1776.
I ask them who the first United States is, and everybody tells me that he's George Washington.
Well, then I point out that George Washington became president in 1789, and there were 13 years between 1776 and 1789.
And I asked, you know, who was in charge of the United States during those 13 years?
Did we just wander around with nobody in charge?
And I point out that before George Washington, we had 10 Presidents of the United States under the Articles of Confederation, and that George Washington was the first President of the United States under the Constitution, but that he was not the first President of the United States.
And this just shatters what people think they know about the United States.
It boils down to, in the physical world, we recognize that there are no contradictions.
You cannot be pregnant and not pregnant at the same time.
You cannot be guilty of murder in San Francisco if you were sitting in Texas someplace at the scene of the crime.
You can't be in two places at once.
Physically, it is not possible for a contradiction to exist, and the way that we discover that is through logic and rational thought.
Is there some way to learn logic or to apply it to every decision we make?
Stephan? I'm not sure if I have Stephan online.
Logic is a skill.
It really is something that needs to be acquired.
When I teach people about philosophy, I point out to them that logic does not give you the correct answer.
It only tells you what the wrong answers are.
If two police officers stop me in Texas for lunch while I am at lunch and they would like to arrest me and take me to jail for committing murder in San Francisco, if I have people at the table with me who will vouch for my ability to be there,
And the fact that I have been, you know, having lunch in Texas all of this time, then it is not possible.
I mean, the laws of physics do not allow me to be in Texas having lunch and in San Francisco at the same time committing murder.
And so because of this contradiction in reality, We know that I am not the person who committed this murder.
And, you know, all things being equal, ignoring the fact that the system really doesn't work all that well, for the most part, the police officers will leave me alone.
Now, from the police officers' point of view...
They do not know who committed the murder.
They still do not have the correct answer.
But they do know that I am the wrong answer.
The 911 truth movement, we look at the explanation the government has given us for why the buildings have come down.
They talk about the airplanes hitting the building and melting the steel columns with the jet fuel.
Well, you know, hundreds of thousands, millions of us in the United States have done that story.
And we know it's not the right answer.
The laws of physics prevent that from being anywhere close to being true.
My hypothetical police officers have the answer.
We simply know that the government explanation is...
I'm here.
I think that we are having some technical difficulties this morning.
Stephan, are you with us? I am back, thanks.
Sorry about that. Well, I'm sorry about that, too.
I don't know how much of what I just recently said, but I was asking you to comment on logic and rationality as a fundamental skill and a basis for having a consistent philosophy.
Well, I think it's essential.
You know, one of the most central questions of philosophy is the statement, compared to what?
So truth is a relation between our thoughts and objective and empirical reality.
You know, the sort of out there beyond the skull that we can touch, taste, smell, feel, and so on.
So, the statement compared to what is essential to philosophy.
When I say that something is true, the question is true compared to what?
And it's compared to two things.
It's compared to what is in reality, and it is also compared to an erroneous or false statement about what is in reality.
So, when we say X is true, something is true, then we're saying, well, it's true compared to something that is false, and it is true, it is a true statement about what actually happens In reality, right?
So if San Francisco is on the West Coast, well, that is a true statement about the physical location of San Francisco, and it's compared to where it actually is in the world, and it's compared to a statement which says, San Francisco is on the moon, which may seem true sometimes when you're looking at the media, but it's not actually true.
So I think that basic statement is very important.
We derive logic From the operation of things in the world, right?
The reason that we know that the laws of basic logic are true is because they're true relative to what happens in the real world.
A physical object cannot be in two places at once, and that's how we know that your evidence that you weren't involved in a murder is true.
And we're getting ready to go to a commercial break.
We will be back in three minutes with Stephan Molyneux and we'll continue our discussion on philosophy.
We strongly encourage you to exercise your freedom of speech.
Give us a call, 512-646-1984.
This is supposed to be a philosophical discussion on philosophy.
You know, what do you know?
How do you know it? And how do you know that what you think you know is true?
From the East Coast to the West Coast Down the Dixie Highway This is our country.
From the East Coast to the West Coast, down the Dixie Alley, back home.
This is our country.
This is Our Country.
Welcome back. You are listening to Michael Badnark.
I am the defender of everybody's individual rights, regardless of whether or not your country has a constitution or a bill of rights.
And I am also your navigator back to the land of the free.
I am following our constitutional compass.
There is only one logical way to ensure everybody's individual rights, and the Founding Fathers gave us the secret to that, that a constitution is a form of governmental philosophy, and one that I am hoping to restore here in the United States.
Our phone number is 512-646- 512-646-1984.
My co-host this morning is Stephan Molyneux and he is the host of Free Domain Radio.
You can go to freedomainradio.com and listen to Stephan.
Stephan, how often do you broadcast or podcast?
I usually do at least one a day but there is an almost embarrassing number of podcasts all available for free or commercial free available on the website along with a number of books in audiobook and PDF format all free on the website for people who are interested in furthering their understanding of philosophy, the truth and personal happiness.
And so the Declaration of Independence talks about life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and Earlier in the program you said that happiness is directly related to truth and rationality.
How is that true and is there some way that we can learn logic?
Is there some way that we can learn to apply logic to every single decision that we make in our ordinary day?
Well, yes, I think so.
I mean, I think that's absolutely the case.
We all understand when it comes to physical health, if we don't know how the body functions at least to some level, if we don't know that vegetables are good for you and, you know, four pounds of chocolate, maybe not so much, even though the latter tastes good and impulses often feel good to follow, though it may not be wise in the long run.
So the idea that we need some knowledge of how the body works and how it processes food and why it needs exercise even when we don't feel like it, if we understand how the body works, then we can gain health.
And that, of course, is a goal.
Without health, it's really hard to be happy.
And in the same way, as you mentioned earlier, we have this amazing equipment called the mind, which we need to understand how it works.
Now, when one of the body's organs is working properly, fulfilling its intended function, then it gives us a sense of well-being and positivity and so on.
The same thing is true of the mind.
And the purpose of the mind is to understand reality and the truth.
And when we are aligned, when our thinking is aligned with that which really is in the real world, then our mind is functioning according to its intended use, and therefore we gain a sense of well-being and positivity and happiness.
Gain flexibility in our thinking, right?
Because too often, and as prone to this as anybody, too often our beliefs harden into dogma.
And philosophy is the opposite of dogma, where you just hold a position because it feels right and you get annoyed whenever it gets contradicted.
But philosophy is much more like science in that it's fluid, it responds to evidence, it responds to new information.
And so we keep ourselves fluid and reactive as thinkers and can process new information.
We don't harden into a sort of thought of preconceived opinions and I think that is another real goal of philosophy is to keep your mind alive, processing new information and really focusing on aligning how you think with what is actually real in the world because that will give you a sense of well-being and security.
We have a caller from Pennsylvania.
I want to go to Frank this morning.
Good morning, Frank. How are you?
Good morning, Michael. How are you doing and your guest?
I'm doing really well.
That's good. I had to call in.
Thinking about your topic today, and it's kind of a difficult subject, I think, for a lot of us.
A lot of people don't think they contemplate or think about philosophy.
However, you know, it's part of our everyday lives, and it's basically pretty much the philosophy that we are experiencing today.
Those particular rogue agents They have a philosophy.
Their philosophy is all for them and none for us.
To me, that's a philosophy.
It's a philosophy of the king's, a difference between the king's philosophy, the peasant's philosophy, and the free man's philosophy.
None agree with one another.
Right. Philosophy is a way of thinking.
It's the thought process that you go through to come up with a conclusion.
And if your philosophy is flawed, you come up with the wrong conclusion.
If you have a couple of missing items in your bank account, you don't remember a check or so that you have written, you're doing the arithmetic and you think you still have money in the bank, And the next check that you write, it comes back overdrawn.
And you get all upset because, oh my gosh, the bank screwed you over.
They're charging it. Well, it's your fault because you were operating on less than all of the information.
An interesting point, too, is you often hear about what they teach in school today, in particular in college.
And people take philosophy classes or Things of that nature.
I mean, they always say, what is truth?
Find truth. Truth is what you think...
Truth is what you make truth to be.
But, you know, truth isn't what you make it to be.
Truth is either based upon a fact or reality.
And in fact, I'm reading from Webster's 1828 dictionary, and it says truth comes from the Greek word truon.
Actually, it's based upon truth.
It says faith, fidelity, conforming to fact or reality, exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.
The truth of history consists of its whole value.
So, you know, in that sense, you know, you're basing upon, you know, you either have some people who conform A particular dogma, like your guest just mentioned earlier, where you have a particular belief system, and that belief system becomes your truth.
However, to somebody else, it may not be true for them.
And I think if we would just stop using the word truth, instead of using the word truth, use the word faith.
Faith is interchange with A belief.
So, used truth is kind of an oxymoron to try to interchange that with the word belief.
Some people may recognize that the world is round.
And you can travel all the way around the world.
We now have photographs of the Earth from outer space.
You can see a photograph of the entire Earth.
But at one point in time, lots of people thought that the world was flat.
Well, they had a belief that the world was flat, and that belief was wrong.
The truth is that the earth is round.
And that truth exists whether or not you're smart enough to know it.
And the thing that we need to understand is that the truth is...
It's not emotional.
It just is the truth.
The earth is round. It shouldn't be an emotional issue.
And if you understand, if you've come to the conclusion that the earth is round, then you are correct.
If you think the world is flat, then you are incorrect.
I mean, it shouldn't necessarily be an emotional issue, but for many people it is.
And if you're talking to someone who thinks the world is flat, And you go, well, no.
Christopher Columbus sailed to North America.
We've got photographs of the Earth.
Here's a picture of Earth from space.
The person who thinks the world is flat is going to come up with all sorts of excuses and reasons why, well, that's just Photoshopped.
You just took a photograph of the flat Earth and used Photoshop.
They always come up with excuses.
To justify your answer rather than accepting the fact.
And so this is what philosophy is all about.
Philosophy helps you to be correct more often than not.
And that, I think, is a desirable goal.
We are here on WTPRN.com.
We are also broadcasting on KTAE 1330 AM radio.
And we encourage you to give us a call.
512-646-1984.
Don't go away.
We'll be right back.
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From the East Coast to the West Coast, down the D.C. Alley, back home.
This is our country.
This is our country.
Welcome back.
You are listening to Michael Bednark here on We People Radio Network and KTAE 1330 AM Radio in Central Texas.
My co-host this morning is Stephan Molyneux.
We are talking about philosophy.
Whether or not you need it.
I am also talking online to Frank from Pennsylvania.
Frank, how do you study philosophy?
I study philosophy based upon the scriptures that are taught in the Bible.
That's not the way I look at things in a philosophical sense.
I mean, whether or not you want to believe it or not, like I just said, you know, I look at...
I know there's a God, and I don't believe that, you know, we're the creation of some medicine, you know, some evolutionary type...
However, when I look at the trees, You know, I look at the Bible and see what the Bible says, God created all things.
And to me, that's the truth, because I look at the trees and how trees are designed, how the leaves are designed, how it's so intricate in its most, you know, detail, like how the veins run through a leaf, just for one example.
Then you look at all the other things, and, you know, the birds, the animals.
Now, to me, That, to me, says that, you know, there's a God and the truth to me.
So, you know, whether or not you want to say, well, how do you know it's true or not?
It would be just like me saying, well, okay, Michael, you know, I can tell you that, you know, I'm six foot tall and, you know, I have, you know, I have, you know, the ability to bend steel with my hand.
Well, you don't know whether or not I do, but because I said I do, you know, it could be truth or it could be false.
However, if you were to come and see me do it, you know, then you would say, well, that's true.
He can do that. You understand what I'm saying?
And it's like, you know, I guess maybe not be a very good correlation with what I just said about my beliefs as far as God and my perception of truth and philosophy, but I guess my philosophy is I believe that We all have a right to exist and to live in liberty with one another.
God created us all in His image, and we need to recognize that fact.
I know it's a hard, deep subject, but I just think that people, in order to respect one another, And appreciate each other for whom they are and that we would have so much more to agree upon and that all these other things that we're so concerned with would follow the wayside that really don't mean that much.
Stephan, how do we use the truth?
How come people have different versions of the truth?
There are a lot of people who disagree.
Everybody is pointing to some pieces of statement, and everybody is trying to prove that their idea, their conclusions are true, even though they contradict with other people.
How can that exist? Well, I mean, the challenge is, with all due respect to your listener and his goals of mutual respect, which I'm sure that we all share, one of the challenges that I face is that a rational philosophy is not kind to things like the existence of God.
It is not kind to the moral validity of the state, of course, because when you say that one man has the right to rule over another, you have to look for empirical evidence for that to be the case.
And since men are fundamentally created equal, there's no justification for hierarchical power like there is in the government, right?
Because there is no such thing as the government fundamentally.
It's just a label that a bunch of people give themselves so that you'll obey them.
They say, well, you have to obey the government.
It's like, okay, well, you go away and you send this thing called the government to collect my taxes.
And it never happens. It's always some human being who has to show up.
Who calls himself a representative of the government?
Well, he may as well be a representative of Zeus, you know, for all that it matters in terms of reality.
So, when we look at things within our mind that are concepts, Like gods, like governments, like countries, and so on, they don't actually exist in empirical testable reality.
And the challenge is, a rational empirical philosophy says truth statements are related to what exists in reality.
And if you can't find it in reality, then it is an opinion.
It is a personal preference.
It is not an objective statement of fact.
That is the real challenge of philosophy.
And I think that because people mistake what they want to believe or what they've been taught to believe, With what actually exists in reality, people end up with these subjective views, but it's not philosophical, and it's not a true statement.
I had a sweatshirt that someone gave me one time, and the sweatshirt said, quote, I'm not opinionated, I'm just always right.
I mean, obviously it's an amusing statement, but I had co-workers who were legitimately and honestly upset.
They thought, oh my gosh, how arrogant of you to wear a sweatshirt like that, because they were suggesting that I wore it by virtue of the fact that I thought that I was always right.
I have a number of people that are frustrated with me because they will make a statement and I will say, well, gosh, that's not correct, and I'll end up proving that it's not correct.
They go, you made me look like an idiot.
And that was not my goal.
I'm simply pointing out that, you know, this is the evidence that I've come up to.
This is the conclusion that I have drawn based on the evidence.
And, you know, my conclusion is different from your conclusion.
Like, George Washington was the first president of the United States.
Well, okay, I understand that that's what most of us have been taught in school, but based on The understanding that I have that the Articles of Confederation were the first Constitution.
I conclude that George Washington was not the first President of the United States because he went to the White House 13 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed.
And, Stephan, why do people get so disturbed when you You know, get to a point where you are disproving some of the conclusions that they have assumed.
Well, I mean, I think that's an excellent question, and this is why I try to be as respectful of where people are coming from as possible, and you're more confident than I am.
I'm never sure that I'm entirely correct, but I certainly have respect for the methodology.
But I think, Michael, it's because we all very, very much want to be good people.
We want to be virtuous. We want to be forces for light, so to speak, in the world, to bring reason and to bring goodness into the world.
And so when you start to question people's basic premises about how that should be achieved, you know, should I study the scriptures?
Should I obey the government? Should I join the army?
What is it that I should do to be a good person and to spread virtue throughout the world, which is, I think, a basic human hunger that for some reason we just have.
Then when you start to question people's efforts in this area and say, well, I don't know that you're building your castle on rock, but rather on sand, or maybe even a cloud castle of fantasy, you are putting into question, and this is one of the greatest challenges of philosophy, you're putting into question the good that they have done in the world.
If they have spread something they believe to be true, and it turns out that it's not true, Then they've actually contributed to error and illusion in the world, and that's not what we want to do as human beings.
We want to contribute to truth and virtue in the world.
So when you begin to question people's basic, approach to truth and honesty and virtue, it is really, really disorienting and a very hard process to go through to look at and say, well, have I actually been spreading the truth or have I been spreading opinion as if it were the truth, which is really the opposite of what, like if you have a nutritionist who has mistakenly been saying that a steady diet of chocolate and, I don't know, head cheese is good for you, Then they've actually contributed to the ill health of the world rather than the health of the world.
If it turns out that that's not true, and that's a really hard thing that philosophy demands us, to examine everything from the ground up that way and to look at ourselves very critically and our dedication to the truth and how we communicate it.
Well, again, I have a lot of people who get frustrated with me.
There are a lot of people who believe and state That I am always right.
And that is not true.
I have never made the statement that I am always right.
What I try to do is I try to very rarely be wrong.
And then there is a subtle difference.
When I open my mouth and talk, if I make a statement, I usually have concrete evidence to be able to prove what I have stated.
And I can back it up.
If I don't know the answer, I keep my mouth shut.
And I don't vote or make conclusions that I can't back up.
And that's really my goal, the reason why I study my own philosophy.
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