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A Reader’s Review of The Man

G’day Ric,

I am really enjoying reading ‘The Man’. You are obviously a man of many talents.

I thought I would just make a few philosophical remarks about your analysis of chapter 1. Towards the end of the analysis you pose the following question in regards to the moral assessment of the narrators act of paying for the aboriginal woman’s medicine, “So does that count [ is his action morally praiseworthy] or do you only get kudos when you perform an act of kindness?”.

The Two Schools of Moral Philosophy

Before giving my own answer to that question i would like to give a little philosophical background for any readers not familiar with some of the technical terms used within moral philosophy. There are, broadly speaking, two main schools of thought within moral philosophy.

Utilitarianism which originates from the English philosophers Jeremy Bentham and James Mill. Utilitarianism is an ‘externalist’ moral theory which locates the moral worth of an action in its consequences. De-ontological theories developed by the German philosopher Kant are ‘internalist’ and focus on the Subjective intentions of an agent.

When is an Act of Kindness Not an Act of Kindness?

With that out the way let us return to the ‘Man’. An internalist would say his action [paying for the medicine] was praiseworthy if he acted from some genuine empathy or sympathy (although the latter can be seen as patronising) towards the aboriginal woman.

Kant on Moral Kindness

Kant would say that for praise to be attributed to the action the Man’s internal reasons should be aimed at the welfare of the woman and not for any personal aggrandisement. (i.e. to be seen as a good man by others in which it is his own and not the woman’s welfare that is the ultimate target of the action).

Kant even goes so far as to say that to be morally praiseworthy the action should be contrary to the agents well being. for instance if I give some money to a beggar because of a genuine heartfelt concern for his welfare and happen to receive a tax deduction on the ‘donation’, then it is not a truly moral action. This seems to me to be a step too far.

Internalism Vs Externalism

Why can’t it be that a good man is rewarded for his goodness? If he acts without concern for possible rewards then he still meets the internalist criterion of moral action.

Of course at this stage in the story we can not be sure of the man’s true motives for acting as he does. so from an internalist perspective the jury is still out.

Now to externalism. An externalist would say that the moral worth of the Man’s action is determined by its consequences. But this is ambiguous. Of course, the woman’s daughter needs the medicine and so, on one level the action is good irrespective of the Man’s actual intentions because it results in a greater balance on the whole, of pleasure over pain in the world.

But as with all forms of moral accountancy the credits and debits are never simple.

For example, why is it that the cancer drugs are not free from the national health service. Maybe they are but the women does not know it. Maybe, if she did not get help from the Man and the chemist that she would be forced to look into the matter and receive free medication.

If that was to happen then it would be a better world than the one in which she gets handouts because she would not have to rely on strangers for sympathy and the strangers would be left with more money.

So on balance the utilities are maximised by not giving her money. My view is that like all moral questions there is an eliminable complexity and that true evaluations are hard to come by and require careful reflection on and understanding of all relevant conditions relating to the action. That is why I dislike any simplistic fundamentalism with the one answer fits all attitude.

So in regards to the ‘Man’ and the moral evaluation of his action. I think the jury is still out due to a lack of evidence.

Anthony Bell

Editor’s Note:

Thanks Anthony, you have raised some interesting points.

I wonder if the world would be a better place if no one ever had to think about other people because the state took care of all our needs. Might we not become very selfish and self centered?

I think being able to put oneself in the position of another and being capable of being moved by that experience is a very important trait in a human being and a person not capable of doing that (and there are many people in that position) experiences a sense of lacking or loneliness or a “hole” in their life.

Thanks for bringing this up for discussion.

Ric

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Category: Guest post, Practical Philosophy, The Man  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  
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Behind The Man – Chapter 2, A Discussion of the Issues

This is the Author’s Interpretation of the Ideas & Philosophy  Behind

“The Man”

Chapter 2

Revised 15th July 3:30pm

The Man – A Philosophical Story About the Search for The Meaning of Life

We live in a world that is overcrowded and yet most of the time we live alone. I don’t mean that we live on our own I mean we feel we are on our own. This is what troubles our minds and hurts our hearts. It has been called the human condition.

Have you ever felt real desperation? Some people feel desperate because their life is boring but to the person who has nothing, no job, no money, no home, no safety net and sometimes, little mouths to feed as well (or any combination of these); a boring life would be regarded as something to aspire to.

So far we have met at least three people in this philosophical story who are desperate, I would hazard a guess that the girl in the supermarket, the car salesman and the bush copper all struggle with their own fears as well, we are just not aware of them.

The Bogeyman in the Cupboard

In your life probably everyone you know has a pit of fear somewhere deep down that they don’t let you see. That is why they feel they are alone. They deal with it alone, just like you do.

That works in our day to day lives because it would be hard to function on a daily basis if you were so plugged in to every one that you felt and worse, experienced their deepest fears. Some people are that sensitive and they usually end up going crazy.

Secondly, it is important that we learn how to cope with our own demons. When you were a child in bed trying to sleep and you thought there was a bogey man in the cupboard, it was okay to get up and tell your mum or dad and get them to go and have a look; that is how you learn they love you. If they love you, you must be worth loving and so we learn to love ourselves.

The Aboriginal girl is loved by her mum. Her love for her daughter motivated her to set out to do the impossible, to get her daughters drugs with no money in her pocket, only a determination to succeed. When she did, she felt no need to be grateful to anyone else for her success because she knew she was responsible for making it happen.

Success or Failure – Either is Acceptable

How many times have you felt the same in your business? You don’t know how you will do it but you are determined to succeed. And somehow you do. How much harder it is when you don’t know how and you don’t believe you will succeed. I would say it is impossible. That is how the Man feels.

The message here is, when you have done everything you can do to bring about success you owe nothing to any one and if you fail there is no disgrace in that either. Doing nothing is not an option to the person who really wants to succeed.

Nietzsche had a strong view about this as Ruth Abbey, Associate Professor Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, pointed out in a recent radio interview:

“Great people, according to Nietzsche, don’t seek power over other people, they might achieve power over people, but that’s never their goal. Their goal is always something outside. They’re not interested in insulating or putting other people down, they’re always aspiring for some form of greatness – cultural, political, artistic, literary, whatever. They’re not driven by the desire to be judged by the standards of others, and this is one of the things that distinguishes masters from slaves. So the ubermensch (Superman) is not motivated by control over other people, he might achieve that, but that would never be his primary motivation.”

She goes on to say:

“But it’s also important to acknowledge here that great people can fail, according to Nietzsche, without that

Friedrich_Nietzsche_Will_to_Power_on_Shadow_in_the_flame_dot_com

Friedrich Nietzsche - it is important to acknowledge that great people can fail

making them any less great. So their greatness shouldn’t be measured by objective standards, or external achievements or deeds. And there are many very poignant passages where Nietzsche talks about the fragility of the great human being, particularly in the modern world where all the forces of conformity, uniformity and mediocrity, are striving against the realisation of true individualism.”

Nietzsche is very worried about the fate of great individuals, he knows they are just as likely to fail as they are to succeed, so we can’t necessarily measure their greatness by their deeds or by their achievements, it’s more a psychological disposition to doing the things that are necessary for success.

So what can we learn from this? A lot, I hope :-)

How to Get Close to Someone You love

First, if you want to get close to someone, you have to be able to walk a mile in their shoes, which means you have to be able to experience what they are experiencing, to genuinely share their happiness, their disappointments, their wins and the demons that scare them to death. We each have the power to lift the veil of loneliness from the ones we love. We can exorcise the bogey man from the cupboard by letting them know that as long as we are there they will never walk alone.

When you can do that; you too will never walk alone because you will always have a loved one by your side.

This is what Anna, the little Aboriginal girl teaches the Man, he learns that he can get close to her and more importantly, he learns that only by genuinely sharing himself with her is he able to get close enough to give her the courage she needs to go to sleep. That is a RELATIONSHIP, the kind we all want but are not always prepared to invest enough of “ourselves” in to get.

If I never wrote another word, I have already told you all there is know. But if it is so easy why aren’t we all happy?

Because you can live a whole lifetime without ever experiencing this vision of love for each other and if you can’t see it or feel it, you can’t share it with one who loves you. And if you can’t share it then the relationship is not as complete as it could be.

The greatest gift a parent can give a child is to let them share and participate in the vision which the parent’s have for the family. As they become a participating member of the family they feel respected and valued and truly experience the love the parents have for them and they learn how to return it and then how to give it. All else is secondary and believe me, I know.

Secondly, we can lose sight of the vision and when there is no vision the spirit will perish. The Man has lost his vision and with it his belief in himself. The Chemist still has his and it helps him live a fruitful life that gives him little pleasure other than that which he creates by giving to others.

That is one aspect.

How to Apply this Philosophy to Business

This philosophy also has great application to our business life as well. I’m running out of space in my self imposed limit but let me point you in the direction I believe leads to success.

Most of my readers have their own web site or blog and some have asked how to get more readers, more comments or how to be successful which I presume means how to make money.

I look at every web site that we link to in the comments as you know, and often I see web sites that try to deliver good quality information but more often I see a web site or blog that is designed as a platform to serve up Google Adwords. There are Ads at the top and in the middle and at the bottom and in the end it is hard to find the content for the ads.

If a reader is served that kind of page what is their immediate reaction? I believe they think, this web site is primarily designed to make money for the web master not to solve my problem.

When I was new in sales there was a guy who was a master salesman, he made huge sales and spoke at all the conferences and I was in awe of him (when I didn’t hate him to pieces out of jealousy). One day on my way to a client, I got in a lift and who did I find there, the master salesman.

He pressed level 5 and when the door closed (I wanted to be sure there was no escape) I said, very fast “Hello my name is Ric Vatner and we only have 30 seconds, I want to know what is the secret to success?”

He was startled but I indicated time was running out and I needed an answer. This is what he told me;

The Secret to Success – Really!

“When you go into a sale there are two problems to solve, One, you need to make the sale to make money. Two, the client has a problem that they want solved. If you concentrate on solving your problem the client will see you are not genuine about solving their problem and they won’t buy from you. If they don’t buy from you, you both still have a problem. And next time bring some toilet paper, you scared the shit out of me”

And that was the last time I ever met him.

I have found over the years that he was spot on and it works in all areas of our life, business and personal . For example, if you are in a relationship, put the other persons feelings before your own, if you both do that you will love each other for ever. It even applies to  writing an article or blog post, write it from the reader’s perspective. What do they need to know to make an informed decision? Do this and your readership will multiply even if you know nothing about SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

I know the SEO experts will disagree but I think the moment you look at a blog post that has been fully optimized to maximize CPC and CPA you know whose problem the writer is concentrating on and you are less likely to click through.

Recently I read an article on one of the web sites we link to in the comments forum and I noticed that throughout the latest article there are random links placed in the middle of sentences saying things like “buy steroids”. The article was not about steroids but there were at least 10 links in it to a web site that sells steroids.

Okay, imagine one in a thousand people click the link, do the maths, how many people have you irritated along the way. Will they ever come back? And I can tell you that the other posts on the blog were not like that and are all quite good. I saw this as a sign of desperation, a sign of trying to solve the wrong problem.

What they should have done is write an article that answers the reader’s questions and doubts and then offered a link.

However, and I hope you won’t think I am sermonizing here, I think it is important to believe in your product and if it can do harm or it is demeaning to some people maybe you should look for another product to sell, one that you can be proud to write about. I think you will find that a lot easier to do and ultimately you will be more successful.

I know, I can talk the hind legs off a donkey, that’s why I set a limit for each post and lucky for you, I have reached it.

Don’t forget to come back for Chapter 3 and then vote for whether we continue the story or not.

And to finish off  I hope you don’t mind if I take this opportunity to play one of my all time favourite songs. Please join me in singing as loud as you can (If I can’t hear you it is not loud enough :-) ):


To Be Continued …………

The Chapters So Far:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Previous Diiscussions

A Review of The Man Chapter 1

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Chapter 1 The Town

The Man

working Title

The road into town was long, straight and dusty. The kind of road you knew would lead to no where special and the reward for arriving was less than his lowest expectations.

Good.

He spat the word out though there was no one to hear it.

First order of business he thought, get some headache tablets. He had been driving for a long time. How long? He had no idea.

He found a chemist shop, entered and stood behind an Aboriginal woman who was swearing at the chemist. She was wearing an old beanie, yellow with green strips interrupted with holes where a moth had carelessly eaten the line and part of the yellow. Her jacket was an equally old and shabby track suit top that had once been colourful but was now as faded as the jaded look on her face.

“I’ll get me money in a few days but she needs this shit now. Don’t be a bastard all your life. You know she needs it”

Being a shopkeeper in a country town is not as straight forward as it is in the city. When the countryside has been in drought for years and the bank and the post office closed down yonks ago, they are the de facto bank, credit agency, Para-psychologist, social worker and when all else fails; whipping boy.

His face was ……….. impassive. He looked like he wasn’t really there. Where was he right now?

On a beach? No, that’s not his style.

In the garden pulling weeds with a ferocity that he couldn’t bring to work? Maybe.

In the TAB (the ubiquitous betting shop) listening to his horse running a poor race as usual. It didn’t even have the grace to come last. Just one of the pack, like him, ordinary, average, never a winner but not a complete loser either.

“G’on you bastard, you couldn’t deliver milk on time” he would shout to no one in particular. In the betting shop he is one of the boys, he doesn’t lose too much and he always has a funny quip to make when his horse loses. Yes this was his favourite place, the place he goes to in his mind.

The argument went back and forth and the man’s headache was pounding. He stepped forward, “excuse me”

“Piss off” she spat at him.

“Look maybe I can help”

“Oh yea of course. Who the fuck are you. The cops?”

“No” he said hurt. What’s the problem?” He looked at the chemist

“She already owes me more than the money she gets on benefits and now she wants more. I don’t get this stuff for free to distribute to the bloody community” he said. “I have to buy it and pay for it” he said looking at the woman.

“What does she want?” the man said

“Oh, morphine for pain, sleeping tablets, and some heavy shit that costs a fortune”

“Is it for her?”

“No, for her kid”

“Look I’ll pay for it” the man said as the woman looked at him suspiciously. “What do you want?” she asked accusingly. “Like a bit of black do you?”

“No” he answered meekly.

“Oh, your a racist. Black not good enough for you your majesty” she made every word a dagger and threw them all at him with as much brutality as she could muster. She hated the world and right now she hated the two of them the most.

The woman snatched the medicine from the chemist’s outstretched hand. She showed no sign of gratitude. She needed it and they had it but they didn’t need it. Why shouldn’t he pay for it? He’s white and haven’t they caused us black fellas enough trouble. He’s got the money to buy the stuff but he doesn’t need it. She needs it but has no money. “It’s a shit world. If you don’t take what you can get, you don’t deserve it” that was her considered opinion.

She walked out of the shop, her head high. She had got the drugs her daughter needed. It was an unexpected win; you never get anything if you don’t try she thought. The woman, who could have been thirty but looked more like fifty headed home. Along the way she wondered, would her daughter miss just one vial of the morphine? She deserved some too, wasn’t she hurting as well? Why shouldn’t she have just one hit to help her cope.

The man turned to the chemist, “What’s wrong with her daughter?” he asked.

“Cancer” the chemist said. That one word tells the whole story, it is the one word in the English language that is guaranteed to send shivers down your back. It speaks of pain and terror, of sleepless nights and worry filled days. It recounts a tale of hopelessness, of going into battle with spears to fight an enemy that arrives in Planes and rides on tanks.

“How bad is it?” he asked. “Pretty bad. I’m surprised she is still alive. Sometimes I think she just hangs on so I go broke supplying her drugs” the chemist joked. “I don’t want you to think I’m heartless but if I give in too easy, I’ll have the whole lot of ‘em in here demanding free drugs. I’m not the national health system you know”. He said defensively.

The man asked how much the drugs cost. He pulled out his credit card and told the chemist to bill the drugs to his card. He asked him not to tell the woman. “And don’t go crazy with it, I’m not rich but whatever she really needs, just put it on this” he handed the chemist his card.

The chemist shrugged, took down the details while the man swallowed a couple of headache tablets the chemist gave him and washed them down with a plastic cup of water. They looked at each other, no words passed between them but there was a mutual understanding that from now on they shared the burden.

The man left without looking back.

He walked through the drab sun burnt town now descending into the cold dreary months of winter. It was quite empty other than the shopkeepers, two drivers in the garage getting petrol and some mothers pushing strollers aimlessly window shopping and talking to their children who had already learned not to listen.

He felt hungry and seeing a supermarket he decided to buy some supplies. He did a modest shopping and took it to the check out. “Do you take credit cards” he asked. “Sure” came the brief but not unfriendly reply. He handed his card over and waited.

“It’s declined” she said looking at him with a frown. “Do you have another one?”  “No” he replied almost dreamily. “Do you want to pay with cash?” she asked summing him up in her practiced way. “No not now, I’ll come back later”

He knew it wouldn’t take long but he had hoped the card would last a little longer.

He sighed. Looked for his car and when he saw it he walked towards it. For a few brief seconds he had a sense of purpose, he knew where he was going but as soon as he arrived it disappeared and he felt emotionally drained.

Read a review of the ideas behind this chapter

To Be Continued…….

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Category: Practical Philosophy, The Man  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  
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Confronting the Future-Part 2

Go to part 1

Is Craig Venter a God?

If we pray to God because “he created us”, who should the species we create pray to?

God Creating Life at his Computer

God Creating Life at his Computer

Scientists may say we don’t need to answer that while we are creating microbes but what happens when we develop the ability to string together the code for 3 billion bases and produce our first “human”?

However, long before we create a human from scratch we will have developed the ability to genetically modify babies. Who is the God when we engineer a fetus to produce children to order or for a specific purpose? This question is just as relevant if you have the technology available to do it, but choose not to do it as it is, if you use the technology to do it.

At What Point Do You Become God?

So the question arises, when do you become a God? Is it when you create a single cell life form or must you wait until you have created a complex human life form? Or is there some half way point at which this event happens? I find it hard to justify making a distinction between the point where we create single cell life and a complex one.

The question is not merely one of hypothetical speculation any more. The science is here, the technology just needs to be refined.

Discovery Channel Video – Craig Venter – Good explanation of Genetic modification


What will be the position of species, especially complex species that are created by man to serve his needs? Whatever we call them, will they be slaves?

Apart from all the economic arguments regarding why slavery is not an efficient way to organize an economy, the ethical argument against slavery was basically that all men were created equal in the eyes of God. If we assume there is a God, then no matter who creates the species, it is still created under God’s auspices. Therefore the answer must be that they have equal rights. Of course that argument could equally apply to animals.

Is It Ethically Acceptable to Make A Slave?

But if we prove that life was created by a one in a billion chance chemical reaction does that change the position of man verses animals or vis-à-vis a species specifically created by man?

March of the slaves

March of the slaves

A long held belief in God has not endowed animals or the many disadvantaged humans, with equal rights, so what will happen when we take God out of the equation? Is it ethically acceptable that if man has the ability to create a form of human that is genetically programmed to serve mans needs, that he should do so? Will we regard this species as human, animal or android? Should it make any difference?

What if that species looks human, breathes air like us, has a human life span and dies like us? If it eats, feels pain and bleeds like a human? What if it has feelings? Is it ethical to produce a species that has a brain and can learn but is genetically programmed to be a servant or a soldier or a baby maker?

In this experiment Venter’s team injected synthetic DNA into a living cell and watched it take over that cell and ultimately wipe out the previous DNA. The cell then turned blue which the new DNA was programmed to do when it took control of the cell.

The aim is that one day we can inject DNA into a cancer cell and watch it self destruct. That would be good. How would we feel about injecting a male with DNA code and watch him turn into a female or vice-versa? Some would prefer this to the current situation which requires surgery and drugs to achieve a partial solution.

The options are endless but at what point are they the person God created or the person Craig created? Or do we do away with the notion of God?

Bad With God – What Will We Be Like Without?

In this increasingly secular world some would say that it doesn’t matter if you take God out of the equation, but until we can formulate a better foundation for an effective ethical and moral code we should not rush to throw out the old. Archimedes said it eloquently when he cried “Give me somewhere to stand and I shall move the earth”. Unfortunately secular humanists have yet to create a philosophy anywhere near as motivating as a faith in God which can move mountains.

This is the challenge that we now face, to find a philosophy that can move men to put their own self interest aside for the benefit of all mankind that can give them a basis on which to build an ethical moral code to live by and still give them enthusiasm for life.

Unfortunately, even as believers in God, we have still not reached a philosophical position of full equality among all members of the human race as we know it, so how will we incorporate these new man made species when they come. And they will come, the only question is when?

My prediction is that our attempt to address these issues will have consequential effects on our views about race, human equality, the rights of women and children, minorities and even animals.

This debate could be the impetus that we have needed from the beginning to approach a world view that is more encompassing, fair and compassionate for all.

But it will probably mean that we never get that slave, or, maybe, that once again, more people will be in danger of becoming one.

When it comes to making the important decisions that will impact our future our track record so far is etsy ketsy at best.

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