Up@dawn 2.0

Monday, June 12, 2017

Week 2 Comment 1-Vega "How would you profile your own personal philosophy, in light of James's "tough" and "tender" traits.

Personally, I believe that my own personal philosophy would lean towards the tough minded empiricist. I am an agnostic and find little value in global religion and dogma. I tend to believe that religion and the ideology of a superior being does a disservice to mankind and it also creates a crutch for humans that generates within human the opportunity to negate personal accountability. For example, when a goal is not accomplished, I have heard theists with "tender" minded principles apply the outcome to “god’s will”. When in reality it is much more likely and feasible that the person did not apply as much hard work and effort into the successful completion of the goal, but instead placed a certain amount of energy and belief into prayer or the supernatural realm shaping the outcome.

While James also describes the empiricist as pessimistic, while labeling the tender-minded rationalistic as optimistic. I would respectfully push back on this description. I would lean more towards realistic as opposed to pessimistic. Pessimist look for or expect the worst, while realist use a logical temperament to anticipate what may come. For example, if a particular neighborhood in a city has a notorious and documented history of violent crimes, then my outlook on the neighborhood as I enter it, is not an expectation of the worst as a frivolously whim, but a logical understanding of reoccurring circumstances in that area that leads me to realistically anticipate what may come as a result of being in that area.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:49 PM CDT

    I see your views and I respect your philosophy. I think James was a tough minded philosopher . He is like you in the sense that he has to make sense out of things in order to have excuses. I believe when you say it is not God's will if someone gets a bad grade or does not achieve a goal. I am like you in the sense as perhaps they did not work hard enough. You seem like a no non sense person and I like that..Joshua Ledford

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    1. "I think James was a tough minded philosopher" - but he wasn't (by his own reckoning) pessimistic, irreligious, or fatalistic. "Most of us have a hankering for the good things on both sides of the line."

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  2. Hello Vega,
    Your position of agnosticism, in my opinion, is a more defendable position than atheism. If I understand agnosticism correctly, it means you simply do not know and, therefore, cannot say if there is a God, whereas the atheist, dogmatically, says there is no God. By your statement “…the ideology of a superior being…creates a crutch for humans,” is strikingly similar to Karl Marx’s statement that religion is the opiate of the masses. This leads me to believe that you are also a student of Karl Marx philosophy?

    Although I am a Christian, I have to agree with you that personal responsibility and accountability is sometimes negated in the name of God’s will. More often than not, however, it is a lack of initiative on the individual’s part that limits the outcome rather than “God’s will” preventing it. I somewhat agree with Marx that religion can be the opiate of the masses…to some extent. The word “religion” takes in a lot of territory…a lot of different beliefs. That said, one has to ask just exactly how large are “the masses” in Marx’s scenario.

    Both philosophies are true to some degree, but both are also false to some degree.
    Joshua Ledford has some good comments on this subject.

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    1. -"the atheist, dogmatically, says there is no God"-

      Some do. The circumspect atheist says, non-dogmatically, "I believe there is no God"... and then wonders if the agnostic really does not know what he or she believes, or is just ducking an undesired confrontation.

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  3. Would you describe the Black church as tender-minded or tough-minded?

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    1. I'd actually resist labeling the church as such, as opposed to particular congregants. I think James would too. I'm sure there are individuals who exemplify each category, others who waffle inconsistently between tough and tender, others who never commit to a particular philosophical position but are there for the music and social support... Again, "most of us have a hankering for the good things on both sides of the line."

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