Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity. Socrates, the founder of the Western philosophy, also popularly called the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition, stated, at the time of his trial where he was sentenced to death, that, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates’ love for philosophy is nothing but his love for wisdom, and the pursuit was by way of a question and answer exercise invented by him called ‘Method of Dialect’, where the right answers were derived by arguing logically. He indoctrinated this habit of pursuing wisdom to his students of whom Plato emerged as the greatest of all, who, in turn, taught Aristotle, another great philosopher of all times. Socrates perceived that being aware that one day we all die, it is necessary to be philosophical and to examine whether we are living our lives virtuously. In this process, new definitions were derived based on arguments with examples, cases, instances and particulars, that are related to those circumstances with examples that justify the argument of the pursuer. Epistemology is the science of knowledge and Socrates believed that ‘virtue’ is true knowledge.
In general, the principles of valid reasoning are absent for they are not based on virtue, for most of the conclusions emanate from emotions, wants or necessitates. A section of scientists claim that human beings are merely a bundle of cellular organisms, which like all other creatures, nourish, avoid pain, seek pleasure and reproduce for survival. That’s the theory of Charles Darwin after his study of the animal species on the Galapagos Islands. The defenders of science and pessimists moot the theory that human beings are also a collection of atoms programmed no different from any other animal species. All living things are born, grow, seek nourishment, reproduce, become old and perish. It is only the human being who has triggered his thoughts, evolving society with the purpose to attain harmony. But unfortunately, it is also proving to be imperfect. In the race for survival, we have assumed that we have sped past all living creatures, but in reality, we have failed. If animal survival is for basic sustenance, human survival is supposed to be based on righteousness and ecclesiastical preaching. That human intelligence claiming itself as a race superior to all living creatures is a farce, for our wisdom is purely based on greed for survival. Hence, a major portion of the human population can be called ‘epicureans’ for they refrain from examining their life and following the path of virtue.
Ancient Indian philosophy indicates that, “Most of the world is like a mental hospital. Some people are sick with jealousy, others with anger, hatred, biased opinions and mindless passion. They are victims of their own habits and emotions” which is due to failure in examining one’s life. Resultantly, we all fall prey to our illusions formulating our own theories for happiness.
During one of his discourses, my Guruji explained the difference between ‘awake’ and ‘awakening’ in a very simple manner — to be ‘awake’ is the moment we all experience when we become conscious of our surroundings at the end of our dreams in our sleep, while ‘awakening’ is the next step of knowing what exactly is the true nature of our surroundings and how we are related to them. Philosophers believe that even that the state of being awake from sleep at the end of a dream is not real, for we still are in an illusion with our eyes wide open, trending in our own presumptions, and to be awake from such a state is only possible by acquiring the complete character of those objects and people around us. Being in illusion does not mean to be daydreaming. Illusion is believing in what you feel, taste, smell, and hear as true. Reality is only possible by acquiring knowledge of an object, or the person, or his motive.
We are comfortable in believing what we feel is real for we fear the consequence in case the truth is known when the illusion fades, hence we settle for the fake world. I have known many near and dear who completely throw the burden on God without knowing the real cause for the pain or defeat. One of the boldest statements I have heard is from one of my clients, who once was frustrated with litigations, but over a period realised that it is part of the routine he has to endure for long when he chose to become an entrepreneur. The suffering comes only when the person feels he doesn’t deserve it, ignoring the fact that his earlier choices were caused by the present state and it continues until the paradigm shifts. What are the justifiable grounds to say that an action is wrong or right? Of course, we all have entered into an agreement to live as a society and follow the law, but there are other actions that are called moral. Who is to judge those actions, which is not in the purview of law? Such actions are expressed by a widespread public opinion of family, friends, neighbours, etc.
To a particular question, whether one should pay his debt in full, Socrates replied that ‘it depends on the changed circumstances and the condition of the person to whom the debt is to be repaid. Socrates replied that if a person borrowed a weapon and in case the person who had loaned it becomes insane, then in the changed circumstances, the borrower should not repay his debt by returning the weapon to the lender. It looks queer, but it is correct for the insane creditor might harm himself and also others. I arrived at Hyderabad in 2012 and started my practice and I always believed in representing entrepreneurs who were facing harassment from banks. I firmly believe that the banks, which are otherwise also a part of the ‘State’ too were and are the real cause for all the non-performing accounts. In my crusade against them, I have rescued a huge number of entrepreneurs from the illegal measures of the banks and provided relief by way of one-time settlements to my clients. In an interaction with a police officer once during an inquiry, I told him boldly that my practice is more honest and justified than what his machinery does on a daily basis. I continue to do the right thing by lawfully exercising the rights of the borrower, despite many objections from the banks.
Recently, I met a person who assumes himself as a very wise person and gave me a speech about the ‘I am okay - you are not okay’ theory. I found that he was not okay in the first place, for he judges everyone he despises as ‘not okay’ and the okays are only those limited within his family and his inner circle. During the brief interaction, I learnt that he, who was a person who seemed to have earned a reputation as wise, turned out to be a highly prejudiced and unethical person. He was a retired public servant, but it does not matter that he swindled money, but it was his conscience which was unethical and corrupt that defined his character. In this context, it is appropriate to bring the character of Don Corleone carved out by Mario Puzo in his novel ‘The Godfather’, who was the deadliest lord of Cosa Nostra, but he had human values and everyone approached him for justice. He was a criminal in the society in view of his profession but was a virtuous person by his character and loved by his family, friends and associates. The name ‘Godfather’ struck millions of readers around the globe, proving the theory laid down by philosophers that criminal minds are more dangerous than criminalised characters.
The young and aged both make judgemental statements that lack wisdom and their theories are supported by emotions of hate, prejudice and jealousy. The upright will have to face all challenges, unlike those who manipulate to achieve success, and I am sure they never examined their minds.
(The Blogger is inspired by a survey conducted by TZ Lavine, Elton Professor of Philosophy at George Washington University, who wrote ‘From Socrates To Sartre’ with astonishing clarity.)
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