During a semi-intense discussion about politics at lunch last week, one of my good friends straight up said, “Marsha, you’re such a capitalistic bit**!”
Was it an insult? Well, bit** has a negative connotation. But what about capitalistic? Isn’t it just my personal view on what’s the ideal system of economic ruling? Don’t I have the right to believe what’s the best system of governance?
The fact that people have philosophical/political disagreements leads me to question…
What shapes our minds? Our thoughts? Our ways of thinking? Our philosophies?
First, let’s define the word philosophy (based on my knowledge from taking Political Philosophy last year).
Philos: Love of (high level of love)
Sophia: Wisdom/Truth/knowledge
Philosophy means the love of truth or the love of learning. It also means the love of searching for the truth. If you’ve read Plato, Socrates, or Ludacris’ rap lyrics (just kidding), you can see that philosophers spend their lives trying to find the truth.
Now, there are several fields under philosophy. For the purpose of this blogpost, let’s checkout Political Philosophy. What is Political Philosophy?
Political Philosophy is the search of truth of human things (Polis), human institutions, and human partnerships. It is a field that seeks political truth or knowledge and what is good & true in politics and polis. In sum, it is the process of finding the best political order for humans to live the ‘ideal’ life.
There are numerous prominent thinkers with distinct views in Political Philosophy. Machiavelli? Marx? Smith? Seeing the wide variety of options to reach the ‘ideal’ governance/life leads me to even more questions.
What’s right and what’s wrong?
What is ethical and what’s not?
More precisely, which philosophy is the most ideal?
Does being an orthodox liberalist make you an egomaniac against society even if you firmly believe that it’s the most efficient political economic system? Is Adam Smith more evil than Karl Marx because he believes in competition instead of equality? How do morals, ethics, and intelligence blend to create the ‘ideal’ way of thinking?
As seen by the time periods in which these prominent thinkers emerged (Marx during the industrial revolution and Machiavelli during the renaissance, as examples), it is clear to me that what seems to be the ideal political (or any) philosophy really depends upon the real world situation (whether economically, politically, or socially). The emergence of the bourgeois and proletariat classes developed Marx’s ideas on what is the ideal system of government, which is the eradication of the class system, as an example.
Deciding which philosophy is ideal also depends upon the socio-economic and political (and maybe even religious) backgrounds of the thinkers. Would Socrates think the same way if he were in the upper-ruling class of society during his time in Greece? In the current US economic atmosphere, for example, the low-middle class think that moving closer to socialism may be crucial to lift the nation back on top of the business cycle (think about what Americans believed during Soviet’s reign? Or the industrial era?)….
Moral of the story?
As much as I love my friend and as much as I know he was just kidding for calling me a bit**, I do think that everyone has the right to argue what they believe to be the ideal system of government…Because external factors such as socio-economic, religious, academic, or political backgrounds often influence one’s views of what’s ‘ideal’, it’s quite impossible to tell what’s generally right and what’s wrong…It all goes back to who you are and what your ideal view of life is.
As for me personally, I believe the ideal philosophy of life is:
Muda bahagia, tua kaya raya, mati masuk surga.
WHAT CAN BE MORE RIGHT THAN THAT?!?
PS: One of my biggest pet peeves is not spelling academic subjects wtih CAPS. I know it’s incorrect, but…Yeah that’s just me.. (source)
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