0:08 - Welcome to the Podcast
0:58 - Navigating Moral Failures
2:52 - The Search for Good Definitions
3:33 - Reflections on Society's Overton Window
4:25 - The Nature of Political Promises
6:06 - Truth, Exploitation, and Moral Philosophy
In this episode, I delve into some profound questions posed by our dedicated listeners, exploring themes of moral philosophy, virtue, and the complexities of modern life. We begin by addressing the critical concept of dealing with moral failures—something that each of us encounters throughout our lives. I emphasize that society often fails to teach us about virtue, leading to a deep sense of despair whenever we act against our involuntary conscience. The key to overcoming such failures lies in humility, a commitment to learning, and a recommitment to virtue, understanding that these failures often stem from ignorance rather than malice.
Moving forward, I tackle the intricate task of crafting good definitions, rooted in the triad of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. I explain how our understanding of reality directly influences our definitions and, by extension, our actions. Emphasizing the importance of universality and consistency in moral behavior, I highlight the concept of Universally Preferable Behavior (UPB), which insists that moral principles must align with the nature of reality itself. This alignment is critical for any philosophical framework to hold water, and I argue that denying this foundation ultimately leads to a breakdown in sanity itself.
As the conversation shifts, I address personal inquiries regarding my absence from various platforms and the nature of societal discourse today. It appears that my ideas often place me outside the current Overton window, a phenomenon that not only challenges my expression but also echoes the broader societal struggle against restrictive norms. I share my belief that pursuing virtue and combating evil are paramount, regardless of the surrounding noise and confusion.
We also explore the relationship between politicians and contract law, pondering why campaign promises often lack written accountability. I assert that while writing can establish a framework, it does not inherently transform deceptive intentions into truths. Additionally, the episode touches upon the societal resistance to truth-tellers, particularly when survival mechanisms are entwined with exploitation.
In closing, I reflect on the deeper implications of living in a world where so many are conditioned to derive benefits from the exploitation of others. I liken this to the instinctual behavior of a predator, underscoring the difficulty of convincing those who feel threatened by the truth to embrace an alternative reality. Each of these discussions serves to illustrate the need for clarity, understanding, and commitment to a virtuous life, despite the myriad challenges we face. Thank you for engaging in this critical discourse, and I encourage you to join our community for further exploration of these essential topics.
[0:00] Good morning, everybody. A couple of questions from the wonderful listeners at freedomain.locals.com and subscribestar.com slash freedomain.
[0:08] Hope you'll join the community. Don't carry the burden of philosophy alone. Be a friend, have a friend.
[0:15] Did you live in Budapest at one point? No. How to deal with enormous moral failure? Well, so the goal of modern society is to not teach you anything about virtue. And then, when you do things that go against your involuntary conscience, you then get overwhelmed with despair and give up on virtue. So, the way that you deal with an enormous moral failure, which we all have, is you try to learn from it, you humbly recommit yourself to virtue, and you accept that we live in extremely untutored times, and therefore, we're basically just going off instincts, and instincts will lead us astray, because instincts a sort of a premoral state of sensation slash body cognition.
[0:58] So, an enormous moral failure, you apologize, you make restitution, and you recognize that it likely came about because of a lack of knowledge rather than malevolent intent. You work to gain more knowledge and recommit yourself to virtue. The only failure that lasts from a moral failure is despair. All right, please teach us how to build good definitions. Well, you have to start, I mean, it's a tough job. You have to start from, right, it's metaphysics, epistemology, and then ethics, right? So epistemology, sorry, metaphysics is the study of what is real, epistemology is the study of what is true, and ethics is the study of what is moral or right.
[1:39] So you've got to hook your definitions into metaphysics for the most part. That's what science does, right? So science says that nature is not contradictory.
[1:50] Something can't both expand and contract at the same time in the same dimensions. Something can't go up and down. Gravity cannot repel and attract simultaneously. So the best definitions hook right into the nature of matter and energy, which is consistent and non-contradictory. I mean, we couldn't be alive if the properties of nature and the rules of physics were contradictory and inconsistent. Carbon atoms turned into hydrogen atoms turned into water, there would be no stability enough to build the foundation of a life on. So this is why UPB is so powerful, as UPB hooks into metaphysics, universally preferable behavior. It has to be consistent, it has to be logical, in order to be moral. And so because it hooks through epistemology into metaphysics, the only way to resist UPB is to deny the nature of reality, which is not a problem you have with UPB, but a problem someone like that would have with sanity itself.
[2:53] I miss your content, brother. It's kind of funny. I'm still here, right? What have you been doing? And will you start making videos again? Do Spotify podcasts like them old days on YouTube? Well, I've been banned from both places. Will you shave your head for the 4B movement? I know. I have not just a forehead, but if I've had, what is your best advice for a young father? I think we talked about this before. I know some of these we've done before, but what do you think is the value of a college degree anymore? Outside of the technicals, outside of the real technicals like engineering and math and science, it is a sign of subjugation. Why not come back to X and YouTube? Been through that before.
[3:34] If you feel like every thought you have is outside of society's Overton window, should you consider moving. I live probably 250 years in the future. That's my home. And I wrote about it, of course, in my novel, The Future, which is a little further down the road. But I live in the future and therefore... There is no place I can move in the present where I will not be outside of the Overton window. The meaning of life, pursue virtue, and fight evil. Won't you take me to funk it down? Right. I don't think somebody says, seriously, I don't think the brainwashed radical leftists are going to stop. What are your thoughts? Well, I'm happy to reason with people who are happy to reason, or at least willing to reason. The people who don't want to reason, I don't. I don't have anything to say to them.
[4:25] That is, dealing with people who are aggressive and violent and don't want to reason is not the job of a philosopher.
[4:33] All right, are politicians subject to contract law? Why don't they simply put their campaign promises in writing? Well, there's no magic in putting it in writing, right? I can put that I'm a unicorn in writing. It doesn't change the nature of my essence. So, no, politicians, I mean, the people in charge of enforcing the law are not subject to the law in general, right? Why do the masses hate the truth so much and those who speak it? Because the masses, unfortunately, have been trained and broken into wanting things for nothing, right? Which is to say that the masses have been trained and broken into enslaving others.
[5:05] And when you have adapted your life into the enslavement of others or towards the enslavement of others, or the sustainability of your life requires the enslavement of others, at least in your mind, then you can't accept the truth, right? If you are a slave owner and all of like, you know 18th century 17th century wherever right you're a slave owner and your wealth and your status and your survival in a sense is all dependent upon you continuing to be able to own slaves well do you like moral philosophy and the truth that slavery is evil i know all right if you're a single mom or you know some male high level government worker i mean if they think of all the people who have jobs in government that are ridiculously overpaid and you don't even have to go into work and there's, you know, you just basically have money deposited into your bank account for jiggling a mouse from time to time, how much are you going to like the free market? You're going to view the free market as a predator that is going to take you down.
[6:06] So moral philosophy, universality and consistency opposes those who survive by exploitation. Now, of course, they would survive even better without exploitation, but that's not their particular perception. It feels like saying to people you'll do better without exploiting others feels a little bit like trying to convince a lion that he should be a vegetarian, right? The lion doesn't feel he'll survive and doesn't want to. So I hope that helps. And I really do appreciate your great questions and comments. Thank you so much. Have yourself a wonderful, wonderful day. Freedomain.com slash donate to help out the show. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.
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