Philosophy and Policies

I know that the word “philosophy” can scare people, and furthermore philosophy and policies?!  What type of nightmare is this becoming?

But I can assure you, that philosophy is not boring, scary, or even absurd (now some ideas in philosophy might be absurd, but not philosophy itself). 

Get this: every time you think, you use philosophy.  Every time you say something, guess what?  You use philosophy!  Now that’s the scary thing isn’t it?  I’m not talking necessarily about ancient philosophy, but more about self-philosophy. 

What do you feel? 

How do you think?

 What do you say? 

All this stems from a type of “philosophy” that is inbred in you a.k.a. opinions and beliefs mostly.

There are many different “types” of philosophies: idealistic philosophy, existential philosophy, pragmatic philosophy, the list goes on and on; a list at this point in time I will not cover exhaustively.

This year, I was an LDer which means I debated solo, all by my lonesome.  LD stands for Lincoln Douglass, Lincoln and Douglass debated about slavery and stuff,  you google the rest.  Anyway, the subject matter was that of idealism and pragmatism. 

Which is “better” to use in conflicts, idealism or pragmatism?  And you know, this brings up an interesting question: which is better to use in conflict?

Idealism, briefly, is a noble, almost an uncompromising following of an individual’s ideals, thoughts, opinions, etc. while pragmatism is a belief that practicality should be used to follow an ideal.  The ends-justify-the-means type of thinking.

Get this, both are mindsets.  For example, if Mr. Idealism says he is hungry, but he only eats jello and nothing more.  Mr. Pragmatist says that there is no jello, but there is (fill in the blank).  Mr. Idealism says “No, I will either have jello or nothing.”

Basically speaking, that is the essence of each, however the idealism is a little on the extreme side here, but hopefully you get the point.  Each are mindsets used to govern or make choices/decisions.  It is imperative, I mean absolutely imperative, that you understand that.  In order to understand someone and why they say or belief what they say or belief, you must understand the mindset. 

Most people say that the mindsets of idealism and pragmatism have seemingly clashed heads on numerous occasions, World War I & II, The Great Depression, and even in everyday life: should you break your diet and have that one extra doughnut or not?

Idealism and pragmatism seem to haunt individuals, organizations, and even governments.  A great example of this is when the Pilgrims came to America.  Were they idealistic or pragmatic?  A lot of people would say that this choice of sailing thousands of miles away on little more than wood would be impractical, so therefore their decision was idealistic.  But look at it this way: some of the Pilgrims wanted to practice their religion in freedom, some wanted adventure, and some wanted new scenery.  They could have thought to fulfill their goals was practical, therefore the means of crossing the ocean was the danger they had to brave.  Most times, pragmatism uses the ends to justify the means.  Take another example, Stalin thought the ends justified the means, the ends of advancing the U.S.S.R.  so the killing of innocent civilians resulted.  Now, IN NO WAY AM I COMPARING THE PILGRIMS TO STALIN, OR VICE VIRSA.  I am trying to make a point on the relativity of each.  It is how the individuals thought that governed how pragmatism or idealism were to be used. 

See, everyone has opinions that govern their self-philosophy like I said earlier. 

 It is not necessarily that idealism and pragmatism “clash” together, but it is rather of how the person is using idealism or pragmatism a.k.a. what he/she believes that determines the next step.

In order to understand people, you need to understand the mindset.  In order to understand the mindset, you need to understand the belief or opinion on why he/she is saying what they are saying.

Here are some more pragmatic and idealistic philosophers that expound more on this subject of understanding (of course this is not a comprehensive list, these are just a few):

Pragmatic Philosophers-Charles Pierce

-John Dewey

-William James

-Susan Haack

Idealistic Philosophers

-Leibniz

-Plato

-Aristotle

-Hegel

 But, anyway, that is the short of idealism and pragmatism: both are mindsets built upon a foundation of beliefs, opinions, and decisions, that when applied to everyday life, can be, in a sense, relative to each person, as we saw with the Pilgrims and Stalin examples.

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