Philosophy Society [Winter 2023 – 2024]

Philosophy Society

A Winter Coat | Kubota Garden, Seattle

by Aaron Reed

Seasonal Issue Winter 2023 – 2024

2

Message from the Team “Philosophy defines trust in times of difficulty in our complex lives” Dear readers,

Welcome to the 2nd edition of the Philosophy Society’s Seasonal Issue.

Apart from philosophical discussions and evaluations, we tried to take a neutral approach to understanding delicate but persistent topics of our lives.

In a polarized world, we reach our interpretations of what is ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’. Hence, we encourage any contributions to our seasonal issues from our readers. Your knowledge and opinion of certain events or themes may serve as a key to using the tool of philosophy in your discussions. Whether it’s finance, economics, mathematics, and others…

How to join?

We are in search for new and interested in thinking members. Be part of discussing your thoughts.

They are invaluable.

Send an e-mail to: o_ibragimov@cdl.ch

In this edition, you might see different opinions on topics you may find controversial or even offensive. However, the discussion doesn’t address the positive side of social issues, but explicitly states its need and compatibility with modern norms and ethics that are established through consensus. Trends change over time, we cannot upkeep vulnerable topics without facing them with questions that arise when thinking. Thus, we thank our current contributors for their invaluable input in making this society an art hall of thoughts and beliefs. Special thanks to Ms. Molly Domenjoz, our honorary chairman, who dedicated her time to supporting the Society since the very start.

We hope you enjoy and most importantly find this issue important to you as a knower. There is nothing better than shared opinions and other interpretations of value.

– Philosophy Society Team

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The Ethics of Fat Shaming Perhaps the most overtly condemned group in our culture is the fat population; data indicates that weight prejudice is more widespread and powerful than even sexism and racism. Undoubtedly, there is a well-established societal and cultural prejudice towards individuals who are overweight, especially in the fields of healthcare, the media, and in places of work. Schools are never an exception.

Philosophy Shorts The reason behind the break-up of a philosopher and its calculator is the fact that it couldn't handle the complex equations of their relationship. In the realm of philosophy, where thoughts are as deep as the Mariana Trench, humour often takes a back seat. Yet, let's not forget that philosophers, despite their profound contemplations, were humans with eccentric points of view and even a sense of humour (shocking, right?).

Picture this: Socrates walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Hey, Socrates, can I get you a drink?” Socrates replies, “What is the nature of a drink? Define 'good drink,' and then we can talk about the beverage.” Philosophers, known for dissecting the profound mysteries of existence, surprisingly sometimes encouraged the lighter side of life, proving that even the most profound minds could appreciate a good laugh. After all, as Descartes might say, “I laugh, therefore I am… existing with jokes.”

There have been attempts to morally defend fat shaming by arguing that it serves a higher goal, such as promoting physical health or well-being. These “greater good” defences assume that fat-shaming efforts have good intentions, encouraging people to make healthier decisions that may improve their quality of life. Because our daily behaviours related to obesity are based on the notion that losing weight improves one's quality of life, the positive case for fat shaming is especially intriguing to research. One implicit example of fat shaming in these kinds of communities is the idea of accountability.

The concern that others in their support group or on social media would respond negatively if they are held accountable or responsible for their weight loss efforts, and that they might fail, will encourage keeping going. In this case, prejudice is viewed as a helpful motivational factor that will support us in reaching our weight loss objectives. In these situations, fat shaming might be justified as a means of enhancing someone's life if we link weight loss with benefits like an improvement in one's general health and quality of life.

3 Philosophy Society | Winter Edition

The way we think about and assess ourselves and others is increasingly influenced by our attitudes towards eating well and making appropriate dietary decisions. Allow me to introduce you to orthorexia, a condition that could be considered an internalisation of the idea underlying fat shaming in this case. Orthorexia Nervosa, which translates to “correct eating obsession,” is a syndrome in which a person develops an obsession with choosing and adhering to the perfect diet. By rigorously avoiding foods that are traditionally thought to be unhealthy, an orthorexic person typically avoids both eating pleasure and experimenting with food.

King Henry VIII

Queen Elizabeth I – Armada

by Hans Holbein

by George Gower

Queen Victoria

by Henrich von Angeli

I would say that the core reason fat shaming is unethical is that it’s a malign restriction of a person’s freedom. Fat shaming limits personal freedom first because it results in deformed desires, which is significant for issues such as autonomy, agency, and responsibility. Desires also typically involve deception about what an individual truly wants, or what is truly in their interest or will promote their welfare. Desires are deformed in response to unjust social conditions. particularly appropriate to this discussion since, as noted, fat people are the most openly stigmatized individuals in our society. However, you wouldn’t want to make any comments on the diets of the people above. This also did hugely matter on the ‘modernity’ of morals in each of the periods. When physical appearance and health are elevated to ethics, genuine qualities like friendship, dignity, or honour — which are more likely to enhance an individual's well-being — are subordinated.

In addition, if someone does consider their health to be a high priority, this should only be the case when it originates from their self-determination and not from distorted tastes or desires. Thus, the belief system that drives fat shaming evolves into a distorted system of values, which can result in eating disorders and compulsive behaviours in addition to limiting people's capacity to set their priorities in life. It is incompatible with a completely established perception of identity.

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Picture this: a friend, coworker, or family member struggling with their weight. Instead of offering support and encouragement, imagine subjecting them to hurtful comments and judgments about their appearance. This is what fat-shaming entails – a practice that often stems from cruelty rather than genuine concern, causing deep emotional wounds and potential harm.

Fat shaming can crush a person's self-esteem, leaving them feeling worthless and ashamed of their bodies. The emotional scars can linger for years, negatively affecting their mental well-being.

Beyond emotional turmoil, fat-shaming can push individuals towards eating disorders, anxiety, and depression. Unhealthy relationships with food can develop, leading to lifethreatening conditions like anorexia or bulimia.

In the realm of ethics, fat-shaming stands in stark contrast to the principle of minimizing harm. It perpetuates unrealistic beauty standards and promotes the idea that appearance is more important than character or abilities.

Let's humanize the conversation around body image. Reject fat-shaming and embrace empathy, understanding, and acceptance. It's time to value people for who they are, appreciating their uniqueness and contributions, rather than causing potential harm through judgment.

Philosophy of life

Human development

Author: Otabek I. (IB2) 5 Philosophy Society | Winter Edition

In the name of

politics Author: Zoya Kiknaidze (IB2)

Statue of Plato – Athens, Greece

by Jon Hicks

Politics 2

Plato

P

lato (428/427-348-347 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher from Athens, a student

of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle. Famous for having written numerous dialogues in which he developed his philosophical beliefs and most notably his theory of the Forms, Plato’s most famous dialogue, the Republic, presents the philosopher’s view of an ideal society. The Republic primarily explores the definition of justice and whether the just person is happier than the unjust person. The dialogue is led by Socrates, who defends the just life as it is most clearly connected to a happy life, a widely addressed question in ancient philosophy. Humour and irony persist throughout the 10 books of the Republic, drawing the audience into what reads like a natural conversation. This is a Socratic dialogue unfolding in a series of questions, allowing the testing of experts by ordinary people on a given topic. Consequentially, an expert’s understanding can be exposed as contradictory, and the truth about a subject remains unrevealed.

Funnily enough, when it comes to simplistic events like sleep, he very much loved his Greek sun rising and setting on his watch. Plato had little time for those who preferred a lie in: “Asleep, man is useless, he may as well be dead.” Unlike his drowsier colleagues, the Athenian philosopher thought “it’s a disgrace and unworthy of a gentleman…if he devotes the whole of any night to sleep” (Laws 297).

Republic “ The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself ” In the Republic, Socrates defines justice through an analogy with the human soul and develops this idea by portraying justice as a city whose inhabitants perform the tasks they are best at. Another prominent idea put forward in the Republic is Plato’s allegory of the cave, in which humans must free themselves from a false reality to achieve true enlightenment and knowledge. Plato advocates for the rule of these enlightened people, or philosophers, within the just city. While the Republic’s establishment of a just society seems ideal at first and the dialogue is treated as a pinnacle of Western philosophy, several works, notably Karl Popper’s The Open Society and its Enemies, criticized the ideas promoted by Plato.

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2 Politics Karl Popper claims totalitarianism wasn’t unique to the 20th century, but has been present since ancient times, giving credit to Plato and the Republic as a founding text behind these ideas. Plato’s creation of an ideal society seems to have stemmed from his dissatisfaction with Athenian democracy due to its defeat by the rivalling Spartan timocracy. Within a closed society that people wanted to upkeep in the 5th century BCE Athens, individuals occupied fixed roles and classes. An open society on the other hand allows for more individualism and freedom, and Popper argues that Plato’s promotion of the other, closed society laid down the foundations of totalitarianism, with philosophers as rulers. Additionally, Plato’s holism, essentialism, and historicism were also identified as sources of his defence of totalitarianism.

Holism involves the understanding of things as a whole, rather than breaking them into several parts. Plato applies this concept towards the just city, in that its inhabitants’ needs are inferior to the city. This would make Plato’s definition of justice mostly related to the stability of an entire city, which proves dangerous when related to 20th-century totalitarian systems wherein there was an appreciation for the superiority of the state. For instance, this idea of holism can be seen in Nazi Germany’s emphasis on the need for the expansion of space for the Aryan race, which aided in its ruler’s justification of foreign and domestic policies. In the Soviet Union’s communist doctrine, the aims of the entire proletariat were to be placed above the individual workers, who had no choice but to adapt.

Epochs of Politics – Collage 8 Philosophy Society | Winter Edition

by Rustam Bazarov

Politics 2 Plato’s theory of the Forms exemplifies his essentialism, also showing his support for a closed society. The

‘George Soros’ “Open Society Foundations” was built on the concept introduced by Karl Popper, in approach to political philosophy.

philosophical theory of Forms signifies that understanding any object can be done through the understanding of its “form”, or its best nature. Regular objects are imperfect copies of their perfect forms and are thus prone to decay, and if extrapolated, this theory can become a political problem. The institutions and political regimes created by humans degrade over time, which Plato believes can be halted by determining and stopping the laws responsible for this degradation. This then relates to Plato’s historicism, which is a view that current societies can be understood by examining their origins and history, the latter having an endpoint. This means that there is a “golden age” followed by degradation and collapse with possible rebirth. Plato’s utopian society developed within the Republic must therefore attain the highest standard possible for a city, which seems to be a dictatorship. Thus, the philosopher’s fabricated ideal, a closed society is presented as a solution to stopping the distancing of a city from its form, as well as its political decline.

According to the Republic, this would necessitate reluctant philosopher kings ruling over a hierarchical society, which they will ensure remains uncorrupted.

While Plato saw the above as a close definition of justice, Popper argued

this

society

had

all

the

necessary

totalitarian

characteristics. Book III of the Republic for example describes the extreme censorship of poetry that an ideal society would have to go through, a major aspect of the suppression of freedom of expression and a persistent element in totalitarianism. This is all reinforced by the restriction of power to philosophers forming a small elite, the control of individuals’ lives, a strong military

S ir K

arl P o p per

presence and putting the happiness of the whole city above any individual group within it. While this Socratic dialogue is an attempt

to answer a fundamentally ethical question on the just life, it does so in terms of politics.

Parts of the Republic are dedicated towards education, individuals’ respective positions in society, war and change of political regimes, which are all aspects of political philosophy.

Moreover, the criticisms of Athenian democracy and borrowing of elements from the Spartan constitution also help establish the Republic as a work of political philosophy.

Finally, as ancient ethics focused primarily on how to be lead a life of happiness and fulfillment, philosophers would analyze their political realities to answer this question. This close relationship between ancient ethics and political philosophy should therefore also be noted.

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2 Politics The impact of Popper’s analysis of Plato’s political philosophy The Republic is often regarded as a central work in Western philosophy, with its promotion of knowledge and humanism. Karl Popper’s analysis however managed to expose the dangers of Plato’s utopian society and established the philosopher as a promoter of fascism. This allowed for a change in future analyses of the Republic, though some scholars accused Popper of having read faulty and historical translations.

This has, hopefully, demonstrated the need for a critical approach towards philosophical works and provided readers with a new lens to read some of Plato’s most famous dialogues.

Coming up with new ideas such as ‘Open Society’, Popper emphasized his own interpretation of the ‘rational’ system for communities around the globe. His idea of transitioning from ‘closed’

into

‘open’

societies

had

impacted

prominent

philosophers and politicians, who set it as their ideal of governance. Surprisingly enough, the concept of open society has never been evident in any country of the world.

G eorge Soros

Even George Soros’ approach to funding the development of ‘open societies’ through his philanthropy with ‘Open Society Foundations’ has been working in countries like Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Kazakhstan, and the United States. George Soros as one of Popper’s students was inspired by the concept and made some democracy-motivated yet scandal-famous steps in various countries with authoritarian regimes.

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Dear all, With Winter being a season which is full of colours, I would like to wish you all the fun, enjoyment, life-long vitality, and peace in your exciting journeys of life.

Thank you for reading Winter’s Edition.

Otabek M. Ibragimov

Chairman of the Philosophy Society

Recommended Literature The age of a new ethical and legal “normality” and postmodern capitalism Lev Chernoi Not available in the library

Recommended

Open Society and Its Enemies Karl Popper Not available in the library

11 Philosophy Society | Winter Edition

Philosophy Society Winter 2023 – 2024 Issue – 2

Tree #3, 2006

by Myoung Ho Lee

12 Philosophy Society | Winter Edition