[lit-ideas] Re: Dr. Feelgood and the Interns
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 22:05:06 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Paul <Robert.Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Aug 22, 2004 9:21 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Dr. Feelgood and the Interns
Andy Amago writes:
>For an illustration that understanding one's life is a question/s with
answer/s, I refer once again to the movie I saw last night, House of Sand and
Fog. In that movie, the motives of the Colonel were transparent. The Deputy
Sheriff's actions were, by contrast, bizarre but very imaginable. He and the
lead character (actress Jennifer Connolley) would have done well to examine
their motives. As to whether philosophy would have helped, I read somewhere
that Russell Bertrand was depressed to where he was contemplating ending his
life. Then while walking on a beach he began to consider life, and it gave him
enough purpose, shall we say, to keep going.<
R.P. Many philosophers, from Socrates to Wittgenstein have at one time or
another
considered suicide; but so have many ordinary people. Why is it relevant that
Russell was a philospher? If there's an argument here that philosophy will
answer some question or other--or that there is even a question here to be
answered--I've missed it. Philosophers don't treat every question as a
philosophical question, for not every question is. (Here, I find myself in
surprising agreement with Donal McEvoy.)
'[Russell] began to consider life, and it gave him enough purpose...to keep
going.' Yes, and one could equally well think about one's family and friends or
how pleasant it was to walk on the beach, as opposed to being immobilized in a
frozen lake. As an example of how philosophy can settle questions about the
meaning and purpose of life, the case is, I think, underdescribed.
A.A. Actually, you're right. I was going to add originally that philosophy in
his case worked on the level of distraction. Obviously Russell didn't want to
kill himself badly enough or he would have done it. He needed a reason
meaningful enough, absorbing enough, to distract himself from his depressed
thoughts and found one. Many non-philosophers do the same, i.e., kill
themselves or change their minds and find a reason to live, as you say.
The meaning and purpose of life is probably unanswerable, by philosophers or
anyone else. I started to say that I think depressed people come closest to
grasping the meaninglessness of life, but I'm reminded of Rod McEwen, who made
a phenomenal amount of money in the 60's and 70's (tens of millions), when he
came down with depression in the 80's. He understood that something went wrong
in his brain, and he took newly minted Prozac and recovered after a while
(which may or may not have had anything to do with the Prozac). On the other
hand, I might be making the mistake of thinking that a lot of money equates
with happiness, which obviously it didn't for McEwen. Perhaps having made all
that money he experienced the lyrics of that Peggy Lee song, is that all there
is, indeed, the meaningless of life once one no longer has anything to do to
occupy their minds.
Personally, I don't think philosophy can answer the answerable, although I
don't agree that if there is no answer, then there is no question. There still
is, for example, no answer as to why we and all animals sleep, but the question
is fascinating and debated and may one day be answered.
Andy Amago
Robert Paul
Reed College
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