Should you be Great or should you be good?

[@hadassahapolot1203]

I’m listening in for the second time, this time, really listening.

[@victoriarachealseerah7874]

Joel!!! You’re such a savvy! I enjoy listening from your school of thought.

[@whatthetheory]

Thank you so much.

[@askpraise6604]

This is very insightful 👏. Looking forward to more videos like this . Thanks Joel !

[@whatthetheory]

Thank you 😊

[@tunyamu]

Hi Joel, Allan, and the memento mori symbols in the frame, 25:10 !! This is one of MY FAVORITE exercises!!! I love to imagine these philosophers are talking to each other on certain topics and wondering what they’d say and how and why. I once read this book called “The question of God” which was a dialogue between CS Lewis and Sigmund Freud and it was a fascinating read. At the end of the episode it seems that you landed on the African-origin idea of “Ubuntu” as somehow resolving the tension of how we ought to “be”..I wonder how the thinkers who developed that would dialogue with the ideas you’ve expressed today? Would you all consider doing a series where you dialogue w/ more philosophers like you’ve done here and include African philosophers and thinkers? Re: limits of imagination for better world: there’s a book slated to come out in Feb called “Imagination, a Manifesto by the Sociologist Ruha Benjamin that y’all might be interested in reading!

[@tunyamu]

PS: After I posted this I realized that you and Allan are African philosophers who are engaging with non-African philosophers (via their writing) to understand the human condition but I think what I mean is: would you consider dialoguing with the writing of past African philosophers concurrently with the writings of past Western Philosophers?

[@whatthetheory]

@@tunyamu Absolutely. As we do more dialogues across different phsilosphcal viewpoints, we shall include more African philosophers. Appreciate the suggestion a lot. We'll look out for the Ruha Benjamin work as well.

[@mary_puffin]

12:40 Have to commend you for at least trying to understand Christian theology. Lots of atheists can only criticize religion on superficial facts like believing in a God you cannot see or prove. If only this made you believe! A question for you though: what do you think about all these philosophers and thinkers being from the west, in particular, being what we now call White. I've struggled to feel interested in their work when, during the time that they were busy philosophizing, African and other poor people, including the serfs in their own societies, were being exploited to provide the likes of them the comforts that allowed them to pursue their intellectual endeavors. Also, where do you think other cultures went wrong to where they didn't even develop written language until it was brought to them by Western men? I wish there wasn't such a dearth of our own authors to read and learn from. That's a huge hole in our history and heritage.

[@janiceceline9634]

Joel, do you think that's there such a thing as a selfless act?

[@whatthetheory]

I doubt anything can be completely selfless as the self is involved in decisions-even those that are to the detriment of the self, I'd imagine there's some higher value they believe they attain. It's a good question though.

[@hawkins7000]

39 inches mattress😂😂😂😂

[@lavendermind6883]

Not much of a philosophy student...I believe in God and the trinity. Having experienced God...I can only say one cannot interprete spiritual things with the physical senses or dimension..what you see hear smell touch and feel, one can only intereprete spiritual things when one appreciates it exists and one can tap into that spiritual dimension, you can't apply logical reasoning to biblical events...philosophers have no business in spiritual existence...

[@whatthetheory]

Thanks. We hear you but we see it a little differently when it comes to philosophy having no business in spiritual examination. There's been several Christian , Muslim, Hindu philosophers that have made great contributions to how people interpret spiritual experiences, including some of the early church Fathers that relied on Aristotle and Plato to shape even what immaterial beings could be. The conclusions may not be to the liking of everyone...but surely faith tested is a faith worth having. Thanks for watching ..You might find the episode we do on Philosophy of Religion quite interesting too. coming soon