Why Murderers Can Be Good Philosophers

Why Good Philosophers Aren’t Always Good People
Some of the greatest philosophers were also pretty terrible people. So who are they to tell us how to live our lives? That is to say, can we learn morality from ethically-flawed thinkers? And if so, how do we reconcile their ideas with their lived realities? Let’s find out in this Wisecrack Edition: Can We Learn Ethics From Jerks?
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=== Watch More Episodes! ===
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Written by Amanda Scherker
Researched by Tom Whyman
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Henry Arrambide
Produced by Olivia Redden
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
#GoodEthics #BadPeople #Wisecrack
© 2023 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

[@WisecrackEDU]

Who is the bad person you've learned the most from? Or . . . the good person you've learned the least from?

[@kharijordan6426]

Don't know...I should try and understand people around me more because iv learned from them..I just don't know if they are good or bad ...I also don't even know their name😅.

[@ssabstian]

I learned not to bang animals *humans included* from Peter Singer, also I have *not* cheated before 😊I’m so virtuous

[@kharijordan6426]

@@ssabstian sooo....like it owns you money 🎵 or asexual?

[@brianbuch1]

Lyndon Johnson. There is no question that he was a self-centered SOB who would stop at nothing to win; that his concern for his masculine image was in part responsible for his continuing the war in Vietnam, a war he knew had no military solution. And yet at the very same time he had principles he was willing to take large risks for. When, after JFK was assassinated, he took office, he met with advisors to plan legislative and electoral strategy. He insisted upon pushing hard to get the 1964 Civil Rights bill enacted in the face of advisors who cautioned him of the political liability of such a course. "What's a Presidency for, then?" was his response. He knew very well the consequences in the long term as well. "We (Democratic Party) have lost the South for a generation (an underestimate). We don't really know what sort of person Machiavelli was, but he certainly would have found LJB fascinating. Machiavelli presents such a dilemma in the case of Cesare Borgia. (Fascinating read) What must one do or not doin order to secure the power needed to pursue an undoubtedly noble goal?

[@ItsDroLeo]

How likely is it that the philosophers truly believed in [insert good natured text] but the reason they fell short of practicing those beliefs outwardly was due to the majority of their current society behaving in the opposite way? Meaning maybe their philosophical writing was the only time they could get their deepest feelings out, akin to a angsty teenager with a diary.

[@Ginjabreadman17]

Being able to separate a good message from a bad messenger is a useful skill

[@MyPisceanNature]

Stopped clocks, sunshine and dog's asses, and all that.

[@custos3249]

One lost on 99% of our shit species

[@Tethloach1]

The harsh truth truly hurts, professional jerks do get us all to work and think a little bit harder.

[@TheCoolchickens]

Except... One problem.... Their is absolution... Absolutely absolution of no absolutes! Hahaha there was never a good or bad to Begin with, just moral grey everywhere. A lot more then 50 shades, which is a shit movie about BDSM anyway.

[@NeostormXLMAX]

max stirner said it great, take what you need from anything that would benefit you and discard the rest, don't hold any person or ideal as sacred

[@kigas24]

I am a PhD student procrastinating their dissertation the attack was unwarranted

[@WisecrackEDU]

We love you and see you.

[@TheLyricalCleric]

@@WisecrackEDU If only our advisors, mentors, and dissertation directors felt the same way. I’ve seen more compassion and concern from bargain-basement adjuncts towards their students than from named-chair full tenure professors and emeriti towards their grad students. Felt for me like dropping out even though I was still in. I’d even get other faculty seeing me in the halls and saying, “Oh, you’re still here?” Yeah, I’ve just been in the library or teaching for my entire existence. As for the dissertator, get with a dissertation writing group organized by your library or writing center-don’t listen to the settled academics who say to do everything on your own. Work with a group that’ll support you and give you structure. Get your degree done and get out.

[@WisecrackEDU]

@@TheLyricalCleric This is all too true and it really sucks.

[@BrunoHartmanndaSilva]

I second this in every point.

[@lesserson2182]

Same. Just for that. I'm not working in it today. I hope you're happy.

[@yamataichul]

Wisecrack crew truly woke up one day and chose _ethics_ Srsly, I'm so happy with this take! I've been trying for the past years to properly explain to ppl that the act of genius and the character of the individual are not 100% intertwined or one and the same.

[@TheCoolchickens]

So you are ok if i start a murd3r r@pe cult as long as i create some smart word book on how much everything and people suck? Asking for a friend.

[@muffen5148]

The delivery of “They were French…but still?” Was perfect lol

[@hanskywalker1246]

Poor French...

[@NATT441]

Michael: "Rousseau fathered 5 children by a woman who he then eviscerated... Me: HE WHAT!? "In his autobiography." Oh.

[@Andreywatchlist]

That's messed up

[@carloszapata847]

Can bad people teach us ethics? They are a good lesson on what not to do.

[@larquefausse3623]

that's a succinct way of putting it.

[@AlecLamson]

I've struggled with this since falling in love with Plato's "Republic" and Aristotle's "Ethics,", and then wrestling with the fact that I personally would 100% be labeled a copper-souled natural slave. I haven't heard the phrase "read an author against themselves," and it's a very insightful and useful idea when engaging in excellent writing by less than excellent authors. Edit: could this be combined with the idea of "the separation of the art & the artist" subject into it's own, more focused subject/video?

[@WraithWriter]

I think that's a good take on things.

[@lostboy8084]

More of judging a person's ethical ideology by today's moral ideology. For example that of slavery we see it as morally wrong but from maybe near the start of civilization there has been a form of slavery at least since the writing that has been able to be translated we have seen some references to ownership of other humans. It really is very recent we see that such is wrong.

[@largrax2377]

for your edit, 8:45 it already exists

[@roysegal3595]

"An ethics proffesor does not need to be moral just as you won't expect a math proffesor to be a triangle"

[@hanskywalker1246]

This is good From who is it?

[@iCarus_A]

False equivalency. An ethics professor should be moral as much as a music mentor should be proficient, or a sports coach should be professional. That being, while being "moral" might not be a prerequisite, it certainly helps with their message. A triangle, however, couldn't have taught math.

[@roysegal3595]

@@hanskywalker1246 urban legend in Israel says it was the response of an ethics professor to his sexual harassment accusations.

[@MrGregory777]

​@@iCarus_A Leo Fender from Fender guitar fame, did not know how to play the guitar

[@Emilio1985]

All my math teachers were squares.

[@LeAnwar1]

Thank you Wisecrack I needed this. As a black man I have struggled with the near divinity that I see in the Categorical imperative and Kant's other writings juxtaposed with the disdain he would have for me personally.

[@95rossc]

There’s a similar sinking feeling I get in the moment I realize a writer or thinker I’ve become especially engrossed in would consider my sexuality to be at best a pitiable mental disorder. Pushing past that feeling in order to continue learning what I can (without swearing fealty to some specific dude’s entire being) and still love myself can feel strangely empowering.

[@iankamau222]

yup

[@iankamau222]

Kant didn’t think Black ppl (like me) were human.. that’s why he can have such high moral philosophy AND be horribly racist.. this is a regular thing.. see George Washington and slavery.

[@TheCoolchickens]

Not distain, more that you are an ends, an end to white people's having to do manual labor😅😬

[@TheCoolchickens]

I csn recognize a difference in race and belief that a unified species under a single authoritarian fascist state is the only logical outcome for our species to successful colonize space. But that doesn't mean I'm going to be a dick to black people. I hate everyone equally, for all humans are a plage on gods perfect garden. That's why Lucifer is so misunderstood. R@pe and murd3er is only wrong when it's Not done to humans. You silly billy.

[@theily1724]

Hypocrites always make the best points.

[@crazyfrank2027]

So basically all humans

[@gromph4]

Broken clocks can be right twice a day

[@thebookofdaniel5837]

Wait, isn’t this sentence low-key a paradox?

[@mdccxcii6340]

"You'll never have to make a single mistake if you first learn from the mistakes of others." - A very dead man.

[@crazyfrank2027]

Jack sparrow

[@andydimezza2229]

😂

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

​@@crazyfrank2027 dies twice in his own series.

[@mikitz]

To paraphrase from Otto von Bismarck, 'Only idiots learn from their own mistakes, wise men learn from mistakes made by others'.

[@Skoopyghost]

I almost got into hard drugs. I went AA before it too bad. I go to AA to listen people who screwed up their lives before I screwed up my life so I don't screw up my life, and so I don't drink alcohol, or do hard drugs. Basically.

[@gabrielcordeiro2245]

As a High School philosophy teacher that has had regularly this conversation with his students, I thank you, sir. I thank you a lot.

[@gabrielcordeiro2245]

Waiting for the PT-BR subtitles. Then I'll just show them the video.

[@sylvash1024]

Sometimes I cheat on my partner. I feel bad for my right hand but being with my left just feels so new and invigorating.

[@WisecrackEDU]

We gotta hand it to you for that take

[@MrLeafeater]

"Don't bang animals." Got it. Every time you upload, I get a gem for the future.

[@georgemetcalf8763]

Humans are animals. Is Wisecrack endorsing celibacy for all😂?

[@jellevm]

"Is that asking too much from folks who struggle to exist outside of a library?" Shit, don't call me out like that.

[@nicoleavshalomov2582]

I basically learned how to be a strong, independent, woman by mimicking Buffy the Vampire Slayer until I actually had my own identity. So, yeah, I think we learn good things from shitty people all of the time.

[@WeAreTheDraiken]

Never watched Buffy, was she a bad Charecter? Cause I'm suprised hearing this.

[@nicoleavshalomov2582]

@@WeAreTheDraiken No, she was a great character. The show runner just turned out to be a dick.

[@WeAreTheDraiken]

@@nicoleavshalomov2582 Oh you mean Joss Whedon. I understand you now , though I'm not sure really if he's a bad person or if his behaviour is just how he directs movies/shows and that's why the films he makes are good while being unacceptable in how you should treat actual people. One thing I learnt in life, is that almost every single trait we have as humans has played a role in our survival as a species , so while somebody might be a cutthroat, that actually be what's making them succeed in their field, just how it allowed conquerors in the past to expand their kingdoms and succeed in their rulership. Just my two cents.

[@ttthecat]

I deeply relate to this comment🥹

[@ttthecat]

​@@WeAreTheDraiken I think the commenter is referring to some of the problems with the person who created and ran the show(Whedon) and the allegations of a hostile and sexist work culture he created, And the many actresses he had affairs while cheating on his wife.

[@peachypietro9980]

Now THIS is the Wisecrack I've been waiting for! It dances on the souls of fallen and tickles the brain wrinkles of wretched cynics!!!!

[@devilsadvocate3364]

"Knowledge never disappoints me; it is ignorance I find unforgivable" - Dr. Leonard Church

[@Darkfyreofthezenith]

“while the law has many penalties for the atrocities we inflict on others, there are no punishments for the terrors that we inflict on ourselves” Oddly fitting to quote him

[@TheDSasterX]

@@Darkfyreofthezenith well, you know, except for like the laws against suicide... >_>

[@colemanroberts1102]

"Nope. No matter how things may seem they can't be better and they can't be worse. Because thats the way things fucking are and you had better get used to it nancy so quit your bitching." - Leonard L. Church

[@TheDSasterX]

@@colemanroberts1102 Sounds like Nancy had a point and Leonard likes to yell at clouds...

[@DanielBedoyaR]

Following the same line from the "Bad people, Good Art" video and this one: you should make a video on the philosophy and ethics of apology, atonement, and forgiveness. Keep up the great work!!

[@CottonCandySharks]

I think the most important thing here is to not idolize one person as having "figured it out". They're as flawed as the rest of us, and we can disagree on any topic. We're all just showing up to the same discussion to figure out how to live our lives.

[@LucasRodmo]

I argue that philosophy could rarely be emerged from the entirely good, naive, sweet, kind and ultimately caring. To someone question the nature of ethics and morality shows the complexity of the moral compass of oneself. The weirdos, paranoid, guilty, in pain, are the ones that will painfully stumble across those questions and will boldly dive into them until something new emerges, and life makes sense.

[@Reddles37]

It actually makes sense for a lot of philosophers to be bad people. If you're some kind of sociopath or something but you still want to be ethical, you might have to put a lot of conscious thought into it unlike normal people who just do what comes naturally. Kind of like how I, as a colorblind person, know a lot more about colors than your average Joe since I had to deliberately learn about it instead of just trusting my eyes.

[@Wolf.81]

Counterpoint: it is just as normal for individuals to just sometimes be wrong about certain things. Scientists and mathematicians were wrong about specific stuff all time time, that doesn't nullify the theories they postulated that are actually true though. Forming argumentation is how we justify beliefs in the first place. Argumentation at a specific time may be seen as good, but through discourse it ends up being refuted. That remains true even now, and is universally binding for all of us. After-all we may even believe we are right about things now that we are actually wrong about. That is the point of discourse and presenting argumentation for justified beliefs.

[@ViniciusSilvestre0]

I don't know if got this from somewhere and just don't remember or its something from my head, but here it goes: "Even truly bad people will eventually say or do something good. And truly good people will eventually say or do something terrible. Its just a matter of time, perspective and context"

[@marqpsmythe228]

“If you’re unlucky enough not to have alcoholic parents, it takes you a whole lifetime of intoxication to overcome the dead weight of their virtues.” - Emil Cioran

[@crowofdionysia6200]

My favorite parts of analyzing problematic philosophers with contradictory lessons is trying to find how they rationalized and excused the contradiction. Its always either very entertaining to see the mental gymnastics a person goes through to justify bad ideas or absolutely heartbreaking to see the tragedies they went through that birthed these ideas in the first place. An emotional Rollercoaster all around.

[@williamjenkins4913]

Lets play everyone's favorite game "How Are You Broken"

[@michaelcstonebear420]

@@williamjenkins4913 Why do you think anyone is broken?

[@KIT_TV22]

YUP. We're all deeply flawed. Those we put on pedestals are full of contradictions, and if we fail to see them, time slowly reveals. The parent child dynamic is one. Our world leaders are another. Better to think deeply and weight it all, than be dismissive and lean into the witch hunt mentality.

[@AcidProphet]

I read that in uncle Iroh's voice.

[@hippykiller2775]

But like why tho? Are we deeply flawed cuz we are bro that way or is it a part of our "education?" Cuz both answers and any other questions you can come up with have long paths of thought that can be gone down looking for insight. Thus is philosophy. The interrogation of the outside world using your best abilities to deconstruct and challenge.... At best in the hopes of building a fondation of thought and ideas that are so truly your own you learn to see the world while through your own eyes and with your own mind.

[@sisyphus_strives5463]

But I wonder, what would a person who is full capable of following those ideas look like? What would they be capable of? It is the striving for higher ideals that we should inherit, just because the proponent of those ideas have failed to reach the end of their path does not mean they don't have valuable insights.

[@TheCoolchickens]

Excuse me i sm not flawed, the mushrooms clearly tell me that i must become the ruler of the world and purge the undesirables, or is that the meth telling me to do that? Hmmm can't remember the weed keeps marking me forget.

[@KIT_TV22]

@@AcidProphet an honor and a privilege. Uncle Iroh FOREVER.

[@manueljohn456]

Awesome video on a very touchy subject that I've already had many a discussion about. Perfectly embracing the idea of "show, don't tell". Thanks wisecrack, love ya :)

[@imChabs]

I don't know if it's just recency bias (or just my own bias), but I feel like our use of social media, as dictated by terms and conditions and what ends up getting the clicks, has put us in a position where everything is binary. Any nuance or simple analysis often comes across as you condoning the subject matter. Granted that we can't philosophize all our aspects of life at all times, but it feels as thought we (the royal we) have conditioned ourselves in having and expressing an opinion right on the spot. I really liked this video. It's the kind of thought provoking content that I tune into Wisecrack for, a comfortable gateway to push the conversation further! Thanks guys!

[@UmmadikTas]

AYO I JUST OPENED THE VIDEO AND I WAS CALLED OUT RIGHT OFF THE BAT MAN. WHAT THE HELLL. Ok bro I wont procrastinate. GL with your video

[@Avitymist]

I mean, yeah we learn from mistakes, of other peoples as well.

[@crazyfrank2027]

We keep saying that but it doesn't seem like humans learn from mistakes

[@jmgerraughty]

Don’t bang dolphins?! WhEn DiD wIsEcRaCk GeT sO pOLiTiCaL???

[@WisecrackEDU]

Current winner of today's best comment award.

[@gabrielandradeferraz386]

But what if the dolphin starts it?

[@Sarah-re7cg]

One of my majors is philosophy and it will always astound me how people approach arguments. The point of obtaining a philosophy degree is to analyze arguments and think critically. It’s about becoming a philosopher yourself, not blindly simping one, ffs.

[@arthurcarlyle7263]

I might show this at the beginning of my ethics classes. My only issue with the video is that it hits Singer too hard. I cover his views on bestiality in some of my classes, and students have a genuinely hard time arguing against it (especially when coupled with other contemporary defences of it). I honestly think I may agree with large chunks of his view (I'm not afraid to admit it!)

[@WisecrackEDU]

Thanks! And that's fair - though it's hard not to use the Singer example just because of how wild it is at first glance.

[@arthurcarlyle7263]

@Wisecrack fair enough. What I forgot to say earlier is that I mention his view on the first day of class so that everyone freaks out and says how easy it is to argue against him. A month later when they can't, I remind them what they said on the first day. I do so as a lesson for them on how complicated the world and ethics can be. The best students appreciate how I teach them this. The worst ones want to kill me...

[@dangerfly]

Who gives a rat's ass about the philosopher? The ideas are what matters yet there's this obnoxious worshipping of the author. If they could stop praising themselves for a second we'd have a universally accepted ethics theory like science would have produced by now.

[@CottonCandySharks]

Ok you can't just say that and not explain

[@salac1337]

found the vaushite

[@christopherneal3138]

Rick Roderick, a modern professor of philosophy, has some words about this in his lecture concerning Martin Heidegger, which, if you wanted look it up, is on youtube.

[@bobbyboljaar7513]

The excellent biography on Heidegger by Safranski covers Heideggers involvement with the Nazi party as well. It absolutely does not try to excuse him, but it paints a much more nuanced picture then "Heidegger was a Nazi".

[@christopherneal3138]

@@bobbyboljaar7513 Safranski, huh? What’s he all about?

[@bobbyboljaar7513]

@@christopherneal3138 He's a german philosopher who turned to writing biografies and some other historic works. I read his biografies on Nietzsche, Heidegger and Goethe, all wonderful. As a philosopher he pays extra attention to their ideas and philosophies and the cultural climate that influenced these ideas. Sure helped me to understand Heidegger's philosophy a lot better

[@christopherneal3138]

@@bobbyboljaar7513 i’ve gotta listen to Wagner’s die meistersinger von nurnberg now.

[@JebeckyGranjola]

@Bobby Boljaar it depends on what you are trying to convey by "was a Nazi." He stated that he was opposed to the Holocaust and I'm inclined to believe him. But I do think his philosophy and his own personal ideology are in support of Fascism. I see him as the counterpoint to Schmidt. I would say that his ideas are more esoteric and not about racial hatred, but his diary revealed that he was more personally anti-Semitic than his public works, so that is doubtful.

[@CollinHeist20]

Love the video! I would love to hear your take on the Philosophy or Ethics of meat consumption / modern veganism, I think that could be really interesting.

[@se9865]

Well, I think I've learned more about ethics from this channel than I ever did from my ethics professor in college. He was this exvegan terrorist who converted to born again quiverful Christian. We read one book that was by some apologist that was about why hunting was a good thing because of how it felt (there might be more to it, because this was 20 years ago, and I had no interest in revisiting it). Also, he spent a lot of time talking about how our community college was not a real institute of learning because of the bad 70s architecture, and how he had just been interviewed at a real institution of learning because it had old nice brick buildings. It was some private Christian school near Boston. He also required us to do volunteer projects so that he could tell us that volunteering for things is bad, and he wanted us to experience how stupid volunteering was. He also tried to tell us that we should all spend our Saturday going to some conservative radio host's rally in Seattle. And that was the whole class.

[@bryantgrove6199]

Love Wisecrack.

[@juliozavala5865]

Those who preach must practice, but never force.

[@kepspark3362]

You're so biased & act confidently about it, it's not funny. All those adjectives, jokes, ... If you were born in those times, you'd be telling those ideas just as confidently trying to impress others by being funny. We're all products of our times. No point being subjective such confidently. It's better to study such things w/o biases. Try to recognize your own. You think you already know what's good or bad, you keep acting based on that, when we're wondering what good or bad is. Now that's funny.

[@tomasreunbrouck6365]

I think Singer was a bad example. The quote was very much out of context and, in general, he practices the ethics he preaches very well: supporting charities, helping other, and minimizing harm to animals (every kind of harm)

[@WisecrackEDU]

That's fair - it was just too easy not to use as an example because it's pretty wild.

[@AlmostEthical]

I think Singer's point was that animals are far more sentient than we give them credit for, not advocacy of bestiality. In terms of ethicss, humans disrespect for other species lies at the heart of racism. If you have deep respect for animals then you can't logically be racist about humans. There is no judgement, just acknowledgement of capabilities and qualities. Also, race and culture are often conflated. Hostility towards races is often a matter of cultural competition.

[@shensley27]

I am adulterous philosopher. First name: Nunya. Last Name: Business. I work at I Have Secret Family University.

[@ThatGUY666666]

So long story short, be mindful of the hypocrisy fallacy, got it. All jokes aside, Wisecrack delivers again

[@WraithWriter]

Everyone knows you bring your own cocaine to the bar. Just be wary of WD-40 on the toilet tank and window sills... 😜

[@AlonsoCervantesMartinez]

This is why we need cynicism, because all these great thinkers were for the most part privileged people, so there's mothing new with rich people telling everyone how to behave while they are the worst of humanity.

[@BlaineTog]

Let she/they/he who is without sin throw the first shade.

[@WisecrackEDU]

I like this translation of the Bible.

[@JPsJacket]

If Peter Singer was on that yacht, it would've been a lot more pleasing for those 40 nights

[@StayHardened]

The dad from 7th heaven... i always had a weird feeling about that dude

[@SaskatchewanICE]

That’s interesting. I always felt the same about Jared from Subway as a kid. He just seemed wayyyy too pure

[@WisecrackEDU]

they sold us a lot of dirtbags in the 90's

[@MyPisceanNature]

I found the entire show creepy as fuck. I only watched it at all because my sister watched it, and it was on right before WWF Monday Night Raw that I wanted to watch 😆

[@StayHardened]

@@SaskatchewanICE … heck yeah… there is a documentary about that guy… he was just trying a little too hard to be pure … I respect people that try hard at things but Jared seemed to be going that extra mile to seemingly compensate for something… that something was a closet full of skeletons

[@alejandrosantana8657]

Well, each one of them is partly the result of their era, if each one present here believes that they have perfect ethics and morals, they also did it at the time. So I think it appropriate to give them the courtesy that we would like to have in 100 years when future generations look at our generation with disgust.

[@tiarezavaleta8850]

If humans survive that long, they'll have every rigth to do it. Seeing how we are fucking the planet.

[@NateLacroix]

I love my wife too much to be a philosopher.

[@WisecrackEDU]

That's real love.

[@travelswithkerlos292]

This video must have been both repulsive, and strangely insightful to edit for you Wisecrack folks. 😂

[@Godsen5]

The question can be easily redisposed like follows: Does Pythagoras need to be a triangle to teach us about geometry?

[@WisecrackEDU]

Amazing.

[@crannogman6289]

Pythagoras was a cult leading psychopathic murderer, but I'm still using the theorem though. (He didn't come up with it)

[@Bob-jn8jt]

Please keep doing these deep dives. I love the content.

[@magister343]

I feel like this needed a joke about Ayn Rand claiming Kant was the most evil man who ever lived.

[@bagfootbandit8745]

This is a very important video and worth remembering and sharing. We too often fall into the trap of dismissing people wholesale for opinions they hold when we ought to engage with people as they are, good, bad and ugly parts all.

[@theangelking96]

Some gangsters are much more ethical than any politician of the modern age

[@WisecrackEDU]

This is why The Wire is the greatest American television show of all time.

[@cameronchappell8265]

“People are complicated.” It’s a pretty good moto to live by.

[@toppersundquist]

I had to track down a copy of Critique of Pure Reason after watching Superman III.

[@WisecrackEDU]

That's a hell of a double feature.

[@Niemandzockt]

Amazed to know that Kant made a race Tier list

[@story3877]

My college's philosophy dept was well known to be full of professors who banged their TAs. That was basically how you got the gig. Some got married after the student graduated but those usually ended in divorce shortly after. ...because you guessed it, they kept banging TAs. One actually kept his shit together to help his much much younger wife when she was diagnosed with cancer and the second she was in remission, SHE dumped HIM. But that finally broke his cycle of trying to have sex with the TAs...granted he was also 70. When i last saw him (as i returned to the college for grad school about 6 years after my bachelor's and he was 75 then) he was actually dating a woman the same age as him and in no way connected to the college. I hope he finally found whatever it was he was lacking and improved himself with her. She seemed lovely when I spoke to her at an interdepartmental party. They're both probably long dead now. They'd be 90 at this point.

[@alrightalright4585]

We get it, people born in the distant past were racist, and you are against that. What an enlightening revelation 👏 👏 👏 it just feels so condescending every single time. Almost as preachy as "modern and forward-thinking" persons who make video essays on Lovecraft.

[@barleigh234]

9:40 Star Wars😶😂😂 relatable. Plugging my favorite Star Wars podcast💜 What The Force - the power of philosophy & need for myth: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fH-oioeArp2ogrc & the way of the force - seek joy kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaLYpqVqn9eFsLs

[@DaviidReiis]

4:40 Imagine looking like this and believing you’re superior to other races

[@chrisjackson1889]

As a dedicated murderer I can confirm that philosophical, metaphysical and psychological mysteries of the universe have long befuddled me as I throw body parts into the nearby river.

[@Imperator_Prime]

"Studies suggest around 30-40% of unmarried relationships and 18-20% of marriages see at least one incident of sexual infidelity." I'm not *valorizing* infidelity, but when it's so common as to become mundane, maybe fucking other people is less some mark of poor character in itself and more a matter of broadly socially imposed but unrealistic expectations around human sexual behaviour. Not every cultural more actually necessarily aligns with any virtue, some of them are just relics of arbitrary hegemonies.

[@macsnafu]

My first thought when I saw the title was, why couldn't a murderer be a good philosopher? Ideally, a philosophy is going to be based on axioms and logical constructions, and there's no particular reason that I know of why a murderer or other bad person should be incapable of logical thought. If anything, perhaps it's their bad behavior that got them started on a particular philosophical track or idea, as they tried to figure out what, if anything, was wrong with what they did? Oh, and put the toilet seat down. And THEN put the lid down, too!

[@kamilszymanski1663]

Why it wouldn`t have been a good thing, if Peter Singer would have been on the Arch, that Noah build in the bible: 1. Peter Singer says, that one can have intercourse with animals, if they consent. 2. It is for humans not possible, to tell whether animals consent to intercourse. 3. Peter Singer would in no real case say, that you can have intercourse with an animal. 4. What`s your point?

[@nokotshehla2616]

I enjoy wisecracks because you guys make content that talk to global topics. Ultimately I feel like there aren't many spaces where we can have these discussions anymore. It's not about getting to an answer I feel. It's more the opening of the mind to ideas very different from your own. Thanks wisecracks team

[@skatesatgod-fusion2619]

The message is reasonable but a lot of the things you're judging those philosophers for as being bad aren't bad at all. Sleeping with their students is not bad in any way unless there was any presence of abuse in those relationships. You seemed like a guy who is genuinely thoughtful and believes in thinking about things critically, particularly seeing how this is a channel for philosophy after all, but this video didn't live up to that image I had in my head. The most important thing that one would expect society to have learnt by now, but which it doesn't seem to have actually learnt, is that using social acceptability or unacceptability of any behavior as a metric for determining what is moral and what is not is the worst metric you can possibly use. A whole lot of things that we consider morally good or neutral in the present were in the past understood as being immoral and evil. Homosexuality being the prime example, among others like interracial and interfaith marriages. If you are someone who relies on contemporary notions of morality as the source for how to act, then if you were living in the past you most certainly would have participated in the kind of behavior that we consider immoral today, like racism and homophobia, simply because racism and homophobia used to be the default position of the majority. And whether you realize it or not, you very likely hold beliefs and engage in behaviors that are objectively immoral and will be considered so by most of society in the future. One example of such a behavior that might end up being changed is eating meat produced through industrial farming methods, something that isn't just morally questionable but harmful on a more practical level for its contribution to global warming. The point is, just because a belief is held by the majority of any group or even the whole of society, does not make it true, moral or correct just by that virtue alone. Look to the past to see countless examples of society engaging in beliefs and behaviors that are objectively abusive, destructive and immoral but which at the time were justified and rationalized away into being acceptable. A lot of prevailing notions of thinking about controversial issues in the present moment are in fact immoral, but we as a society do not recognize that due to being limited by our time and culture. Future generations will look back on us and judge us the same way we judge past societies, and wonder just as we do - 'how could they let that happen? How could they be so blind, cruel and wrong and at the same time so arrogantly immune to self reflection and basic empathy?' I wish people would wake up and realize the better and more moral way of judging people and their actions is by determining the actual harm of actions, as opposed to perceived harm which most often is limited to purely a violation of arbitrary social norms rather than any real harm. This is not easy to do because if you actually use this framework to think about many of the most controversial issues in society and hold the perceived moral judgment of certain behaviors, whether positive or negative, to scrutiny, you will find that they hold very little legitimacy beyond just a fake outward appearance of it. And it is a truly perverse reality where the backlash resulting from the violation of said social norms ends up being significantly more harmful and destructive compared to the actions of the person who has broken that social norm, if the actions of the person were even harmful to begin with.

[@adityathakur3161]

Although I understand the "separate the art from the artist" thing, I find it difficult to apply it to philosophers. Philosophers not following their teachings seems like writing a cookbook while being a bad cook. But we don't think like this when it comes to, say mathematics, because we consider it objective. Maybe these philosophers were also trying to approach it like math and wanted to build an air tight world view even if they themselves could not obey it, who knows.

[@jacobdriscoll8276]

Bad people have to be able to teach us ethics. Good people can't teach us ethics, because there are no purely good people, and there never will be. We only have our fellow flawed humans to help us be better humans. I'm curious about the appeal of unethical behavior, though. Why be nazi-curious or dolphin-curious or strangle-affectionate? What tethers us there, and what do we need to watch out for in ourselves?

[@Meganmcgee3333]

I think it is important to remember that thinking in absolutes is problematic. In my therapy...hahah existential crisis here.... I learned to accept that your mentors will eventually disappoint you. I apply this to everyone I admire not to dismiss them but to remember that everyone has some piece of the puzzle and then some bugs. It allows me to find my own truths and to not fall into idealism. I think in an attempt to feel safe in this world, we put people or ideas on a pedastle and hang on to the hope that that is the solution when that is against the very thing that keeps us adaptable and successful as a species. We must always be flexible, and while appreciating the work people do, build on it instead of dismissing it or idolizing it. Say anyone a fan of Alan Watts? I hope wisecrack could look into that fascinating man, and who is this Ram Das Mutha fucka? He seems nice but I'm spectacle...uhem skeptical.

[@connororeilly3387]

Good video, but the Peter Singer comment was way out of context, he's trying to push forward the idea tgat animals have agency similar to non-human animals and that's why we shouldnt factory farm (terrible existence and early death) them.

[@dsmil2]

I am neither a philosopher nor am.i cheating on my partner. Come to think of it, I do not currently have a partner. Therefore I respectfully decline your offer to leave a comment at this time. My name is Raymond Luxury Yacht and my petition to be the High Lord of Academia is still pending.

[@adamdymke8004]

"...but some of us were raised by mothers that once told use that she had a favorite bar in Chicago in the lat 70's. Where for five bucks you could get a beer and a bump of coke. Which is a real thing that my Mom once told me."🤣😂🤭

[@adityathakur3161]

I would like a video where you find out dirt on all the philosophers, it was really interesting to see what they were like outside of their literary life.

[@meta5175]

I’m no philosophy master but I think if we only learn from morally perfect people there’s no such human ever existed, not only it’s impossible to take action, but who defines morals anyways

[@MGood-ij1hi]

One thing notable about this Wisecrack video is that all the fathers of Western philosophy mentioned here are White men. As a philosophy graduate I can remember only one class that didn't fixate on the teachings of White men, and in that class the instructor mandated an essay written about a philosopher who wasn't a White man. It got so bad in most classes we even studied Kant's philosophy dealing with marriage and child raising, written by a man who never did either one.

[@thelasttellurian]

If you think some people are "bad" and some are "good" - you have the mental view of a 5-year-old. All people are not bad or good, just selfish.

[@Lowlight91]

Ugh, wish there was A Good Place episode where Eleanor learns how all of Chidi’s heroes were terrible people like her, and he should therefore stop listening to them and start listening to her. It would make him extremely nauseous.

[@salieri_sg9413]

I wouldn't accept any teachings from a goody two shoes who never went and failed himself. Because It's just not genuine.

[@skybluskyblueify]

No one is completely bad or completely good, and we learn from our parents or caregivers. This can be a hard thing to take, that your parent could have done bad things, despite as a kid a person like simplicity or black and white thinking. So much less work for everything being one or the other rather than and/or or both. This is why kids, young people and many adults lionize their primary caregiver/parent. Growing up could mean accepting that they could be and/or or both etc. and learning that world is various shades of grey often all at the same time.

[@ricardojornada]

Philosophy is a tool, it's not the tools fault if the user is crappy. Anyone can be good at using, interpreting a tool, crappy people included.

[@nicolebogda1482]

Don’t ruin Carlinism! 😂 I never ever want to hear anything terrible about George Carlin- I’d just have to die right there~

[@AssasinZorro]

I think that a person who has faced difficult decisions and lost can say more about ethics than a person who has never been truly ethically challenged and only knows the theory

[@lanegeorgeton8266]

Western philanthropists have a blind spot. Ie the sacrifice. No one needs to be sacrificed. We all can live and the die. The sacrifice is for the living. Help others live is the penultimate.

[@youngidealist]

Red flag. You ignored a nuance Singer gave of an animal giving consent to say that he was wrong. Cons3nt tis the cruc of the beastiality question for anyone who really gives it thought. That's bad philosophy on your part to play him giving that nuance and ignoring it outright.

[@WoollyLuke]

Thank you for specifically talking about Kierkegaard. As a Christian I used to take silly detours away from good philosophy and philosophers, or try to justify the bad, by calling it Christian or unchristian.

[@PlatinumPoint]

My good sir how dare you. For I Ludwig von Stroganoff philosopher extraordinaire am offended by this video. Lol jk I love this video

[@taffitteal]

Buddhism and other Eastern religions teach that one cannot understand or practice the good without understanding the bad, and so one cannot be celebrated without the other. Western philosophers seem to have come to the same conclusion, noting that even though they may practice something ethically questionable, the ultimate faith is that the right conclusion will be inevitably reached through exposure as much as reasoning.

[@stefanpp1155]

I cheated on my partner with a dolphin. I teach Philosophy at the university of...

[@WisecrackEDU]

Peter!!!

[@jadj1992]

Sound advice is still sound advice whether from a perfect parent, partner or a career criminal.

[@ironline6830]

I think anyone interested in philosophy has the answer and if they don't they're probably new the only people we don't learn from are those who never join the discussion

[@chip715715]

I remember my first time trying to read critique of pure reason... It was a lol moment

[@theangelking96]

“In case my wife was watching” Duuuuuuude, rookie mistake!!!

[@joshuaadams8240]

Okay, someone please explain to me Peter Singer. I imagine he was a bad guy.

[@kylecheng3710]

Wasn't peter singer the utilitarian that thought that all people are bad people for not donating to charity?

[@mattevans4377]

Turns out, people are hypocrites. Who knew? (Sarcasm).

[@ElNerdoLoco]

Growing up pre-internet and surrounded by conservative voices in very rural Maine, I ended up being fairly liberal by asking people to describe the position they're objecting to as fairly as possible. Most blew me off, but not all. And I grew to favor political positions based in helping people most in need from people who not only did not subscribe that concept, but outright opposed it! It was the questions and resulting conversations that mattered. Sometimes less than ideal people can be the source of these things.