World Philosophy Day

November 17th

“Philosophy is an inspiring discipline as well as an everyday practice that can transform societies. By enabling to discover the diversity of the intellectual currents in the world, philosophy stimulates intercultural dialogue. By awakening minds to the exercise of thinking and the reasoned confrontation of opinions, philosophy helps to build a more tolerant, more respectful society. It thus helps to understand and respond to major contemporary challenges by creating the intellectual conditions for change.” UNESCO

For the sake of this argument let’s agree that the facts on both stories below are indisputable truths.

Story#1

A drunk driver killed a young woman.

Days before the trial the driver got shot while interrupting a playground shooting and saved the lives of multiple children.

Story#2

While waiting for his trial a serial killer lost his memory in a freak accident that left him in a coma. His memory is now stuck in the past, a decade before he committed any crime.

Exploring…

On story #1 We must weigh the accidental act of taking a life while driving drunk against the heroic actions that in the end benefited many families and saved innocent lives.

On story #2 It gets very complicated. Science certifies that brain activities equal life. If our memories were to be removed from our brains, the self we know would die. So, should the body be punished for the act of a person that no longer exists? And can society stomach seeing flesh and bones of (previous) pure evil walking around without being punished?

My personal thoughts…

The (hero) drunk driver made a decision to drink and took a life. Happens every day; and some of the very religious parents may find in their hearts to forgive and so on. The way I see it, he drove drunk, and he saved lives; these acts are unrelated to each other.

But I’m not so sure I could punish a body of someone that no longer exists for the sake of justice for the victims, closure for their relatives, and/or for the sake of law and order.

Does the absence of memory transform legal punishment into cruelty?

What would you do?

Further Considerations

Obey X Resist

Mom’s spanking is one of our first punishments. We will rather accept it as something we do not want to experience again and obey or resist the parent’s authority.

Choice & Consequence

If you make a decision to drink like a fish, and smoke like a chimney, your body will be more susceptible to diseases as you age.

Rewards

The opposite is also true, study hard, work hard, get a better job and make more money for the nice stuff. Be kind and you will have a healthier social life.

Decisions

The body rather suffers or enjoys the choice we made. Our choices are largely decided by our memories and experience; without that it would be just like rolling a dice each time one makes a decision and that’s no way to build a life.

You are your mind, your memories, and your experiences.

Written by Life Coach Carioca Da Gema