Plato famously
said “only when philosophers become kings can we truly have justice,” and
indeed that has become the basis for many Utopias since. Of course, two
thousand years later, we are beyond any sort of intellectual elitism. But the
idea of holding very high standards of intelligence, and the expectation that
all decisions should be made after careful contemplation, is still paramount to
a perfect society in my opinion. In other words, society must uphold a contemplative
and speculative life as the most admirable quality of humanity. This change is
society is best achieved through education.
It is very unfortunate
that our society does not hold philosophy to be very important at all, let
alone the basis for all society. If a person is lucky, he might be able to
squeeze in a philosophy major into some obscure university, but then risk
losing all hope for employment. In fact, anyone who spends most of their time
in contemplation is usually ridiculed by more popular folks, who tend to think
more with their hearts than their heads. Instead, it is these quiet thinkers
should be looked up to.
People continue to
debate on the importance of topics ranging from the environment to the economy
to the social order, but all of that is useless without a basis for reason. Where
would climate change be without environmental science? Where would economic
policy be without economic science? And where would talk of social justice
begin without a basis for ethics or morality? Everything that separates our
society from dumb animals is our ability to take the world around us and hold
it up to a higher, intellectual standard. We eat to survive, but we just as
easily make culinary arts. The noises we make are not just some mating call, but
we have the ability to make poetry and literature.
In a similar
manner, everything in society can be held up to an ultimate standard of truth
and justice, against which absolute right and wrong, truth and false can be
discerned. Some call it science, while others call it philosophy. Ultimately, all
other laws hang on this. When society recognizes this, and protects that
standard for rationality above all else, then Utopia can be achieved.
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| The seven liberal arts, with philosophy at the center, from a medieval manuscript |
And here is how
that can be implemented: first, the scientific community (with other academia) should
take certain reforms, spelling out a general standard for scientific thought,
and placing philosophy as the most fundamental science. Then there should be a
reform of education. Rather than being taught raw information, students should
first be taught how to interpret information. Facts taken straight from the
internet or television, without first critically analyzed, should be frowned
upon. Children need to be taught from a young age that wealth and fame will
never make them happy, but truth and justice will.
The renowned
author Dr. Seuss once wrote about a fanciful school in Hooray for Diffendoofer
Day!. One of the most memorable lines from that comes from one of the
teachers: “and most importantly, we taught you how to think”. Perhaps that
should be the models for all schools.
