"The Board"

(The board meeting room opens up and is filled with philosophy majors who have gathered to discuss their ideas and questions with a few of the members of the Board of Philosophical Writers.)

BRADBURY: “The University of Inquisition would like to welcome our board for today’s discussion about philosophical questions dealing with human interactions. Today we have Mr. Dostoevsky, Mr. Lewis, Dr. Freud, and Mr. Tolkien. I want to thank each of you for joining us today, and we will begin by opening the floor. Does anyone have a question they would like to ask the board?”

STUDENT 1: “Dr. Freud, will you explain why people today covet money and other possessions?”

DR. FREUD: “The goal of human beings as I have come to discover is to eliminate pain and to bask in pleasures. All humans possess what I call an Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is the pleasure-seeking part of our unconscious that directs our desires. The Ego is in the middle mediating between the Id and the Superego, which is in the conscious part of our minds. It is like a moral compass that is always struggling with the Id. So, to answer your question, people believe money can buy them pleasure or it can eliminate various types of pain or tensions that prevent one from being satisfied.” 

STUDENT 2: “What can you tell us about truth and how people respond to truths?”

(The Board contemplates the question for a few moments. Mr. Lewis addresses the question first and Mr. Dostoevsky follows with his thoughts on the matter.)

LEWIS: “I believe the solution to seeing truths and embracing truths that contradict one’s beliefs is to experience a paradigm shift. They have continued to happen across the centuries as innovations and new discoveries have been made. It takes effort that one must be willing to give.  The key steps to a shift, in my opinion, is for one to be open to change, discovery, and to be inquisitive. People don’t like to be told what to believe because most people want to be able to defend why they believe what they believe when they are conveying new ideas.”

DOSTOEVSKY: “In my experience, what I have found is people are biased when presenting individual truths whether they admit it or not. Man’s desire is for ultimate freedom and good to be given to them to the end that they are even miserable in their own lives. I wrote in Notes from Underground, ‘Go on, try giving us more independence, for example, unbind the hands of any one of us, broaden our range of activity, relax the tutelage, and we… will immediately beg to be taken back under tutelage’ (Dostoevsky 129). But then people still place facades up to cover their dissatisfaction with their realities.” 

STUDENT 2: “Your statement closely parallels with Mr. Bradbury’s concept of unhappiness and how it can still occur if one has been given unlimited abilities to participate in the activities they enjoy.”

BRADBURY: “Yes, but the result of everyone having the ability to do what they desire means, ‘No one has time any more for anyone else’ (Bradbury 21) because they become self-absorbed and neglect to interact with other people. Plus, humans are social beings, if they do not participate in real socialization, they still end up lacking happiness. The give and take relationship that occurs in conversation between individuals aids in creating meaning to life. Without meaning, there is no point in living and people merely begin to exist. They don’t actually live a life. Brilliant question!”

STUDENT 3: “If I may ask then, how are individuals supposed to fit and form societies that function well?”

FREUD: “To begin to answer your question we must first, acknowledge that people have an internal struggle between their unconscious and conscious mind’s desires for pleasure. It is a life-long game of compromise for the best results. So, in order for societies and civilizations to be formed and progress, the civilians must combat with the aggressive nature in them that seeks self-satisfaction to put the good of the society above their own desires. Furthermore, the desire struggle leaves people torn between wanting to live and die. Therefore, people utilize ‘powerful diversions’ to make life more bearable when they cannot fulfill their desires or prevent painful experiences” (Freud 14). 

STUDENT 4: “While we are discussing change, would undergoing a paradigm shift have any effect on one’s character?”

(Mr. Tolkien nods his head in confirmation to the student’s question.)

TOLKIEN: “I think in some cases a paradigm shift could alter a person’s character to a degree. New experiences aid in forming a person’s character throughout their life. In the case of a person who has always done or believed the same things, it most definitely would have an effect on their character. It would be hard to for a life-style or paradigm change to not cause a person to reflect and view their life differently and in turn act according to new knowledge.”

LEWIS: “I believe Mr. Tolkien has addressed an important issue regarding learning. Majority of learning is done through observation and hands on experience. A person learns the most when they are active in the process. Learning gives a person purpose and motive for experiencing new things. A person will only gain new insight though, if, like we mentioned earlier, they are open.”

(Bradbury stands and makes the final closing remarks.)

BRADBURY: “Well that is all the time we have today. I want to thank you Gentlemen again for being willing to answer the students’ questions. Additionally, for giving us more insight to how people respond to various aspects of life and for sharing with the students your findings from your research and writings.