230114 What I learned in my studies this morning 3

Humans' errors, in
Isms of all the flavors, 
Suck.

Thoughts:

Philosophy with my eldest this evening. The discussion at hand: Ta Nahisi Coate's essay The Case for Reparations (The Atlantic, June 2014).

As a white guy, it's tough to feel as though I have any moral authority on the subject. So, I do my best to guide the discussion to examine difficult topics with care and openness to new ideas, examine claims, examine logic and support v rhetoric, examine both principles and pragmatics.

My kid has a strong interest in the ideas and we had an engaging, mutually educational, and productive exchange.  

We left off the final few sections of the text because we'd been talking a long time and didn't want to give these thoughts' exploration short-shrift.  We'll discuss them next time. 

——————

This is one of the most important things I do with my older children: weekly discussions of specifically philosophical texts. 

I'm deliberately exposing them to the tools they need to examine their thoughts and lives, trying to make sure that, as they mature and grow into their lives separate from our family (jobs, college, apartments, paying for things, etc.), they know who they are, have purposefully found their personal ethics — not inherited them from me, unless they have chosen to accept them — and considered them intently, and can explain know only what they believe but also why.

I sometimes play Devil's Advocate (which drives them nuts). It ensures that they know how to spot fallacies in arguments and identify weaknesses in their own: real-world applications of finding errors in both their opponent's apologetics and their own.

Other than my love, I can't think of a more important way I can help them be good people as they grow. 

Today's Meditation:

Seneca, On Serenity of the Spirit (De Tranquillitate Animi), 6.2

Today's Music:

'E lucevan le stelle' - 'And the stars were shining' from Tosca by Giacomo Puccini