She says, “I am egotistical enough to think that, of course, the world wants to know what I think about the world.” And yet she’s humble enough to know she doesn’t know it all, and secure enough to admit it when she doesn’t know. She is curious enough to ask questions like a philosopher would, and yet she confesses that she never read Plato or Socrates or Kant. She intends to read them, but first she wants to see what she can figure out on her own. She wants to pass through ignorance before advancing to enlightenment. Embrace the unknown with Hailey Fox in order to discover a deeper, more meaningful knowing.
In Episode 2, she explores what philosophy means, and also how it differs from “common sense” and theology. Common sense differs according to the subjective or social constructs of a particular vantage point. Theology begins under the premise that there is absolutely a god. Philosophy, though, begins from a state of unknowing. It begins from doubt. It is the path of curiosity.
It is also, Fox tells us, “nebulous, ever-changing, ever-shifting, never satisfying.” There is nothing fixed or static about it, and what is philosophical today may become “common sense” or theological tomorrow.
Fox does not want to be spoon-fed philosophy. She wants to discover it her own way.
In Episode 3, she delves headfirst into the question of reality. What is it? Subjective or objective? Both? What? Is there an objective right or wrong? Is murder always bad? Is the murder of a bad person, say, equally as bad as the murder of a good person? We can’t possibly comprehend an objective reality from a subjective point of view. Bias will always intrude. Doesn’t everyone perceive reality, whatever it is, through his or her own unique filter?
I love the way this episode got me thinking about fake news. We talk about real news and fake news. When Trump was President, there were many jokes about what Kellyanne Conway said about “alternative facts.” Facts are facts, it is true, but even facts come through a filter. We perceive every fact through that filter that has been fashioned over the years by our story, our experiences, our own sense of “personal truth.”
It gets more confusing when we consider what is ultimate reality. I appreciate Fox for her calmness. She is calm and rational in the face of the unknown. She is at peace in ignorance, not to the point of giving up, but rather of opening up.