the public self and the private self...

[Peter Kropotkin]

Perhaps part of the reason philosophy has ''issues'' is that
there are two parts of philosophy and the two parts
don't actually connect...

the first part is the private aspect of philosophy
and the second aspect is the public aspect of philosophy.....

let us show us an example from philosophy's history...
Nietzsche for example doesn't really interact with the public
aspect of philosophy... he is engaged in our private world
of philosophy.... his talk of the Ubermensch for example,
has no public engagement... Hobbes or Locke for example,
even Machiavelli, have a public engagement, not a private one...
when reading those three, you don't see the individual,
you see the state or the society.....

Modern day philosophy, say existentialism for example, has
no real public discussion, to save the state, we must do this....?
that isn't in any existentialist's discussion...

Sartre for example, discusses the individual and their reaction,
as does Heidegger, and Kierkegaard....

there is no discussion that if we correct human beings, we can create
a ''better state''.. that doesn't occur in existentialism...

and yet, much of philosophy has been about the state, Plato for example
is all about the state, ''The Republic'' and not so much about the individual....

so, we have two different and distinct discussions going on in Philosophy....
we have those who discuss the state and very large scale philosophy
and we have the small, the individual and small scale philosophy...
which in a very real sense, mirrors what has happened in Science,
in which we have the large-scale discussions of Astronomy,
of the planets and stars and galaxies....
and we have the micro.. the small scale discussions of physics
about the behavior of nature at the subatomic level...
but the question has been going on for over 50 years, how do we connect the two
different states... this large scale and the very small scale....

philosophy has the exact same problem... how do we connect the small
scale, the individual base understanding of philosophy... what does it
mean to be human, and this very large scale aspect in which we ask, what role
do our values and beliefs play in our modern-day state or society?

how do I connect my willingness, ''to become who I am'', connects to
what is my role in the modern state/society.. say government, for
example? How do we connect our small scale philosophy, to the large
scale philosophy? how do we connect my attempts to become human,
with the large-scale problems of the rise of dictatorships?
or the military-industrial complex? or even the role of democracies
in the world?

How does the one, connect to or interact with the state or the society,
given we are trying to accomplish different things, philosophically?

Kropotkin

[Peter Kropotkin]

and then we reach the question, should we even have our
private discussions of philosophy connect with our public discussions
of philosophy? they are two different and distinct things for a reason....
and they cannot, will not connect... which leaves us with a huge
problem... then we have two distinct and separate philosophical
problems... we have the private, existentialist problem of philosophy
and we have the primacy of the state, public philosophers of
government and the state...and we are unable to connect the two....

just as Descartes problem was how, to connect the mind and the body...
what mechanism connects the two? and 400 years into this problem,
we still have no solution....the two are still disconnected... mind
is here and way over there is the body...

we have the individual philosophy over here and way over there, we
have political and social philosophy......

now what?

Kropotkin