Re: Philosophy and Lost by Socrates

Rationalism vs Empiricism

Rationalists argue that that knowledge can be gained through philosophising. i.e. inductive.

Empiricists believe that knowledge is gained from observation. i.e. deductive.

John Locke the philosopher is from the empiricist school. He also believed then that knowledge being gained from observation that the human mind at birth is a tabula rasa - a clean slate - it is through our experience that we learn things contrasting with the traditional Greek view of where we know things - we have forgotten at birth and we remember them through learning.

and the rationalist Descartes - we are all born with innate knowledge - he doubted whether everything he saw actually existed
everyone has a subjective view of everything in the world how can we really be sure that our view is the objective view - ie the truth. the only thing that he could be sure of was that he existed - cogito ergo sum - I think therefore I am. There is no such character in Lost - but are we the audience all Cartesians? are all these subjective theories partially true? the only thing we can take away from watching this show in terms of concrete truth is simply that we think and therefore exist!!!!!!

Locke was friends with the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rosseau both believe in some sort of social contract to create the ideal just state.

Rosseau was of the view that society had corrupted man - therefore an explcit contract is needed to form the perfect society.

David Hume - not believe in miracles, character Desmond does. Hume's guillotine - refers to the problem of what actually is the case and what should be done. Politicians walk this fine line - they may agree on a problem actually existing - but which course of action to take to correct it requires making some value judgement.


Free will vs Destiny

Dharma in hinduism means loosely as duty/function - similar to the teleogical school of thought from ancient Greece - that is, a person is a combination of functions or relationships - to lead a good life - according to Aristotle is to lead a virtuous life - virtue in this context refers to performing ones functions well - managing your relationships well - no surprise that our losties have suffered in their relationships with parents or siblings etc.

Dharma - in society we have not only our relationship with our family and freinds but to other citizens in soceity we implicity accept the social contract that is the legal system - we are punished accordingly - much of our losties have broken these laws.

the island - offers the opportunity to create a social contract anew from scratch - Shepherd is the defacto leader makes decisions alone - plato in the republic says something along the lines if you are ill and want a remedy to the doctor you must go if you wished to be governed to the governor you must go. but Jack is no philosopher king. but is Jacob?

James Ford is happy to live in natural freedom - every man for himself - how he accumulates all the medicine. In society we aim for negative liberty we are free to do certain things but their are limits the legal system focuses not on what is allowed but was is not allowed. - On Liberty by JS Mill deals with this precise problem - Mill was influenced by a Jeremy Bentham - a philosopher who popularised utility theory taking inspiration from Epicurus and Aristotle's notion of Eudaimonia or happiness as the ultimate goal in life.

The liberty issue poses an interesting question about natural law?

according to philosopher John Locke -
Every man has 3 natural rights
life
liberty - does this exist in Jacob's regime?
property

actually liberty to property is not a natural right beacuse - need institutions to protect it - then who does the island belong to if it belongs to anyone at all?


an extreme form of duty/dharma is destiny you relationships demand action - your actions define you as a person.

you have a choice over your actions => deviation from your relationships -> your duties -> your destiny

In reality we make sure our knowledge of science - by gathering data analysing it etc. but we can in reality only observe what has happened. If I want to know the causal effect of a medical treatment and to be sure that this is the truth - i need to know what would have happened in the absence of that treatment but I cannot observe both scenarios for every person.

the Lost sideways is a plot device for the audience to see the couterfactual, the path not taken - to see the effect of the island (the treatment) on our losties. It is the only way in which we can be sure they have changed if at all - whether they have found their destiny or not.