DIY

After reading yesterday's post, my very first (and, let's face it, only) reader of this blog, Delodephius pointed me towards a great blog by Jules Evans that seems to often delve into Stoicism, The Politics of Well-Being.

This seems to be a really valuable blog, both frequently updated and with actual well-thought out content. I'll keep an eye on it and point out any particularly good posts.

While skimming the history, I came across this blog post on DIY philosophy. This interests me a great deal, because this blog is of course part of that movement. Doing things yourself instead of involving an actual authority figure is generally a way that practice can scale to the masses. Especially for something like philosophy, where actual practical philosophers are globally few and their time is limited. Compare with learning, for example, karate, where there are many qualified teachers in any city of sufficient size. So, if you want to do something with actual practical philosophy, DIY is the only way.

As Jules points out, issues of legitimacy and scientific integrity abound. I could claim that Stoicism changed my life, and that if you try it, it will make you a happier person. That may be my opinion, but it isn't going to be true. I haven't done a study that shows the effects of Stoic practices on happiness, nor do I know of a study. And even if there was a study, that wouldn't be enough. There really need to be a whole slew of studies to prove it. But it wouldn't prove any absolutes, surely. Maybe Stoicism would help 60% of people get 15% happier, for example. Those are the kind of truths we get from science; real truths that are never as simple as we'd like them. People read such truths and obviously find it hard to apply. So the random person on the internet who claims Stoicism is the answer gets too much trust placed on them, and may be held up as a sort of teacher or expert eventually. But their expertise is hollow, because it isn't based on actual evidence. At best, the expertise can be of knowledge of Stoic and related philosophies, but I fail to see how even that would lend one person's thoughts to be any more universal or true than any other random blogger. This is the problem with any practice too heavily weighted towards DIY. My only hope is that philosophy will encourage us to be more introspective than usual, and to avoid these traps.

One more thing. Since I now realize I'm part of the DIY movement, I realize I must grow a beard, wear hats, and move to Brooklyn.