Finale Belgische Filosofie Olympiade: Derde plaats voor Edward!

Nog niet zo lang geleden braken een aantal van onze leerlingen het hoofd over een essay voor de Internationale Filosofie Olympiade. Twee van hen, Seppe Dillen en Edward De Vooght, stootten door naar de top 25 (van de meer dan 300 deelnemers). Ze kregen vervolgens een week de tijd om hun essay tot een hoger niveau te tillen. Vooral Edward maakte daar dankbaar gebruik van, want na de feedback van de jury schatte Seppe zijn kansen om te winnen niet zo hoog in. Na het nodige schaaf-, schrap- en denkwerk waren de verwachtingen bij Edward dan ook hoog gespannen toen vandaag de laureaten van de wedstrijd bekend werden gemaakt. Tot onze grote trots behaalde hij de derde plaats. Zelf was hij ietwat teleurgesteld door dit resultaat, vooral omdat de twee beste deelnemers een filosofiestage mogen volgen in Denemarken. Jammer, want dat hadden we hem echt gegund. Maar Edward zou Edward niet zijn als hij bij de pakken bleef neerzitten: nog geen vijf minuten later was hij zijn volgende deelname alweer aan het plannen. Wie geïnteresseerd is, kan zijn essay hieronder lezen. Enjoy!

Communism, the penance of capitalism

These days capitalism is much criticized. Some raised voices speak up against the norm of economic wealth and complain about the negative influences this system of private gain has had and has on human and non-human related environments. The yawning gap between the rich and the proletariat, the perpetual egoism, the economic crisis and last but not least climate change are frequently used arguments in the vehement protest against it. These effects, however, are not due to capitalism, but are due to man’s incapability of practicing it. Some respond to this with: ‘If you can’t make capitalism work for all of us, then do not go there!’ Allegedly, the supreme system of capitalism seems to have failed. In this case, analogous to our international law system, capitalism too should do penance. The price of neglecting values, that ought to be the most important ones, is atonement. For the strong opponents of capitalism, communism is the answer.

Communism aborts private property to make all man equal, in this way institutionalizing altruism and caring for one another in an economic and political way. However, altruism, sympathy, compassion, love for one’s neighbour, unpretentiousness etcetera are all qualities that hamper one’s struggle for success and happiness. Man is egoism and egoism is survival. As Friedrich Nietzsche said: “Egoism is the very essence of a noble soul.” Everything man does is done in his will to survive and live happily. It is not to help the beggar, that we drop some coin in his cup. The fact that it makes us feel better about ourselves is paramount to the small improvement in the poor man’s life it brings along. And if we give the man some small change, we expect a sign of gratitude, otherwise we feel robbed. “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest,” as Adam Smith said (The Wealth of Nations). Is this ethically incorrect? Absolutely not, for man is part of nature, he is as submissive to Darwin’s ‘struggle for life’ and ‘survival of the fittest’ as any other species.
Why is it then, that we see the altruistic values as the right ones? We all thank this to Christianity! The Catholic Church indoctrinated us with this vision. These ‘divine’ values were created only to maintain the status quo in the balance of power in the Middle Ages by means of defamation of the ‘fuel’ for uprise. Nietzsche pinpointed that the Church made every value needed for evolution a sin and vice versa (Die Antichrist). Is egoism thus per se wrong? Egoism keeps the rotten apples out! The weak, the unintelligent… they who are not strong enough to compete with the egoism of others, do not survive and do not pass on their genes. ‘Is this evolution still needed?’ some sharp minds say. More than ever! We need the brightest men to tackle global issues. Evolution is needed till perfection is reached and even beyond.

The question remaining is: ‘Can our species survive when only relying on the natural values supporting ‘survival of the fittest’?’ Darwin’s evolution theory tells us that every animal on earth behaves in order to survive. In contrast to animals, however, humans have a moral consciousness. This conscience tells and enables us to help the poor, to support the weak and to heal the suffering. We can’t deny that man is also capable of social behaviour. Let’s look at this a bit more closely. The evolutionary biologist William Hamilton links this social behaviour with consanguinity. According to his theory the helpfulness of people increases with the degree of relatedness. Indeed, the effect of a happy family, happy neighbourhood, happy city, happy country and a happy world is a pleasant atmosphere. This setting can be enjoyed and provides belonging and safety. Hence the result of social behaviour is mutual beneficial. In this way, acting socially and altruistically is beneficial for us personally, but even more for us as a species. It makes us stronger as a group, and this is vital for our future. Big polluting multinationals are selfishly ignoring climate change in order to become wealthier and wealthier. The US and China refuse to sign climate treaties to beat each other in the economic race. These industries and countries are mentally still stuck in the lower layers of Maslow’s pyramid, only thinking about protection, food, shelter and survival and thereby ignoring self-actualization. Man is programmed to focus on immediate results. Tobacco as well as arsenic is deadly. As the effect of smoking is not expected for tomorrow we keep smoking; whereas only a fool would voluntary take a shot of arsenic. This simple example shows us that we mustn’t merely be concerned with achieving great things for ourselves, which in nature will always have a short-term scope. Instead, a long-term vision is needed in order to have a future altogether. Altruism is thereby essential. It keeps our focus on the future.

To get back to Nietzsche however, both approaches, the egoistic as well as the altruistic one, are equally wrong. Or as I prefer: equally right. Following Eva Cybulska’s interpretation of Nietzsche’s philosophy the world has need of the Übermensch, a concept that has been misinterpreted too many times in history and present. The ‘superman’ is not a Nazi, nor is he a tyrant. He is, in Nietzsche’s own words, ‘the Roman Caesar with Christ’s soul’. He is the unity of inner opposites. He has overcome his instincts. He is capable of tyranny, but chooses not to. He has united reason and passion, evil and good, order and chaos. This is where Christianity seems to be wrong, for we mustn’t pursue perfection (‘the good’), but completeness. This balance of inner conflicts is the source of a new creativity. The Übermensch will live by his own values, which makes him entirely independent. He cannot blame failure on a God, for he himself is a sort of human God. He has a great intellect and a capacity to destroy the world. But he is a responsible being. The world needs the ‘superman’ to conjoin egoism and altruism, for only the Übermensch can overcome the ‘prisoner’s dilemma’. Therefore, we must follow Nietzsche: “We must make the future the standard of all our valuations. (…) Not mankind, but ‘superman’ is the goal!”(Die Wille zur Macht)

Considering all this, we tend to argue that capitalism is the most natural economic system yet, because the eagerness for individual success is its thriving key. Although capitalism is a natural phenomenon, it will destroy our future as a species, if we do not handle it in the right way. In order to practice it properly, we must not forget to be human. We must improve ourselves, not the system. We must become Nietzsche’s Übermensch. Atonement will not help us with that. We must find solutions. We mustn’t punish ourselves for being what we are, but stimulate ourselves to become what we could be! Penance is for those who are too scared to finish what they have started. We cannot throw in the towel every time we hit a snag. Full of passion and conviction, we must finish what we have begun in a responsible way. Or to quote Winston Churchill: “If you’re going through hell, keep going!”
Edward De Vooght – 5 Latijn-Wiskunde