The Rational Animal

Aristotle (384-322 BC) posited that the living world could categorized by considering the ability to act, and the ability understand. The lowest level of life is the flora; for the plants don't have any ability to act outside of expansion and even for some plants they require bees, birds or other animals to help out. The next category, in Aristotle's living hierarchy, are the animals and they were defined as mobile but driven into action by need; these needs include items such as hunger, fear and the need for fornication or reproduction. The pinnacle of the hierarchy, as laid out by Aristotle, is of course the animal that can reason and that animal is human beings. 

Of course, at the time of this writing Aristotle's ideas are pushing towards 2,400 years old and so it is understandable that his ideas might be a bit off by now seeing he had a limited view of the world as a whole; no Internet access for him and societies have evolved over time. There is a caviate that needs to be pointed to; that while societies change over time the, members of every society basically maintains a statistical proportion across main character traits. Typically there are more differences inside of a group then between groups when one looks groups in the aggregate of the population. 

It is at this point that a certain level of understanding has to be agreed upon if a meaningful conversation or dialog can happen; else the end result is that some sort of war is bound to happen. The term 'rational' typically means 'based on or in accordance with reason or logic.'

In the basics of the English language, words are categorized as: a) nouns - a person, place or thing, b) verbs - actions, state of being, or occurrence, c) adjectives - a word or phrase naming an attribute to a noun and, d) adverbs - a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb. 

Returning the term 'rational' and the typical meaning a couple of words need to be added. The new verbiage should read - 'based on or in accordance with the use of reason or logic.' This clarification provides a slight shift in the definition as it affirms that both reason and logic are now verbs. This clarification has been done on behalf of the reader and the author in order to avoid the use of the word 'reason' as a noun. As in - the reason I had a drink of water is because I was thirsty. 

It seems that in this the current year, the term reason has been adopted more as a noun rather the historically preferred verb or action. This shift in western world thinking can be put squarely at the feet of the Socialists, who can be found to be stressing their Marxist ideology. This begs the question - So what has changed? 

The saying 'the ends justifies the means' is for this author the very foundation of Marxist ideology. The assumed mantra of 'equality for all' is just a presentation over substance commercial. This false mantra has been proven repeatedly by those who often proclaim that, regardless of space and time, 'that wasn't real communism.' Has the reader noted that throughout history seemingly every communist leader dies with millions of dollars set aside? Karl Marx, at least had the testicular fortitude to practice what he preached and die in poverty.

Alternatively upon inspection of the other side of the social/economic/political spectrum those people can be summarized by the statement 'the means will lead to an end.' The people who fall within this group tend towards making incremental changes at a slow place, so as they approach their goal minor adjustments can be made. 

Consider the story of the 3 Little Pigs. The first pig declared he needed a house and built one out of straw, the second pig declared he needed a house and built one out of sticks which took a little longer and more work, and finally the third pig declared he needed a house and built one out of bricks and thus the labour and time was extended even beyond the efforts of pig number two. If the reader is willing to entertain the idea that the wolf, in the story, represents inflation it is easy to see that the third pig who was best prepared via patience and labour, had the highest sustainability rate. 

Returning to those people who place the 'ends' first and the 'means' second, one can see that they have a tendency to take a 'great leap forward' so the ideal end can come about. This can be seen in the zealot groups of today such as Black Lives Matter (BLM), seeking to ensure that black men are not shot, yet publicly BLM ignores the ongoing gun violence in cities such as Chicago or Portland; all the while BLM leaders are busy buying mansions across the land. 

Additionally, there are those people who advocate for the moves and means to halt and reverse climate change. Many of these people make their living on the daily actions they take. The Centennial Light bulb was lit in 1901 and has been burning almost non-stop ever since. The business that made that bulb is obviously self deprecating unless each bulb was sold for one thousand dollars each if not more. This begs the question; will the climate change advocates ever truly want a climate solution or will they prefer an ongoing and never ending job? This question must be applied to many other Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and even the Governments themselves; for if we the citizenry solved education, poverty, snow clearing and road maintenance, why would we need so many bureaucratic mouths at the trough?

Next on the list to be criticized is media. In way of introduction, a smart Canadian man named Marshall McLuhan once proclaimed 'the medium is the message'. As the word media is the plural for the word medium; McLuhan's point was to include not just means of communication but also how the communication is constrained by the choice of the communication platform. McLuhan made his proclamation in 1964. Since those historic words were printed McLuhan's book 'Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man' things have changed substantively in Western societies. 

The distribution of ideas and information has been boxed in an ever shrinking window. In years gone by, in both waning and waxing ways the dissemination of ideas has gone through many editorial processes. In previous years there has been a plethora of editorial oversight, be it via; historical filtering aka: popular opinion, academic filtering aka: smart people flagging dumb ideas and editorial filtering aka: please use proper spelling and grammar. The historical still holds its ground though things are getting a bit muddy right now as interested parties are trying to rewrite history to bolster their narrative. It is the opinion of this author that the academic editing has moved almost to a point beyond repair; specifically in the social sciences. The public Internet is rife with a lack of editorial consideration. In short, as a society, we have lowered the bar in regards to communications both personal and public. 

Would Aristotle maintain his claim that humans are still the rational-animal and act 'based on or in accordance with reason or logic' in this the current year? To answer this question the reader may consider taking a step back and contemplating how many things around them have been wrong over the last five years plus. The masks were not useful, then became required, though now they are pointless, the vaccines would stop the spread yet now it is known that that don't, kids must be vaccinated to save grandma yet she has already opted for assisted suicide because she couldn't see her grand children, oil rich countries have to import gas and oil because the Russians are being unreasonable thus driving up the price of gasoline at the pump which was already on the rise before any invasion took place. 

According to Aristotle the rational-animal was at the top of the life hierarchy because they could be proactive rather than just reactive. I suggest a reflection of Aristotle's contemplations to see if we find ourselves wanting on this front. 

“You were not made to live like brute beasts / but to pursue virtue and knowledge.” 
Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321)

One last question - Does the reader still believe that a democracy requires a well educated electorate?

Good night and good luck! – Mr. Murrow (1908-1965)