10-01-2024, 09:56 PM
(10-01-2024, 07:14 PM)Vojnik_Vahaj Wrote: The west generally, but particularly the UK and Canada refuse to do anything reverse the decline of their decaying societies because doing the neccessary dirty work is "too mean".
This is true, if not a bit oversimplified. Specifically this is what I was referring to when I mentioned Western philosophy.
We can trace the roots of our current world around the 18th century when there began a schism in mainstream thought, perhaps best illustrated by the divide between analytic philosophy and continental philosophy after the rise of the Enlightenment. It was pretty binary at the time, though minds were expanding. Time went on, by the 20th century we realized there is a lot more nuance to things. Modernism gave us yet more new ways to view and interpret the world, placing a lot of emphasis on individualism and freedom (especially after the two World Wars). From the 1980s onward, philosophy entered an era of post-modernism and post-structuralism where basically anything goes since we've told ourselves anything can be correct, in a manner of speaking.
This isn't necessarily bad and I think we're a lot better off over here than other parts of the world since we place importance on things like free choice and the individual, while also mostly accepting that there is no grand, idealistic truth. But it's probably no coincidence that it feels like our societies are declining, large in part due to the fact at times we can't agree on what is right or wrong. Ethics is a bitch. One can make a compelling argument that it is only just to allow an individual to freely do whatever they want even if that will harm them or other people, so leave them be. Others will argue that no, if we actually cared about their well being, why should we not take them in and help them, as if they were as close as any family member?

