Criticism vs. Cultivation

by Peter Saint-Andre

2024-10-04

So much of what one reads online these days consists of social and cultural criticism, even when it avoids the cesspool of partisan vitriol. Case in point: over the last few days I've run across several essays that bemoan the decline of reading and the seemingly inexorable emergence of a post-literate society. Although I've made similar observations over the years, it strikes me that at a personal level such forms of criticism are nearly devoid of value. Instead, what matters are the practices that one cultivates in one's own life. I grant that exposing oneself to social and cultural criticism can, at times, inspire a change in behavior; yet, all too often, criticism without cultivation is "sound and fury, signifying nothing". Marx proclaimed that "Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it." Yet I agree more with Tolstoy, who contended that "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." If you ask me, changing oneself is the true function of philosophy.

(Cross-posted at philosopher.coach.)

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