Doing a thread on my teaching tomorrow--a course on Zhuangzi in conversation with contemporary western philosophy. So stoked! Tomorrow my co-teacher Pauline Lee and I will talk about the importance of philosophical plumbing for our societies. /1

What do you think about when you hear the word “Philosophy”? If you are like many people you'll think of it as idle speculation, as icing on cake, something to indulge in in your spare time after you’ve been able to fulfill essential needs of life.
But that idea is mistaken 2/

There are always a number of difficulties surrounding how we organize our societies e.g., pandemics—this is not some sort of new thing—we come back to this below). How do we address these problems? The current thinking is: technology! 3/

We think we can solve our societal problems with such stuff like vaccines, carbon capture, renewable technology, etc. etc.
But the source of these societal problems was not purely technological, and it's unlikely the solution will be 4/

Here’s an alternative idea, first proposed by Mary Midgley (1992): the solutions to our societal problems should *also* be philosophical.
Why? According to Midgley, philosophy is like plumbing. It’s largely invisible, but it underlies how our societies work. 5/

"Plumbing and philosophy are both activities that arise because elaborate cultures like ours have, beneath their surface, a fairly complex system which is usually unnoticed, but which sometimes goes wrong. In both cases, this can have serious consequences. .. 6/

"Each system supplies vital needs for those who live above it. Each is hard to repair when it does go wrong because neither of them was ever consciously planned as a whole…Whether we want it or not, the way our society is organized is deeply philosophical (Midgley, 1992, 139) 7/

Some examples of the philosophical plumbing that underlies western societies:
* private property and right to inheritance
* e.g., animals have very few rights and we can largely use them as we see fit.
None of this is inevitable 8/

What happens when the philosophical plumbing is no longer fit for purpose? Imagine you inherited an old house, and the plumbing doesn’t work or breaks down—all of a sudden a lot of everyday things in your life will be very difficult (going to the bathroom, cooking, washing). 9/

When the philosophical plumbing breaks down, or if there's a major shock and it's no longer fit for purpose, what do we do? Well, you need professionals (plumbers/philosophers) to fix things. 10/

Situation in Warring States China and the preceding Spring and Autumn period. (771-476 BCE, 481/403 BCE - 221 BCE). Classical Chinese philosophical schools responded to the breakdown of social and political order, caused by warring factions. 11/

Ancient Chinese philosophers were pare of shih or office-holding class, a fluid class that not only has people who can think of how to best wage war (military strategists, military officers) but that can also help the ruler to devise ideas of how to rule well. 12/

How can we organize private life and public life in such a way that people live harmoniously, that tends to wellbeing etc.
Many different answers to this question: Mohism, Confucianism, Daoism … this period is known as hundred schools of thought, or zhūzǐ bǎijiā 諸子百家. 13/

Just one e.g., pandemics as a test-case for good government (nod to @nescio13).
Confucians think that partialcaring is the basis of ethics. Start with family and friends. Then extend outward (Mengzi).
Mozi disagrees and thinks impartial love or caring is the basis of ethics. 14/

Testcase of pandemics (Mozi)
"Suppose there is a disastrous pestilence, that most people are in misery and privation, and that many lie dead in ditches. If a person could choose one of the two rulers, which would he prefer?" 15/

Would you prefer a ruler who helped his cronies and his family first, or an impartial ruler who helped everyone during a pandemic? Mozi is clear "It seems to me on such occasions there are no fools in the world." - everyone chooses the impartial carer 16/

We can situate Zhuangzi in this context of real, concrete problems, of high taxation of the ordinary population & starvation, cf Dao De Jing (53) “Their [the rulers'] courtyards and buildings are well-kept, but their fields are ill-cultivated, and their granaries very empty.” 17/

In such instances, we can’t just shortcut to practical solutions, we need to think carefully of how the society is organized, to build from the basis up new systems, new philosophical plumbing, that will help us solve these very practical problems. 18/

And here's where professional philosophers come in. Midgley acknowledges a lot of philosophical plumbing comes from artists etc. too, but we need philosophers "to work the new
ideas out fully is still a different kind of work." 19/

"It needs, not just a new vision, but also the thorough, disciplined articulation of its details and consequences. Much of this work is boring, and it can sometimes prove astonishingly long and difficult, but it is absolutely necessary.” (Midgley 1992) /end