somebody "has a philosophy"

 

Somebody "has a philosophy" - we ordinarily say - when she has a thoughtful view of what is important, a view of her major ends and goals and of the means appropriate to reaching these. A coherent view of aims and goals can help to guide someone's life without being invoked explicitly. Most often, it will not be. Rather, a person will devote some of her general alertness to monitoring how her life is proceeding. Only when she is deviating significantly from what her philosophy calls for will it be brought to conscious attention. A philosophy of life need not make life overintellectualized. 

That is from the penultimate chapter of Robert Nozick's 1989 book, The Examined Life. 

I have been working for a long time to have a coherent philosophy. I feel like I am getting there, and with another 50 years or so, I will probably have it. I do feel classical liberalism informs much of my thinking, and I think that classical liberalism is the best philosophical framework for people to live together without violence, while seeking meaning. That's a pretty low bar, admittedly. But as of yesterday, Russia began bombarding Ukraine in the first true state-on-state level violence since WWII. The United States has failed to continue to carry the banner of liberalism into the 21st century. I am afraid for the well-being of the world, for my country, for the young people I teach, and for my children. Our country once carried a "coherent view of aims and goals" that helped structure the global order. I think we have abandoned that out of selfish group interests. 

Classical liberalism was born out of state violence. It was not a panacea, but a set of rules that allowed individuals to live their own lives. It respected individual's rights to pursue their own ends and goals in the manner they saw fit - so long as they did not interfere with other individual's same rights. 

I didn't sit down to write this post about the world order, but it is weighing on my mind today. 

I listened to this very good podcast about our failure: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/america-is-afraid-of-war-putin-knows-it/id1570872415?i=1000552209283 

Some of us have a philosophy. But I feel we, as a country, have let go of our philosophy. And the world is slipping back into barbarism and autocracy as a result.