Justice

I'm currently enduring a Harvard philosophy course with Michael Sandel called "Justice." (Thank you Michaela). I encourage all of you to join me. While I have actually read most of the literature before, I have never had it wrapped up in a context like this. I am perpetually astonished to discover my persistent stupidity. How can I be confident enough to believe anything at all after watching some of my most dear assumptions beaten, sliced, twisted, and deep fried into an ill-defined fog of half-certainty. I learn that ideas I previously rejected had been half-understood. Now, trying to incorporate a few of them back into my clean universal construct requires heavy restructuring. What will this thing end up looking like? Will I end up with the philosophical understanding of a despotic tyrant? I hope not. I can't know. It's uncertainty on a stick.

So, I have taken a reductive approach, eliminating only the most obvious fallacies. Here are three beliefs I once had that I am now convinced are false...

• Stevie Ray Vaughn is a god.
  
• Intellectuals who died before the 1960's have nothing to contribute to the shiny new world of iphones and nitrogen widgets.
• I do not exist.
  

Eliminating these things from the pool of possibilities took some deep thinking. I'm still not so sure about that third one, but have decided it is safe to assume for all intents and purposes. If it is true, I've got other things to worry about.