endsthegame (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomhigh2019-05-09 08:48 am
endsthegame) wrote in fandomhigh2019-05-09 08:48 am
Entry tags:
Practical Philosophy, Thursday
The weather was okay. Overcast, but it wasn't raining, so as per his tradition, Ender had asked all the students to gather on the dorm lawn. There were pillows, blankets, bottles of water and sandwiches.
He greeted the arriving students with a, "Sit down in a circle, please. If we're going to talk, we should ensure we're all facing each other equally."
He shoved the sandwiches to the center of the circle, so everyone could access it.
"Welcome," he said. "My name is Andrew Skywalker. I'm an alumnus of this school; I graduated several years ago." That was all they needed to know, as far as he was concerned. "And you might be wondering what you signed on for. I'll give you the spiel I give my students every year I'm here - but this is the only class that is prepared or rehearsed to any capacity. That, after all, is the point of it."
"While 'philosophy' is in my class's title, we're not here to talk about the philosophers of old or the specifics of particular lines of thought in philosophy. In this class, we try to put our own experiences into a greater perspective through conversation and debate. Above all, philosophy is about asking questions about everything in the world around us - and about everything we feel about it. That means I expect some level of participation from all of you."
He smiled wryly. "That doesn't mean you always need to speak up about yourself," he said. "No topics are everything to everyone. If that week's subject veers too close to something you want to keep private, be my guest - just try and pitch in when someone else speaks. Ask questions."
"You can even ask questions of me, if you feel the need. And maybe together we can get to the core of our joint and individual experiences. Or maybe not. Maybe this is just going to be the hour this term where you get to sit around and gab." His mouth quirked a bit more. "That doesn't mean we're always going to be lingering on the existential questions - or staring at our belly buttons. It just means we're going to try and dig and come to some understanding about each other, ourselves, and the world."
He picked up a bottle of water. "So let's talk," he said. "How do you feel about where you are now? You've been on this island for close to a week; is it speaking to you, in a metaphorical sense? What kind of experience has it been for you? As for the rest of you, how has the past year treated you? Has there been anything that made you cry or made you think or made you wonder?"
"We can talk about that. Or you can bring up something else you feel is worth questioning. I consider most topics fair game, as long as they're brought up with regard for your fellow students. I can't claim knowledge on most, but I can claim an ability to annoy you with questions about just about anything."
He grabbed a sandwich from the bag. "Every week, we'll reflect on something that happened since we last met, but I'm always open to speaking about anything that comes to mind." He nodded at one of the students. "I've talked for long enough. It's your turn."
He greeted the arriving students with a, "Sit down in a circle, please. If we're going to talk, we should ensure we're all facing each other equally."
He shoved the sandwiches to the center of the circle, so everyone could access it.
"Welcome," he said. "My name is Andrew Skywalker. I'm an alumnus of this school; I graduated several years ago." That was all they needed to know, as far as he was concerned. "And you might be wondering what you signed on for. I'll give you the spiel I give my students every year I'm here - but this is the only class that is prepared or rehearsed to any capacity. That, after all, is the point of it."
"While 'philosophy' is in my class's title, we're not here to talk about the philosophers of old or the specifics of particular lines of thought in philosophy. In this class, we try to put our own experiences into a greater perspective through conversation and debate. Above all, philosophy is about asking questions about everything in the world around us - and about everything we feel about it. That means I expect some level of participation from all of you."
He smiled wryly. "That doesn't mean you always need to speak up about yourself," he said. "No topics are everything to everyone. If that week's subject veers too close to something you want to keep private, be my guest - just try and pitch in when someone else speaks. Ask questions."
"You can even ask questions of me, if you feel the need. And maybe together we can get to the core of our joint and individual experiences. Or maybe not. Maybe this is just going to be the hour this term where you get to sit around and gab." His mouth quirked a bit more. "That doesn't mean we're always going to be lingering on the existential questions - or staring at our belly buttons. It just means we're going to try and dig and come to some understanding about each other, ourselves, and the world."
He picked up a bottle of water. "So let's talk," he said. "How do you feel about where you are now? You've been on this island for close to a week; is it speaking to you, in a metaphorical sense? What kind of experience has it been for you? As for the rest of you, how has the past year treated you? Has there been anything that made you cry or made you think or made you wonder?"
"We can talk about that. Or you can bring up something else you feel is worth questioning. I consider most topics fair game, as long as they're brought up with regard for your fellow students. I can't claim knowledge on most, but I can claim an ability to annoy you with questions about just about anything."
He grabbed a sandwich from the bag. "Every week, we'll reflect on something that happened since we last met, but I'm always open to speaking about anything that comes to mind." He nodded at one of the students. "I've talked for long enough. It's your turn."
Re: Talk.
Well. There was a start.
"I mean. I kind of worry that... things here always seem to work out, eventually, no matter how weird or how dangerous they get. And there's a kind of security in that, that maybe... makes people feel safer, like they can just do things and it'll work out in the end, and it's great when it does, but just because everyone's alive and well in the end doesn't mean people don't get hurt along the way."
You know. Hypothetically.
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
That was nice, whatever it was.
He liked that.
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
He frowned a little.
"I don't know if that's the right word for it either," he sighed. "I try to do the right thing. I want to do the right thing. But I don't know everything yet, I guess. I see a lot that other people can't, but that doesn't mean I always see the potential consequences of my actions before I act."
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
Everything from, 'yes, living, breathing human beings do things like get cut and bleed,' to exactly who his friends were.
... And who very much weren't. Not that the latter had come as any sort of surprise.
"I'm trying to figure out how to come back from that place," he added, after a pause. "From knowing I made a mistake and just... not wanting to risk making any mistakes ever again. I can't be that person, either. But it's hard."
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
He glanced briefly at Sidon. Who seemed... more than fine, really.
"... It's harder to tell with some people than others. I tried to do something to be held accountable while it still was a problem, and I mostly just ended up with a desk job for an afternoon."
While his favorite teacher tried to eat him, but still: Desk job.
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
While Amaya rattled the bars trying to eat him.
It hadn't been a great time, but it hadn't really been the atonement he'd been trying to do, either.