Arrested Development and Philosophy_ They've Made a Huge Mistake - Kristopher G. Phillips [65]
3. Strictly speaking, Augustine was more heavily influenced by Plato (Aristotle’s teacher), but for our purposes, this is fair enough, as Augustine was hugely influential on Descartes, whom we’ll consider momentarily. And, to the best of my knowledge, Augustine had nothing to do with hippopotamuses.
4. We call Descartes’ view Cartesian because of the name Descartes used (Cartesius) for his writings in Latin.
5. Locke, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (EHU), vol. II (New York: Dover Press, 1959), Chap. 27, p. 455.
6. Ibid., p. 460.
7. Thomas Reid, “Of Mr. Locke’s Account of Our Personal Identity,” in Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, first published 1785.
PART FOUR
THE ONE WHERE THEY DO EPISTEMOLOGY
Chapter 12
YOU CAN’T DO MAGIC
Gob Bluth and the Illusionists’ Craft
Michael Cholbi
“Magic is the simplest kind of primal escape form. We take Mother Nature and turn it upside down, to be able to dream about something that doesn’t really exist.”
—(David Copperfield)1
“I’ve made a huge mistake.”
—(Gob Bluth)
The Bluths are a vocationally challenged bunch. Indeed, not a single member of the extended Bluth clan enjoys legitimate, continuous, satisfying employment. But would-be illusionist Gob Bluth is perhaps the most vocationally challenged of them all. Gob destroys the (often live) props used in his act (seeking a refund for a dove that he smothered in his jacket, “Top banana”); forms a “Magician’s Alliance” to protect illusionists’ secrets, only to inadvertently disclose such a secret (first in the “Pilot” and again in “Storming the Castle”); horrifies children with his botched illusions (causing a bloody wound in his neck, “Storming the Castle”); and patches over his ineptitude with cheap theatrics, including his signature reliance on the ’80s power-pop anthem “Final Countdown.” Indeed, his one apparent success as an illusionist—making the Bluth family yacht disappear—turns out not to be an illusion at all. (He simply sinks the yacht.) But despite this apparent incompetence, Gob insists that he’s a consummate professional.
Michael Bluth: So this is the magic trick, huh?
Gob: Illusion, Michael. A trick is something a whore does for money. [“Pilot”]
Career Advice from Aristotle
That Gob so clearly wants to be a competent illusionist, but so routinely fails at his chosen profession, raises the question: Why does he fail? Perhaps surprisingly, this is a question that philosophy, and more particularly, ethics (the branch of philosophy concerned with how to live) can help us answer. Philosophers have long been interested in why some human beings excel at what they do whereas others fail. For example, Aristotle (384–322 bce) argued that many activities, including the activities characteristic of different professions, realize their purpose when those activities produce the goods associated with them. For instance, the activity of medicine, when done well, results in healthy patients. Hence, doctors, who are supposed to be experts in the activity of medicine, do their jobs well when the treatments they prescribe make their patients healthier. The same philosophy holds for every other professional activity. A professional succeeds at her chosen profession when she produces the good results the profession aims at. A successful teacher makes her students more knowledgeable; a successful architect or developer designs buildings that are attractive, durable, and functional (unlike the Bluth Company homes); a successful airplane pilot delivers passengers to their destinations promptly, safely, and comfortably; and so on.
Aristotle’s account of how people excel in various activities implies that there are three explanations of why people fail at their chosen professions. The first is that a person may not appreciate the aims of her profession. For instance, a doctor who thought that the aim of medicine is to entertain his patients with wisecracks would be seriously confused about what