Arrested Development and Philosophy_ They've Made a Huge Mistake - Kristopher G. Phillips [66]
But there’s no evidence that Gob misunderstands the aims of his profession. If anything, Gob understands all too well that an illusionist is an entertainer, and the competent illusionist entertains her audience by surprising, delighting, or puzzling them. So Gob doesn’t fail as an illusionist because he fails to appreciate the aims of that profession.
Aristotle’s account offers a second possible explanation for Gob’s failure: Some people simply don’t care about the aims of their chosen profession. Many people fail at their professions, often becoming jaded and unhappy, because they’re not strongly committed to the profession’s aims. A successful doctor must actually care about, and be motivated by, improving people’s health; a successful teacher must actually care about, and be motivated by, students’ learning; and so on. A professional who never cares about the profession’s aim, or one who cares for a while but suffers midcareer “burnout,” will not be motivated enough to produce the good results associated with the profession.
But this won’t explain Gob’s failed career as an illusionist. If anything, Gob shows extraordinary motivation to continue his career, despite a long record of failure. No matter the setback, Gob ends up back on stage, dagger in his mouth, attempting to saw people in half or make a yacht disappear. He’s got both the appreciation of and the desire to realize the aims of an illusionist.
The Virtues of an Illusionist
Aristotle has a third explanation of professional incompetence. Some people lack the appropriate traits or knowledge needed to succeed in a profession. Aristotle refers to the traits or knowledge required to excel in a profession as “crafts,” and each profession has not only its own distinctive aim or result but also a body of knowledge, methods, or traits through which that aim or result is produced.
A successful doctor, for instance, has to know the workings of the human body, as well as the likely effects of different drugs, surgeries, or other treatments. (The lack of this knowledge explains why Michael’s surgeon, Dr. Frank Stein, has so many “little whoopsies,” like leaving his snippers in Michael’s abdomen in “Sword of Destiny.”) A doctor also has to know a variety of investigative and diagnostic methods (checking a patient’s pulse, examining a patient’s throat, ordering a CAT scan, and so on) and when to use these. And a successful physician also must have certain traits of character: compassion, attention to detail, judicious judgment, a welcoming but authoritative presence, and strong communication skills (not exactly a strong suit for the all-too-literal Dr. “I’m sorry to say this, but it’s too late for me to do anything for your son” Fishman). Without these traits, a doctor will not make people healthier, no matter how committed she is or how fully she appreciates this aim.
So what kinds of knowledge or traits are necessary to succeed as an illusionist? Magicians and illusionists are entertainers, but they entertain their audiences in a very specific way. Audiences are delighted and intrigued by illusions because, when they’re taken at face value at least, illusions are impossible events. Handkerchiefs cannot turn into doves. A person cannot be sawed in half, survive, and then be joined together again. In prescientific times, audiences likely thought that illusionists actually were conjuring up magic, channeling demonic or supernatural powers. Modern audiences, on the other hand, are curious and puzzled by illusions, but understand the illusion as the product of the entertainer’s technical ability (her “sleight of hand”). They are deceived by the illusion, but also intrigued to understand how that deception occurs.2
What does it take for aspiring