Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Jacob M. Held [39]
With the problems in Green Eggs and Ham, though, we come to a sort of moment of truth. Not all problems are equally important, and we can actually be mistaken about whether we really have a problem and about what the problem is, as well as about how we should think about it and what we should do to solve it. Some problems aren’t really problems at all, Peirce said. You can get so used to thinking about this, that, and the other that your habit of thinking can just take off on its own and invent problems for you to think about: stuff that isn’t really hindering your regular actions. I know you know what I’m talking about here. Chances are pretty good that you’re obsessing over something right now that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. These are pseudoproblems, and a lot of problems in philosophy are like that.
For example, you may be convinced that your dog is embezzling from your bank account, and you may even be able to find suspicious bits of evidence that seem to confirm it. People have believed crazier things, after all. And in that case, you certainly do have a problem, but your problem is not that your dog is embezzling from you, it’s that your thinking processes and your habitual actions have come into an unhealthy relationship. And in fact that is what happens whenever we believe something that is false—we have a belief we cannot hope consistently to act upon without eventually coming to grief. So: Does C really dislike green eggs and ham? Obviously not. So why does he think he dislikes them? Now that is a grand puzzle.
To keep our thinking and our actions in a good, healthy relationship, Peirce suggests that we seek to discover whether any problem before us inspires “real or living doubt” or “genuine doubt.” Genuine doubt is an “uneasy or dissatisfied state from which we struggle to free ourselves and pass into a state of belief,” while belief “is a calm and satisfactory state we do not wish to avoid.”1 And that is really the key—if you don’t really feel dissatisfied, you aren’t in doubt. You are in belief. Now this sounds so simple, but when you take it to heart, it changes everything. A lot of people want to lead you into belief about lots of things, but not many people really want to lead you into doubt. In a condition of belief, you will act on what you believe. In a condition of genuine doubt, you won’t do what anybody says until you are satisfied that you do believe something. So, with you and your dog, your problem is not doubt, it’s a silly belief you’ve settled into. If your mind is still dissatisfied and uneasy, it’s because you doubt the soundness of your belief, not your dog’s character. If you really had no doubt, you would get rid of the dog, and without regret—try explaining that one to people.
People really get quite upset when you try to inspire doubt in them, which is why so few people set out to do it. One of the glories of Dr. Seuss is that he actually found ways to bring people into doubt without getting them angry, but it is good to remember that he was criticized by a lot of people—some called him a communist, some called him a fascist, some said he hated this or that or some other group, and some people said his books should be banned. They accused him of subverting the minds of children. This is sure evidence that he was inspiring genuine doubt in people, bringing their minds into a constructive and creative state of dissatisfaction. Be warned though: do what Seuss did and you will be attacked for it, even if you are loved by many who come to recognize that the uneasiness you brought to them was beneficial.
Sam-I-Am?
Do you have an idea yet about Sam-I-Am? I think that when we know what Sam does the rest of the time, we’ll know why it is a problem for him that C won’t try the green eggs and ham. So let’s brainstorm about Sam. What is he about, and what’s with the ova and shoulder routine? Does he do market research