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Miscellaneous

THE THIRD TANGENT

3 Mins read

BY SHRUTI HARKHANI

Absolute. How does this sound? Stern, dominant, unchanging, the gravity it holds like ONE huge rock at the riverbed.

Relative. A reminder of the MANY possibilities, perspective, hoping and shifting like the bugs from flower to flower.

These are paradoxes not only to each other but also to the very essence. The absolute of relativism is that everything must be relative and the absolute itself is relative based on the groups, places and time frames. Let’s set these on a scale of one to many. Where do you stand and what about your friend or parent? Same points, too far apart, opposite poles maybe. Would it matter if we were to together scale a decision?

The jury system, much prominent in the past decades, shows a lot about decision making in a social group. The series ‘Suits’ has intrigued us all; the trial of Mike Ross indefinitely depicts the two extreme cases of a group decision. One scot-free and the other years of imprisonment for a felony. Groups are a dominant selective topic in multiple humanistic disciplines. Along with it, something called the Bandwagon effect.  This might as well be a debated cause of group polarization which is the tendency of groups to make more extreme decisions. We have had councils starting from the basics of units like schools and small-scale organizations to the government and international levels to facilitate fast, effective and a more deliberated decision. As effective as this process is, (and not promoting dictators here) there’s a downside to this that no one really considered.

Let’s talk trends, or more say herd mentality or peer pressure; more sublimely in sync with the majority in the society. The bandwagon effect is a psychological phenomenon in which people do something primarily because other people are doing it, regardless of their own beliefs which they may ignore or override.

All these considered, (along with my abstract brain where graphs with plain lines are too tough a math) are ethics absolute, or relative or something else altogether? Could there one robe that fits all? Do we need to tailor a thousand robes or do we need something in between as a standard fit? While you ponder the points and perspectives of either; I would like to edit this scale over. A new lens which is the third tangent. Something beyond the usual, to mitigate these laws by defying them without opposition. These tangents always arise, as water from hydrogen and oxygen. Completely different. A direction of the abstract and non-winded ways, they sail away pulling the selected few of the masses. Therefore, it could be understood as why they are condemned. Man fears anything that he may not completely understand. Every third tangent is misunderstood.

The idea of NIHILISM.  The “ideology of nothing” appears to be nonsensical. To say that means that someone “believes in nothing” which is not really much more helpful as believing in something suggests there is something to be believed in. But if that something is nothing, then there is not something to be believed in. In such a case of believing in nothing is again a self-refuting idea. Thus, in order to preserve nihilism as a meaningful concept, it is necessary to distinguish it from concepts that are often associated with it but are nevertheless different. These concepts are pessimism, cynicism, and apathy.

Not caring is not the same thing as caring about nothing. The apathetic individual feels nothing. The nihilist has feelings. The pessimist feels despair, the cynic feels disdain. The apathetic individual feels absolutely nothing. Nihilism is actually much more closely related to idealism than to cynicism.

A sceptic waits for evidence so that he can pass a judgment. A cynic, however, does not trust evidence. It is because the cynic does not trust that anyone is capable of providing evidence objectively. A cynic can even enjoy life. To give example, a cynic can take pleasure in mocking those who claim that altruism exists. He may say that politicians are self-sacrificing public servants. A cynic especially finds laughable the idea of people trying to see the good in people.

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