Has anyone ever wondered which philosopher each of the mane six was like? Perhaps Pinkie Pie would benefit from Mill's Eudaimonic Utilitarianism, maybe Rarity would approve more of Aristotle's continuing advancement towards perfection, Twilight Sparkle may approve more strongly of Hume's atheist skepticism, Fluttershy might like the idea of Singer's animal rights activism, Applejack may like Descartes' need to understand what is true and what is not and Rainbow Dash may think that all philosophy is stupid and more time should be spent on doing real things rather than just thinking about them (like Gallileo).
Now, imagine what would happen if these six decided to enter into a philosophical debate...
Chapters (1)
Being a philosophy nerd myself, I was endlessly amused by this discussion. I'm surprised there haven't been more discussions like this on the show, but of course, the "real" audience would probably be confused and/or bored.
Next time, why not do one concerning political philosophy, epistemology, ethics, etc?
Oh wait, we already get the third in the show.
1260194 Thanks. I tried to make philosophy more accessible to the average person and maybe make a few people take it a little more seriously
Fluttershy should be a Franciscan (follower of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals)
1260475 I did consider it, but I just don't know enough about him to be able to do it. I kind of left Fluttershy out of it, but that wasn't intentional. If I ever write a rematch I will definitely reconsider Fluttershy's view point
The only way to make creation perfect is to give it the ability to break itself - and then let it become the victim of its own decisions.
The only perfect god is one who has allowed the former to occur - and remained conscious and active within it.
Lot a controversy in this. But then again this is philosophy. My outlook on reality is that what is real is what we acknowledge.
Reality is nonconcrete and can be disputed. Say there is an empty cookie jar and two men. One man claims someone ate the past cookie, while the other suggests that there were never any cookies. As far as they are both concerned, they themselves are right and the other is wrong. Perhaps because both are true. But what If one can prove there were cookies? This isn't proving a reality right, this is introducing a new reality. BUT if the other man still claims there were no cookies?.NOW he is wrong, because he is denying his own reality now, not just the other man's reality. The same can be said for religion. Because we are aware of other religions they are all part of our reality, so one can have right or wrong beliefs, but we will never be able to tell until after we die and see the afterlife, if there is an afterlife, mind you we have been given that possibility. To me, my religion is right, why? Because I'm speaking through my reality! Should someone have another religion then guess what? In that reality I'm wrong! When we both die, one or both of us may be wrong. Becsause one or both of us didn't pursue a religion we were aware of. But What if the answer is a religion you never heard of? Technically, you are not wrong, and youve now been enlightened to a new reality.
Hahaha the rest of the commenters giving their philosophical views; Missing the point, much?
Still, I thought it was pretty well written and realistic, even if I personally am not a fan of hick churchy Prejudiced!Applejack, it was still believable.
And yes, the way the discussion quickly dissolved into personal blows, nastiness, anger and judgement, all with generally good but misguided intentions; How like real life! So many good friendships dissolved that way, even those of the strongest. I always try not to bring up those things, but when I do, I always discuss it keeping in mind that IT IS OKAY if they think my ideas are silly/never agree with them, because we can still be friends and they are not holding my opinion hostage. But it's SO hard, and you must be so humble and mature to do so without either party getting upset. Anyway, enough rambling, nice job!
OH, um, one criticism; The name of the story has "Intellectual" miss-spelled.
Fun fact: Rainbow Dash is expressing a (meta-)philosophical view.
I was rather disappointed by the lack of utilitarian Fluttershy in this fic, though. Stupid lying description!
Oh Philosophy... How I love to confuse my friends with you. Philosophy I have been thinking about since 3rd grade. I live it.
1260639 Well, my aim was really only to try and tell an entertaining story using philosophical theories. My own belief (that of non-specific theism) wasn't explored in the story, and I share a very similar view to you it seems.
1260968 Thanks very much. I'm glad that you saw what I was trying to do. In a way, this story was inspired by an argument that I had with my best friends, so you are right, these arguments can and do happen alarmingly frequently. I don't normally like turning Applejack into a fundamentalist, but I wanted to explore an evangelical religious paradigm and the easiest way to do that was through Applejack, since she was the only o0ne displaying Cartesian Dualism. As to your second comment, it's fixed now.
1261112 Yeah, sorry about that. I did keep trying to bring her in, but the argument was philosophical for the most part, not ethical, so her view points would not have been really relevant. When she blows a fuse at Applejack (with the exception of the threatening at the end) she does suggest that perhaps it would be best for everyone if we stopped caring about whether people agreed with us. Again, I apologise that she didn't appear to be Utilitarian.
1260553 Well, I was only using other philosophical theories, not my own.
1261852 That is exactly my point as well. I love confusing my non-philosopher friends. Yesterday I proposed the policy of Cartesian doubt to a friend of mine who studies maths and sciences (really smart cookie). When I told him to name one thing he knew for sure, and then told him he couldn't possibly know that, it damn near broke his brain. I would love to hear some of your stories like that
1262616
I understand that. There are too many belief systems in this story for a single person to hold to sanely.
I was simply expressing a part of mine.
I actually understood the fic more than I thought I would, good show!
I have no problem with the arguments or philosophical points involved, my only concern is your faithfulness to the characters. Recently after rewatching episodes I've noticed that Applejack is in fact not the brightest bulb in the box; but she does have her moments (not like Ed from Edd Ed n' Eddy but more like Penny in newer episodes of the Big Bang Theory.) This is not the first time I've seen Applejack portrayed as a religious pony who will argue her point very competitively, so your use of her was still believable regardless.
1264389 Thanks. Remember in the story though I did say how surprised Twilight was that Applejack could argue so wel...Nah I'm just kidding. I overlooked that bit, sorry
But it does have the alternate universe tag to make up for any non-canon continuity errors.
1262616 I especially liked this story because I recently read Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy. Have you ever read it?
1265747 I haven't, but the moment I finish my A-levels that is the first book I'm going to read
I was kind of disappointed that Rainbow Dash wasn't into Nietzsche. I think his "attack everything" attitude and grandiose posing would have appealed to her.
But it was worth it for Pinkie Pie as the ethical hedonist getting continually shutdown by everypony else.
"Can't we all just try to be happy?"
"NO!"
1395043 Perhaps you are right about Rainbow Dash and Nietzsche, I have actually been considering writing another one of these soon, when I finish my other side projects.
Glad you liked Pinkie Pie though
"Meanwhile, in the human world, a small group of people punched their computer screens in frustration."
If I learn some ideas about life, it would be that there is no one path to follow or place to be. There are many: right, wrong, whatever, binary, trinity, multiple, infinite, finite and on and off. Change the world, change the you or take a vacation.
Am I correct? Fuck it. The choices keeps me living... until I die or not.
Ecthelion Yuda, this story gave me a hardon in my mind. I salute you.
*salutes you*
1395968 Philosophy: Providing brain-boners since 1000BC
Glad you liked it
Whoa wait. Dash, it doesn't matter how twilight, rarity, flutershy, and pinkie all want to pursue happiness. But is apple jack is right then you are all beyond fucked. If she's wrong then you can return to your lively debauchery. That is why philosophy matters!