I really enjoy reading the book “The Courage to be Disliked”. I particularly like the format of dialogue between the philosopher and the young student. However, at some point I wanted to intervene and challenge a claim.
The philosopher makes the following claim: “There is no such thing as worry that is completely defined by the individual; so-called internal worry does not exist. Whatever the worry that may arise, the shadows of other people are always present.”
My counter argument is: “what about health issues? Even in a universe where one is alone, if one gets sick will cause worries”.
Any comments?
by pypipper
1 Comment
I took a course on the anthropology of sickness in college, and even our understanding of illness and how it presents is culturally shaped. When I was growing up ulcers weren’t caused by a bacteria but by stress, anxiety meant that you weren’t tough enough and you needed to suck it up, and as I’ve had my health issues my mother has been forced to consider whether her dislike for her own mom’s “hypochondria” had blinded her to her mom suffering from undiagnosed (undiagnosable, because no one was listening then) fibromyalgia. Never mind all the girls right now who are being told that their pain from endometriosis should be understood as “normal period pain” or even as the “price” or “penalty”for being a woman. The strangest thing is that studies repeatedly show that how you understand your pain and your sickness can not only have a massive effect on your emotions about it, but sometimes have an impact on the actual trajectory of the illness— so how much “worry” you have, the form it takes, and how you experience it is going to be mediated.
A simpler answer would be: so you think you have appendicitis and you’re on a desert island? Surely the lack of other people is going to absolutely feed into the panic, terror, and probably the denial that you might experience. If you’re alone in the US, maybe you’re trying to decide if you can drive yourself or if your insurance covers an ambulance ride, or thinking you could wait and see if it gets worse before you risk that emergency room bill – even though you’re alone, that’s all about structures created by other people all around you. After that initial “holy crap what’s wrong with me?”— which I agree, that’s going to rise from within you— it all starts interacting with the society around you & how it’s taught you to understand yourself.
I’m not sure I actually agree with him, to be honest, but it’s an answer. (I read a book years ago on actual whistleblowers and every single one of them wished they hadn’t done it, which stayed with me. Every single one of them stood up courageously against evil and every single one said the social penalties weren’t worth it. 🥺)