PhiloMadrid next meeting on the 5th DECEMBER

Dear Friends,

This is just a quick message to let you know that our next meeting is on
5th December and the topic will be:

When does euphoria end and happiness begin? Topic by James.

Please send me any comments or essays before Thursday the 2nd December
to to include them in my email.

Thank you and best

Lawrence

telephone/WhatsApp: 606081813
Email: philomadrid@gmail.com
http://www.philomadrid.com


PhiloMadrid next meeting on the 5th DECEMBER

PhiloMadrid on Skype 6:30pm Sunday 14th November: Culture and Behaviour

Dear Friends,

This Sunday we are discussing: How does culture influence our behaviour?
(Culture and Behaviour)
The topic was proposed by Norma and Sisa kindly sent us her views on
culture under the title "How culture influences our life" (link below).

How culture influences our life
Essay by Sisa
https://www.philomadrid.com/2021/11/how-culture-influences-our-life.html

In my short essay I discuss how culture and behaviour influence each
other (link below):

How does culture influence our behaviour?
Topic by Norma
Essay by Lawrence
https://www.philomadrid.com/2021/11/how-does-culture-influence-our-behaviour.html



In the meantime you can link to the current news and notices here:
https://www.philomadrid.com/2020/10/news-and-notices.html

-Alfonso has a new website and he gave us link to his latest book of
poems: Después

-Oscar's book on his reflections on COVID-19 is still available

-David J. Butler has published a new book "Absent Friends" regarding the
Cementerio Británico in Madrid

Finally if you have problems with Skype try launching it again if you
have the App or browser. Send me a message for the link. Please note we
do not use the video to save on mobile phone batteries for those
connecting on a phone.

Best and take care
Lawrence

telephone/WhatsApp: 606081813
Email: philomadrid@gmail.com
http://www.philomadrid.com


PhiloMadrid on Skype 6:30pm Sunday 14th November: Culture and Behaviour

How does culture influence our behaviour?

 How does culture influence our behaviour?

Topic by Norma

Essay by Lawrence

 

By definition, culture is human public behaviour that has evolved in a society over time. Culture, is basically doing things together with those we identify as relatives or members of the same tribe. We know the rules, we know the choreography and most important of all, we know our place in this game of culture.

 

Conformity is the mechanism by which people in a society cooperate and behave. Cultural behaviour, like language, helps us predict the behaviour of other people. Queuing for a service is a very basic example when an orderly queue would prevent possible confrontation.

 

But this conformity bias does not mean that members of a society live in peace and in universal cooperation. Within a society there is still conflicts and disagreements, but in a well balanced society this is usually channelled into opposition on a football pitch, a religious festivity, or even political parties. As long as disagreements are played out within the boundaries of a culture people have been happy to reach out for the status quo.

 

Indeed, political culture feeds on social culture; culture is easily appropriated by political factions and the leaders of the state can elevate cultural events into some sort of a nationalistic religious icon. Thus in many cases, such as sport or gastronomy, it is difficult to distinguish between political behaviour and cultural behaviour.

 

There is also a tension between generations: the older generation laments the neglect of their culture by the younger generation. Hard spirits have replaced wine among the young in some cultures and open air concerts have replaced bull fighting. This is not so much culture influencing our behaviour, but rather our behaviour abandoning culture, and maybe replace the old culture with something more alien.

 

Another challenge is that external cultures influence our culture and unwittingly we conform to the new system. People today are as likely to queue for a take away bag of fast food rather than a menu del dia. And the more international the world becomes, the more likely we’re going to get a mix of cultures and behaviours. International tourism dictates adopting certain cultural habits which would have been impossible a few years ago: today the city of Segovia has become an international tourist attraction offering excellent services and lunch anytime after midday to international tourists.

 

To sum up, culture determines our behaviour, and our behaviour changes our culture. The hard part is determining what is valuable in our culture and then how to protect it.

 

Best Lawrence

 

 

--------

 

Also check out Sisa's essay:

 

 

How culture influences our life

https://www.philomadrid.com/2021/11/how-culture-influences-our-life.html

 

 

Culture has been defined as the aspects of human activity which are socially rather than genetically transmitted. These aspects include ethics, behaviour, language, clothes, values which are learned by a particular group of people. Therefore, culture makes societies unique, making it an essential component in influencing our lives.

 

Some values can change after time, but the principles remain the same. Being born in a specific group of people make you choose one decision over the other because of the values. For instance, within Indigenous culture taking care of nature means a lot. Every year make offerings to the "Pachamama"(Mother Earth)  shows gratitude towards our nature. For this reason, in the indigenous mind, the decision of destroying the forest by building thousands of houses inside the mountains does not make sense. Contrary to the European mind whose decisions are focused on themselves. The benefit for humans instead of looking for the mutual benefit nature and humans.

 

Often people from one culture are surprised by the decisions taken by other people of a culture.  We usually think that one culture is more superior than another, this is just ignorance.

 

Culture defines our identity it is essential to be able to recognize and respect other cultures to avoid this thinking of superiority.

 

Finally learning more about how culture influences our way of living,  deciding, thinking will help us to distinguish between aspects of the way people think which are part of nature from those that are the results of the time we were exposed before reaching our adulthood.

 

© 2021 Sisa

 

 

 

Lawrence:

telephone/WhatsApp: 606081813

Email: philomadrid@gmail.com

http://www.philomadrid.com

 

How culture influences our life

How culture influences our life

 

Culture has been defined as the aspects of human activity which are socially rather than genetically transmitted. These aspects include ethics, behaviour, language, clothes, values which are learned by a particular group of people. Therefore, culture makes societies unique, making it an essential component in influencing our lives.

 

Some values can change after time, but the principles remain the same. Being born in a specific group of people make you choose one decision over the other because of the values. For instance, within Indigenous culture taking care of nature means a lot. Every year make offerings to the "Pachamama"(Mother Earth)  shows gratitude towards our nature. For this reason, in the indigenous mind, the decision of destroying the forest by building thousands of houses inside the mountains does not make sense. Contrary to the European mind whose decisions are focused on themselves. The benefit for humans instead of looking for the mutual benefit nature and humans.

 

Often people from one culture are surprised by the decisions taken by other people of a culture.  We usually think that one culture is more superior than another, this is just ignorance.

 

Culture defines our identity it is essential to be able to recognize and respect other cultures to avoid this thinking of superiority.

 

Finally learning more about how culture influences our way of living,  deciding, thinking will help us to distinguish between aspects of the way people think which are part of nature from those that are the results of the time we were exposed before reaching our adulthood.

 

© 2021 Sisa

 

PhiloMadrid on Skype 6:30pm Sunday 7th November: Mental Health issues today

Dear friends,

This Sunday we are discussing: Is there a mental health problem today?

In my very short essay (topic by Norma) I try to identify some relevant
philosophical issues:
Is there a mental health problem today?
(Mental Health issues today)
https://www.philomadrid.com/2021/11/is-there-mental-health-problem-today.html

In the meantime you can link to the current news and notices here:
https://www.philomadrid.com/2020/10/news-and-notices.html

-Alfonso has a new website and he gave us link to his latest book of
poems: Después

-Oscar's book on his reflections on COVID-19 is still available

-David J. Butler has published a new book "Absent Friends" regarding the
Cementerio Británico in Madrid

Finally if you have problems with Skype try launching it again if you
have the App or browser. Send me a message for the link. Please note we
do not use the video to save on mobile phone batteries for those
connecting on a phone.

Best and take care
Lawrence

telephone/WhatsApp: 606081813
Email: philomadrid@gmail.com
http://www.philomadrid.com


PhiloMadrid on Skype 6:30pm Sunday 7th November: Mental Health issues today

Is there a mental health problem today?

Is there a mental health problem today?

(Mental Health issues today)

Topic by Norma

Essay by Lawrence

 

At face value, when we think of mental health we think of emotional problems or behaviour problems. People who are feeling depressed, suicidal, anger issues, loneliness, and so on. There are some good lists of mental health condition at: NHS (Mental health conditions: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/) or MentalHealth.gov (https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health). Mental health issues are well documented on the internet even though one must approach them with caution.

 

So what does mental health has to do with philosophy? At the one extreme mental health might affect how people act, their intentions, their beliefs, their social interaction and maybe their risk of putting themselves in danger. Even more important, people might affect others, interfere with the lives of others, especially relatives, impose their unreasonable will on others, especially from those in a position of authority, and so on.

 

At another extreme of mental health people can spread out to affect others in society and maybe society itself. The first question for us is how does mental health affect the actions of people with such a health problem? Even accepting that having a healthy mind is also part of mental health issues, but is there a difference in solving problems by the two different groups?

 

Mental health problems for some people do not necessarily manifest themselves in the open for others to see. Many people are very good at hiding and suppressing their issues which may not do them no good. This is understandable since it is human and biological nature not to expose one’s weaknesses to other people.

 

Some mental health issues might reflect the society we live in today: over crowded cities, financial pressures, loneliness in the elderly, hostile work environment and so on. The NHS website also offers advice on these ‘modern’ issues. Excluding some biological cause, it can be argued that at the essence of some mental problems is fear. Fear of the future, fear of adversaries of life, fear of failure and so on. Indeed fear is a very effective way to immobilise one’s enemies but in evolutionary terms the enemy might not be other people but nature itself. It is not surprising that our most important organ for survival is our brain and whether we like it or not our brain gets battered remorselessly. Surely this affects how we think, our beliefs and intentions.

 

And yet we know that cooperation is the antidote to some human caused stress, difficult human relations, inequality in resource distribution, and so on. Indeed modern society can only function by cooperating even if we have to do it in the environment of a working environment and the motive is to earn the means to exchange for necessities. And yet at the individual level we still come across obnoxious people.

 

An issue worth exploring is whether mental health affects our decisions in important social issues such as elections or voting behaviour. Specifically, what makes some people vote against their interests?

 

Best Lawrence

 

telephone/WhatsApp: 606081813

Email: philomadrid@gmail.com

http://www.philomadrid.com