Three Social Philosophical Problems

1.      The paradox of egocentrism. There is an inherent paradox in telling someone they are being egocentric. You’re thinking about yourself too much, you should be thinking about me more. There are people who are truly egocentric, but there are probably better ways to let them know than telling the person that they’re being egocentric.

2.      To what degree are people responsible for the emotions and feelings that their words create? If I tell you, “You are such a great person!” presumably you will feel good, or at least better than if I tell you, “You are a bad person!” I used to think that people weren’t responsible for other people’s feelings, but now I tend to think that different words create different feelings, and we should be mindful of the effect of our words on others.

3.      Is any disagreement on reality a form of emotional abuse? Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse involving denying reality. The classic example is when a man hits a woman, the woman asks, “Why did you hit me?” And then the man says, “I never hit you.” How can we have scientific debate without disagreement on facts? The definition of abuse is a word or act designed to maintain control, so I guess in scientific debate, as long as the disagreement is honest, and not designed to prevent one outcome, then it would be allowed. But consider the suppression of the science of climate change or tobacco, I would consider the denial of those problems to be a form of abuse, because denying the science was a way to maintain control and prevent harm to their profits.