Exhausted and happy sloth lies in a deck chair on summer holiday
Addicted by Speed: The Fast Living Syndrome
Why does society detest slowness and the concept of slow living? Why is speed considered attractive, while slowness is not similarly embraced?
Let us be honest, we have all been culpable of at least one of these: getting frustrated over sluggish internet speeds or delayed deliveries from Lazada or Shopee, grumbling about the dreadful traffic during rush hours, turning to instant noodles because of a busy workday, and maybe the most outrageous of all, binge-watching Netflix at double speed because we are too busy for entertainment but refuse to compromise on leisure time.
These behaviours are symptoms of the “fast living syndrome”. Many of us unknowingly suffer from “time sickness”, a term coined by physician and writer Larry Dossey, which is the pervasive belief that time is constantly slipping away and perpetually insufficient.
Why do we always find ourselves in a perpetual rush? Is living at a breakneck pace the way to go? While it is undeniable that a fast-paced lifestyle can yield various advantages, such as increased efficiency, personal growth and a heightened sense of accomplishment, distressing trends are emerging.
How did our appetite for speed and aversion to slowness evolve? This question has ties to the party in power. In ancient Greek and Roman cultures, leisure held a place of great reverence, serving as a window for the flourishing of intellectual, cultural and philosophical pursuits. The tables turned in the era of industrial capitalism. Under the rule of the bourgeoisie, we witnessed a significant shift in power dynamics. This period strongly emphasised individualism, hard work and productivity, all to the advantage of the powerful.
In contemporary society, the control and regulation that were formerly imposed by capitalist forces were internalised. As a consequence, a new form of power that operates through the mechanisms of self-control and self-optimisation came to the fore as noted by Byung-Chul Han in his book Burnout Society.
Thus, the achievement-subject gives itself over to compulsive freedom—that is, to the free constraint of maximizing achievement. Excess work and performance escalate into auto-exploitation. This is more efficient than allo-exploitation, for the feeling of freedom attends it. The exploiter is simultaneously the exploited. Perpetrator and victim can no longer be distinguished.
Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society
We now live in a world where we are both the master and slave to ourselves. The dichotomy that extols fast living and relentless productivity as virtues while stigmatising slow living and leisure as vices is deeply entrenched in our society that it has become synonymous with the truth.
The Consequences of Fast Living
However, as we rush through life, striving to achieve our life, career and relationship goals by a certain age, we often spread ourselves too thin, leaving little time for friends and family. We seek quick intimacy with our partners and prefer the most time-efficient forms of entertainment. Perhaps, the most ironic of all is that we desire the fastest solution to slowing down in life, as author Carl Honore described in In Praise of Slow.
What Is Slow Living? Is It Any Good?
“Slowness” frequently conjures negative images such as waiting in long queues, bureaucratic inefficiencies and unproductive work processes. It sometimes also carries the negative connotation of societal regression, suggesting a reluctance to embrace modern conveniences.
However, slowing down in life does not mean getting the short end of the stick compared with a fast-paced lifestyle. Slowing down does not entail a return to a non-technological era marked by resistance to change. It also does not require giving up on modern conveniences such as fast food, rapid transportation or instant communication, nor does it imply turning a blind eye to career opportunities.
What is Slow Living?
Slow living is an intentional and conscious choice to embrace an unhurried and reflective way of life.
It is in Honore’s words, having control of “the rhythms of your own life” or having the say of not only how but when to slow down in life.
“Being Slow means that you control the rhythms of your own life. You decide how fast you have to go in any given context. If today I want to go fast, I go fast; if tomorrow I want to go slow, I go slow. What we are fighting for is the right to determine our own tempos.”
Carl Honoré, In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed
In doing so, we grant ourselves the time to recharge and strike a balance in the hyper-accelerated life, consequently leading to greater productivity, improved overall well-being, more prudent decision-making, higher quality of life and relationships, and even a reduced risk of heart disease.
A good starting point is to become less neurotic about time, refraining from multitasking when it is appropriate, such as during meals, while spending quality time with loved ones or while resting, and having the courage to embrace moments of boredom and be comfortable with them.
Persuading Malaysians on the merits of slowing down is merely the start. A transition towards a mentally healthy society that sees the beauty and values of slow living will remain a challenge until we overhaul the regulations that influence nearly every aspect of life, including governance, the economy, the workplace, education, healthcare and others.
However, the movement towards a slower, more consciously paced lifestyle is gaining momentum. The Live Love Labour Festival: The Art of Bersantai, Malaysia’s first Festival of Slow Living, which was held recently is a fine example.
Final Thoughts
In a world hurtling forward at a breakneck speed, it is time for us to join the movement advocating for the value of slow living and unleash our inner sloth that has long been suppressed.
Originally published on the commentary section of The Sun Daily on October 24, 2023.
In you landed on this article, it means you are probably burnt out, stressed out or exhausted at work. Fret not, you are not alone as more than half Malaysians reported experiencing work-related stress at work according to this survey.
51.5% working Malaysians experience at least one form of work-related stress, and 12% experience high level of mental health issues like depression and anxiety.
Work-life balance has become a sought after commodity in the current burnout society. In this article, we will explain what work-life balance really means, how you can practice it more effectively, as well as offer you 30 work-life balance quotes from philosophers across the centuries.
Disclaimer: While these quotes aim to assist in alleviating burnout by offering alternative perspectives on work and life, they should not be viewed as the sole remedy for burnout. If you are experiencing high level of stress and burnout, we strongly recommend you to seek professional help.
As our attempt to combat the burnout culture in Malaysia, we encouraged Malaysians to slow down their pace in life and practice a more mindful living at Live Love Labour Festival 2023.
What is Work-Life Balance?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, is “the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy”.
Fun Fact 💡
There exists an implicit assumption that the 40-hour workweek has been the longstanding standard for centuries. We often envision medieval peasants enduring monotonous lives, working tirelessly from sunrise to sunset.
However, this is not the case. During pre-industrial times, humans work as little as 3 hours a day and work was regarded as more of an informal and casual way to kill time and sustain life. Subsequently, work-life balance is a concept that was popularised during early Industrial Revolution period when work began to occupy a disproportionately large portion of the average worker’s day, thereby becoming a concept foreign to and distinct from "life."
In contemporary society, achieving work-life balance isn’t solely about dividing time equally between work and personal life. Owing to economic pressures, achieving this kind of work-life balance often proves unfeasible. In 2016, the Department of Statistics Malaysia revealed that 83.8% of employees in Malaysia were engaged in working more than 40 hours per week. And as a result of internalising a culture emphasising constant productivity, leisure or the supposed “life” component has often been commodified and transformed into yet another form of productivity, at times relegated to just another task on the schedule rather than serving as a genuine respite from work-induced stress.
We hope the following quotes can inspire you to look beyond the pre-existing notions and practices of work-life balance and empower you to to reimagine alternatives to well-being that integrates work and life harmoniously.
30 Work-Life Balance Quotes by Philosophers Across the Centuries
“In an achievement-oriented society, freedom does not mean the absence of constraints; rather, it means choosing one’s constraints.” – Byung-Chul Han
“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” – Alain de Botton
“It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?” – Henry David Thoreau
“Our worth is not determined by the amount of work we accomplish.” – Wayne Muller
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Buddha
“The whole life is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.” – Plutarch
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
“To do two things at once is to do neither.” – Publilius Syrus
“It’s an absolute necessity to recognize the value of work in making sense of life and finding satisfaction in what we do.” – Alain de Botton
“We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.” – Epictetus
“We should always allow some time to elapse, for time discloses the truth.” – Seneca
“No man is free who is not a master of himself.” – Epictetus
“The person who has lived the most is not the one who has lived the most years, but the one with the richest experiences.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Today, one must justify one’s existence through work. One is nothing if one does not function. Laziness is disparaged; activity is glorified.” – Byung-Chul Han
“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu
“Lost time is never found again.” –Benjamin Franklin
“Genuine leisure is beyond the measure of work. Leisure is time that is spent for itself, for its own sake.” – Byung-Chul Han
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” – Marcus Aurelius
“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” – Bertrand Russell
“Work-life balance is a concept that has led to a vast amount of unnecessary guilt and sense of failure. People who feel they are not working enough, or not spending enough time with their families, can often be found expressing a wish to be someone else.” – Alain de Botton
“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Freedom is the recognition of necessity.” – Friedrich Engels
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.” – Seneca
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” – Hermann Hesse
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the now the primary focus of your life.” – Eckhart Tolle
“We need to learn how to want what we have, not to have what we want in order to get steady and stable happiness.” – Dalai Lama
“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” – Søren Kierkegaard
“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee
Final Thoughts
We hope the above work-life balance quotes can offer you fresh perspectives in finding a better balance between your personal and professional life.
As a gentle reminder to our burnt out readers, before moving on to another task on your to-do list, ask yourself: “Would it be catastrophic if I allowed myself a moment to rest?” The answer is likely a comforting no.
Are you tired of the same daily grind of the 9 to 5? Do you find yourself dreading Sunday evening, anticipating the start of the week ahead? You are not alone! Most of us work 8 hours per day to eat in 30 minutes, 7 days a week to rest for 1, 52 weeks per year to take 1-2 weeks off for vacation, for jobs we don’t even enjoy working in.
In this article, we ask the questions “Is Work Necessary?”, as well as examining the need for work and its value, or lack thereof, in our lives. We will focus our discussion on full-time employment, which is a form of work that all of us are most familiar with.
Work Sucks, So Why Do We Work?
MyPhilSoc
Why do humans need to work in the first place? Is work truly necessary for our survival, or is it just a product of our modern, capitalist society?
For many of us, our jobs feel like a never-ending grind. We clock in at 9 am and don’t leave until 5 pm, or even later. We work tirelessly, day in and day out, just to keep our heads above water. The reality is that full-time employment can be a soul-sucking experience. We’re constantly pushing ourselves to the brink of burnout, just to meet unrealistic expectations and deadlines.
And for what?
Work Brings Extrinsic and Intrinsic “Value“
To pay the bills? To keep up with societal expectations? To maintain our social status?
Yes. And more fundamentally, many of us also still believe in the intrinsic value of full-time employment. We believe that it is inherently virtuous and good for us. We believe that it brings character development including diligence, self-discipline and self-respect, and even a sense of purpose or control in life.
In short, we believe in both the extrinsic and intrinsic value full-time employment provides us.
The Problems With Full-Time Employment
Vox
Let’s look at this in detail. Is it true that full-time employment provides us with extrinsic and intrinsic value? From burnout to a lack of work-life balance and unhappiness about our jobs, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this statement may no longer hold true.
Work Does Not Provide Adequate Extrinsic Value
If we say employment provides us with monetary value, most full-time jobs don’t provide us with fair compensation for our time and effort. Many people find themselves underpaid and struggling to make ends meet. According to Malaysia’s Department of Statistics, the median salary for Malaysians in 2021 is only slightly above RM2,000.
Work Does Not Provide Intrinsic Value and Meaning
Furthermore, the intrinsic value of full-time employment is also questionable. It cannot adequately serve as the groundwork of one’s character especially when many jobs nowadays are mindless jobs that don’t serve real purpose or provide real utility, as Professor David Graeber called “Bullshit Jobs”. Graeber identifies different categories of bullshit jobs, including “flunkies” (positions that exist solely to make someone else look important), “goons” (jobs with an aggressive or coercive element), and “duct tapers” (people who fix problems caused by inefficient organisations). These jobs are often characterised by a lack of autonomy, low job satisfaction, and a feeling of being disconnected from the value they create.
It is even more questionable that works brings us meaning, purpose and control in life, as we were once taught. According to a survey conducted by Zippia, 89% of workers have experienced burnout within the past year. Can you believe it? Only 2 out of 10 workers have not experienced burnout in the past year.
On rare occasions, one’s full-time employment does provide one with adequate pay, support for character growth as well as a sense of purpose and meaning. But a job like this is a lottery that many people work their entire lives to win. However, the reality is that the odds of finding that ideal job are slim.
Is Full-Time Employment Necessary?
James Livingston’s No More Work
“In a sensible world, everybody concerned in the manufacturing of pins would take to working four hours instead of eight, and everything else would go on as before. But in the actual world this would be thought demoralizing. The men still work eight hours, there are too many pins, some employers go bankrupt, and half the men previously concerned in making pins are thrown out of work. There is, in the end, just as much leisure as on the other plan, but half the men are totally idle while half are still overworked. In this way, it is insured that the unavoidable leisure shall cause misery all round instead of being a universal source of happiness. Can anything more insane be imagined?”
Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness
Full-Time Employment Is Not Necessary From An Economic Standpoint
One may argue that full-time employment is necessary for economic growth. However, traditional measures of economic growth, which heavily rely on factors such as net private investment and employment in goods production can no longer fully capture the dynamics of economic progress.
In James Livingston’s book “No More Work”, he discusses the idea that economic growth does not necessarily require an increase in the labour force. He points out that starting from 1919, the nature of economic growth underwent a change. Growth continued throughout the 1930s, even though net private investment declined and employment in goods production decreased. There are other factors at play that contribute to growth even when these conventional indicators are not showing positive trends, which could include technological advancements, innovation, productivity and efficiency improvements, and others. In other words, economic growth does not necessarily require an expansion of full-time labour.
Furthermore, we are also experiencing a surplus of goods with the advancements in technology and productivity. In Bertrand Russell’s essay titled “In Praise of Idleness”, he suggests that either a portion of the population working full-time or everyone working part-time is enough to support everyone’s essential needs. By everyone working full-time, it results in an overproduction of goods, economic instability and unemployment.
What’s Next?
MyPhilSoc
Alternatives to Full-Time Employment
So, if full-time employment is not necessary, what do we do?
With the overwhelming burnout and unhappiness experienced by the working class, it is a wake-up call to all of us. Perhaps it’s time to explore alternative models to full-time employment, such as part-time work, job sharing or distribution, entrepreneurship, or even a universal basic income so that everyone can sustain their livelihood and at the same time the freedom to pursue meaningful activities and contribute to society in ways that align with their interests and values.
While the implementation of a universal basic income is controversial and is not something that will happen overnight, there are things we can do as individuals to make our work-life better.
Do I Need This Job?
As citizens of this burnout and unhappy society, the question we should ask ourselves every day when we wake up is not “Do I really need this job?”, but rather questions like “Are there any other alternatives to full-time employment I can explore to better fulfil my needs and goals in life?”, “Can I tolerate having a basic income?” as well as reevaluating your values and priorities in life.
There is nothing wrong with climbing the career ladder if you value professional development and status. There is nothing wrong either to only work part-time if you value spending more quality time with loved ones and can do away with a basic income. But we shouldn’t work for the sake of working, and we shouldn’t let social norms decide what is good and right for us.
The reason behind your decision for full-time employment should be justifiable by reason and passion, not fear. What’s next is really up to you.
Death is something that we all have to face at some point in our lives. Whether it is the death of a pet or the death of a loved one, no doubt it is painful and difficult to deal with.
There is also another aspect of death that is terrifying to many, which is the death of the self. In this article, we will focus the discussion on the death of the self, mortality awareness and how it affects our life choices and its relation with the meaning of life. Even though the thought of death can be terrifying, it is not something we should avoid talking about. This is because discussing death gives us new perspectives on life and how we should live our lives.
What is Death?
Sadhguru
But first, what is death? Death is the opposite of being alive. There are a lot of controversies on the definition of death, and debates on the question of “how to pronounce death”, but for the purpose of this discussion, we will stick with the colloquial definition of death as the permanent cessation of vital biological activities in an organism.
Why is death terrifying?
Unlike other phases we go through in our lives, death has a profound impact on our perception and decisions because it is the final step in our life journey. In other words, it is irreversible. There’s no turning back once you have passed the point of death (assuming that there is no afterlife beyond death).
Awareness of Mortality and Life Choices
Instructable
Usually, the awareness of death or mortality of life only comes when we lose someone dear to us, or at a point in our lives when we realize that we have limited time left to live, or after we go through a life-and-death experience. The awareness of mortality is usually terrifying and anxiety-provoking to many.
As a result, according to the psychological theory “terror management theory”, the fear of death forces us to adapt to it in some way or another. The common responses to the fear of death range from denial and deep existential anxiety, to legacy building and taking more conscious life choices.While denial and existential anxiety are the natural reactions we inherit from our ancestors when we face potential danger, as human beings with the capacity to reason, it is vital for us to take the additional step to process our physiological reactions and take appropriate responses driven by reason.
3 Reason-Driven Approaches to Death:
Stoicism and Momento Mori “Remember You Must Die”
Momento Mori is a reminder of the inevitability of death. In Stoicism, the reminder is not to promote fear, but to inspire and motivate positive actions and choices. According to Stoicism, the awareness of mortality should be treated as a reminder to not waste any time on the trivial and vain, and to live every day to the fullest.
Camus – “Laugh Until We Die”
For Camus, it is absurd for humans to search for meaning because life has no meaning and that nothing exists that could ever be a source of meaning. Nonetheless, this should not stop us from embarking on passion projects and live a subjectively meaningful life. However, death will nullify any kind of “meaning” you attempt to create during your life. Even so, according to Camus, we should nonetheless enjoy the ride of this meaningless rollercoaster even though it will come to an end eventually.
Heidegger – Death As the Motivator to Life
For Heidegger (an existentialist), a prerequisite for living a meaningful life is to embrace the fact that some day we will all die. According to him, mortality is what gives meaning to our lives; the awareness of mortality forces us to realise that we are free to choose every action we take. One may attempt to empower themselves in the face of the inevitable, taking greater risks because one knows one will die regardless of what they do.
Does Death Really Give Life Meaning? What is the Meaning of Life, Anyway?
eastMED Pharmacy
The question about the meaning of life has been a perennial question that has been asked for centuries but has yet to be conclusively answered. It’s common for philosophers to distinguish between two (or more) meanings of life. The meaning of life is largely understood in the “cosmic” and “terrestrial” senses. A cosmic sense refers to an overall purpose with which our lives are associated. The terrestrial sense of meaning is the meaning people find in their own lives, usually perceived subjectively. (Paul, ‘The Meaning and Value of Life’, 118-9.)
In nihilism and absurdism, as briefly discussed earlier, it is believed that life has no meaning in the cosmic sense. However, the lack of ultimate meaning in human existence need not in any way negate or diminish the significance of meaning in people’s lives in non-ultimate ways.
Understood in the “terrestrial” way, death gives meaning to people’s lives because it motivates us to live fully in a finite amount of time given to us. According to Frankl, an immortal life would lead to meaninglessness because human beings would procrastinate or be unmotivated to take action. And consequently, nothing would get done and our lives would be rendered meaningless. In other words, a biological deadline motivates people to act now. As Karl Popper writes, it is “the ever-present danger of losing it [i.e., life] which helps to bring home to us the value of life.” (Popper, 1992)
So, How Do We Prepare for Death? Should We Even Prepare for Death?
We Don’t Need Death to Tell Us How to Live!
One could also say that a biological deadline is not necessary for life to have meaning. Well, we do things because we are intrinsically motivated to do so, and death is just an extrinsic motivator that perhaps gives us an additional push towards our goals in life. One could also say that it is not death itself that gives life meaning, but rather the transcendence of death that does. For instance, philosopher Nozick argues that transcending one’s temporal finitude, by leaving one’s legacy in writings, artwork, music, or in the history or memory of others, makes one’s life meaningful. (Nozick, “Philosophical Explanations”, 582-585, 594-600.)
The best way to prepare for death is perhaps to live well. Perhaps there shouldn’t be so much emphasis being put on the end at all. Think about it: Why should we give licence to death to influence us? It is perhaps up to us to dictate what’s meaningful, not death. Maybe we should just treat death as a natural phase of life and just live. It is what it is.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to encourage suicide, but rather, to get our readers to reflect on the question of mortality and take more control of their lives, in the face of uncertainty and dread.
Malaysia is a mixing pot of multiple races and ethnicities, but whether the components mix well has always been questionable. The seeming racial unity in our country has been publicized in textbooks and media, but in reality, racism still runs rampant in every layer and corner of Malaysia, from education system and politics, to employment, housing and economics.
There are two types of racism – institutional racism and daily racism. (Carrett, 2020) Institutional racism is racism happening at a more macro-level, embedded and enshrined in laws and regulations of a society. This type of racism can lead to discrimination based on race in education, employment, criminal justice, healthcare and politics.
For instance, as we shall see discussed later, race-based policies are ingrained in Malaysian politics, used to advance the interests of specific racial and ethnic groups. Vernacular education system in Malaysia divides students according to race, and employment and housing systems in Malaysia are often observed to use race-based selection criteria. Racism also happens at a more micro, interpersonal level between individuals, from the interaction between a cashier and a customer, to casual racial, derogatory remarks towards other races. In this context, racism is known as daily racism.
In this article, I propose that racism exists and persists in Malaysia because people believe that race is real. And they believe it is real from one or a combination of three levels – biological, social and political. (James and Burgos, 2020)
Race as a Biological Construct
anthropologie.org
Firstly, I argue that racism is the result of the belief thatrace is biologically real.
Racial Essentialism
According to the view of Racial Essentialism or Naturalism, race reflects a biological foundation or “essence”, which is characterized by a set of shared genetic and biological traits or phenotypes that all and only the members of a race have.
People who hold this view also believe that these biological traits that form the building blocks of a race are heritable and passed on from generation to generation, and they identify each race with specific geographic origin, typically in Africa, Europe, Asia, or North and South America. (James, 2012)
A cursory inspection of the social dynamic in Malaysia reveals that this conception of race is still prevalent.
Examples of Racial Essentialism in Malaysia
For instance, you can find it especially in conversations among the elders, “We are Chinese. China is our homeland.” Racist comments used by politicians also revealed their biological conception about race. For instance, politicians in Malaysia can be seen as holding a biological conception of race where race is tied to one’s geographic origins. A politician in Malaysia was observed to offer racist remark “Where are you from? China? No wonder…” to a journalist, associating people originating from China as unable to differentiate facts from assumptions. And another politician was observed to use the word “keling”, a derogatory racial term that is used to denote a person or immigrant originating from the Indian subcontinent.
The Problems of Racism Essentialism
The problem with Racial Essentialism is twofold.
Firstly, this view is misleading and has been debunked by scientists and thinkers alike. Racial skeptics, such as Anthony Appiah (1995, 1996) and Naomi Zack (1993, 2002) contend that the term “race” cannot denote anything real in the world, if race is taken to mean a set of criteria that belongs all and only to a specific group of people.
To further this line of thinking, the geographic origins of populations do not correlate perfectly with the physical traits associated with specific racial groups. Variations in biological traits and phenotypes that are usually used to define race like skin colour and hair texture are also gradual rather than discrete, so the lines drawn between “racial groups” are arbitrary at best. (Zack, 2002) These variations come not from “race” but from geographical and climate conditions like exposure to sunlight.
For instance, it was found that dark skin is an evolutionary response to prevent skin cancer from more sunlight. In short, there is no scientific basis for “race”.
Secondly, this view has often been weaponized to dehumanize others of another race by grounding racism on putative biological inferiority, as shown in the examples above. (Blum, 2002) And this is unacceptable.
At this point, you might say, the fact that there lacks scientific evidence for the existence of race does not entail that races do not exist. So you may argue that we ascribe someone with a specific race through their shared culture, experiences, history or even status or power. Or you may ascribe someone a specific race through their skin colour, but you deny that skin colour is the necessary determinant of someone’s race.
If that is the case, you are a racial constructivist. Race Constructivism can be understood in two ways – race as a social or political construct. I will first explore the view of race as a social construct.
Race as a Social Construct
Scientific American
Racial Constructivism
People who hold this view perceive race as real from a social level – race is socially constructed from shared experience, history and culture. They are open to accept that race is biologically insignificant, and the purported shared biological traits and phenotypes that are used to “define” biological race are merely “intersubjectively agreed” criteria that are used to categorize people into sub-groups. (Mills, 1998; Mallon, 2004)
Race still exists, but its reality is provided by the local experiences a group of people share, not by biological facts (Mallon, 2006; Piper, 1992). That being said, racial constructivists would consider a Chinese who has lived long enough in an Indian community an “Indian”, or at least “Indian-Chinese” due to the shared common experiences they have.
The Problems of Racial Constructivism
Racial constructivism can lead to the desirable effect of racial unity but more often than not, it fuels racism.
To explain why, people who view race as a social construct would more likely focus on the shared culture and experience of a population rather than the often racialized features like skin colour. These people would be more open to embrace a “pan-race” view of ascribing all Malaysians who share similar cultures, history and experiences as making up a single race.
On the other hand, racial constructivism can be combined with racial essentialism to discriminate against other races, grounding acts of racism on shared biological and social features and experiences.
For instance, ethnic nationalism, an ideology emphasising on devotion to a nation with objectives to advance and protect what constitutes the culture, language and rights of a single race emerged during the British colonization era. The Malay nationalists (a group of Malays who are motivated by the nationalist ideal of creating a Bangsa Melayu (“Malay nation”)) preferred a definition of Malay that included Muslims from the Indonesian archipelago but excluded Muslims of mixed Arab and Indian descent. (Kahn, 2005)
These nationalists also fought for the idea of a nation that excludes Non-Malays including Chinese and Indians who are thought to be immigrants or latecomers than “Tuan Rumah” (host or original inhabitants) of the Malaysian land even though most have stayed there for their entire lives. (Kahn 2005; Ooi, 2018)
This shows how the cultural differences have been used to justify acts of social racism against others.
Race as a Political Construct
The Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy
Variation of Racial Constructivism
In this section, I explore the third conception of race realism – a variant of racial constructivism – the view that race is a real, political construct. And how the view that race is politically real underlies racism in Malaysia.
In this view, race is no longer only biological or social, it is also political and is “chosen”. In the biological and social understanding of race discussed earlier, race is “unchosen” in the sense that one does not get to choose the biological and social features or experiences one is born into.
Rather, one is “assigned” one’s race based on the unconscious, institutionalized behaviours of individuals labelling people in society according to biological features and cultures. The political ontology of race, on the other hand, suggests that racial identity can also reflect differential and hierarchical relations of power as a result of “consciously granting political significance to a racial identity that is biologically or socially imposed”.
In other words, racial difference is defined by the cultural and purported biological differences between groups of people, and is further amplified by the differential power relations in politics. (Jeffers, 2019; James and Burgos, 2020)
History of Malaysia and Political Racism
Malayan Union Protest, New Straits Times
To further illuminate this view, let’s revisit the history of Malaysia.
From the colonial to postcolonial periods, Malaysian politics has been characterized by ethnic nationalism and supremacy of a single race. In 1952, before Malaysian Independence, Tunku Abdul Rahman said “Malaya is for the Malays and it should not be governed by a mixture of races.” Malays, he argued, would have to safeguard their rights over Malaya, “which is ours, for the benefit of our future generation.” (Joset, 1980)
Origin of Racism in Malaysia
This was when racism in Malaysia grew, as the differential power relation between different groups amplified. Mono-ethnic racial groups were formed, as a reaction to ethnic nationalism, to demand for equal political rights as the Malays. (Ye, 2003) Racial tensions intensified, eventually leading up to the infamous racial riot on May 13, 1969.
And as a “solution” to the ongoing racial tension in Malaysia, after the 1969 riot, the supremacy of a single race in Malaysia became “entrenched”, as depicted by Ghazali Shafie, the former Minister of Home Affairs of Malaysia, “the politics of this country has been, and must remain for the foreseeable future, native [i.e. Malay] based: that was the secret of our stability and our prosperity and that is a fact of political life which no one can simply wish away.” (Lee, 2002)
As we can see, because of ethnic nationalism, differential and hierarchical political power existed and persisted, the politics in Malaysia became racialized, and mono-ethnic political parties continue to impose racial division, and operate as champions of their race while paying lip service to national unity.
This is perhaps also the reason why the then-multiracial Pakatan Harapan coalition under former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed was brought down so quickly. It is said that “No Malaysian prime minister has been able to govern effectively and freely without commanding the confidence of the majority race in Malaysia”.
This illustrates how the residues of ethnic nationalism continue to affect us even until today.
My point is, on top of the purported biological and cultural facts that define race, Malaysian politics is highly intertwined with race — differential power relations underlie our racial identities and differences, to the extent that when they become separated, many Malaysians may not be able to accept it.
What’s Next for Malaysians?
New Mandala
I believe racism presupposes the existence of race, and I have presented a few ways in which race has come into existence – through shared biological facts, cultural experiences and differential power relations in politics. Whether it is institutional racism or daily racism, they can be said to be rooted in the beliefs that race is biologically, socially or politically real.
Ending Racism by Removing The Idea of Race?
We have come to establish that biological race does not exist, but would it be sufficient to end racism by merely educating the public about the non-existence of biological race?
My answer is no.
This is because as discussed earlier, race is also constructed socially and politically.
For instance, in country like America, many white Americans reject biologically grounded racial differences but retain discrimination against Blacks (Entman and Rojecki, 2000; Kinder and Sanders, 1996) They called it the “new racism”, where biology has become irrelevant to racists, who would nonetheless attribute a common “dysfunctional culture” to groups they discriminate against. (Kahn, 2005)
Joint Effort of Education, Politicians and the People
To counteract cultural or social racism, educators could expose students to multicultural readings, and examine historical events and works of literature from diverse cultural perspectives to encourage open-mindedness and anti-racism. (Powell, 2000)
To eradicate racism completely, there is also a need to put an end to race-based politics in Malaysia and of course, racialized laws and legislations.
But this is practically challenging.
There are, at current, too many personal agendas and disagreements going on between the different mono-ethnic political groups, and too few are willing to see eye-to-eye with one another.
Even if we are able to get our politicians to agree on working towards a racially harmonious country, we could argue that race is too ingrained in society that even if mistaken biological beliefs about race and differential political power are removed, the truth that appearance and ancestry do not correlate to something real is hard to swallow for many.
Practical Difficulty Does Not Mean Impossibility!
Nonetheless, practical difficulty does not mean impossibility. Given that our country leaders and the rakyat are willing to kickstart intellectual discussions on race and racism, and are determined to remove the biological, social or political veil they have used to view others for the past many decades, there is still hope to achieve racial unity in Malaysia. With reference to the racial riot incident in 1969, I have a point to make:
While it is true that “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”, I say, “Those who learn from history but choose to let history dictate their lives are doomed to never progress.”
As a Malaysian, you will probably agree with me that Philosophy conjures up images of dead white males in the minds of many, and specifically “an elite class pursuit with zero practical and marketable value”.
Ever wondered why? And how true is this interpretation of the philosophy profession?
Reasons Why Philosophy Is So Poorly Received by Malaysians
I argue there are 3 reasons that contribute to the view of philosophy as an elite pursuit with little to no practical and marketable value, especially to the eyes of a Malaysian.
#1 The History of Philosophy as an Elite Subject
The Wilson Quarterly
I will first explore the perception ofphilosophy as an elite class pursuit. The reason why philosophy is viewed in this light in Malaysia is because traditionally, a liberal arts college education was a privilege of the economic elite, or at least of the upper middle class. Due to how philosophy is usually practiced among the elite whites in other countries, philosophy in Malaysia has also gained the infamous name as an “armchair” discipline relying for the most part, on reason, intuition and reflection, involving thought experiments, which are often perceived as detached from reality.
You will probably agree with me that Philosophy conjures up images of dead white males in the minds of many, and specifically “an elite class pursuit with zero practical and marketable value” in the eyes of everyday Malaysians.
#2 Non-existence of Philosophy in Malaysia Has to do with the Malaysian Development Policy
Next, let’s talk about the reasons behind the portrayal of philosophy as lacking in practical and marketable value. The first reason has to do with our country’s development policy. Even until the current stage, there is no standalone philosophy department here in Malaysia – no pure philosophy faculty or department in existence in any of the Malaysian institutions of higher learning.
Nikkei Asia
According to A. Murad Merican, Malaysia as a relatively young nation needs to develop at a fast pace, and hence fields that tend to produce tangible results in a short amount of time like Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are prioritized; more emphasis and funds are being channelled to these fields of studies.
Philosophy and other humanities subjects that are being perceived as not necessary nor essential to the development of the country are therefore neglected. Consequently, over the years, this unequal focus and preference on STEM subjects over humanities has ingrained in us the seemingly unerasable impression that philosophy is one and the same as something that does not contribute to progress.
#3 Philosophy – A Subject with More Questions than Answers
The Writer
The second reason behind the representation of philosophy as having minimal to no practical and marketable value has to do with the nature and method of inquiry of philosophy. Philosophy does not provide instant answers to questions; the usual engagement in philosophy generates more questions than one begins with.
Hence it is easily dismissed as “impractical” and “unintuitive” because this is not the way human brains are programmed to function. We prefer quick fixes to things and mental shortcuts because they save time and energy. Philosophy, on the other hand, challenges us to suspend our judgement and cognitive biases. It encourages the use of rational argumentation to achieve greater truth and clarity in our thoughts. These approaches of learning and inquiry are time and energy-consuming.
I will address all these in turn.
Philosophy is Made More Accessible Over the Years
Regarding the view of philosophy as a pursuit reserved for the elites, it is worth noting that humanities and liberal arts subjects have been made more accessible to people from diverse backgrounds and social classes. Philosophy has also been made more accessible to non-Western countries like Singapore and Taiwan (despite being a small country but with 160 universities and 13 departments of philosophy) among many others throughout the years.
MyPhilSoc
Likewise, the labelling of philosophy as an “armchair discipline” has also diminished. Over the decades, a growing number of philosophers are conducting experiments to test their arguments. The movement called “x-phi” or experimental philosophy, pioneered by philosophers Jonathan Weinberg, Shaun Nichols and Stephen Stich in the late 1990s prompted philosophers to conduct researches and experiments to accommodate the cross-cultural or demographic variations in “intuitions” people have. Hence we can observe philosophy growing out of the Elite and “armchair” veils and evolving into an inclusive and relevant discipline.
The Values of Philosophy
Philosophy is at the Core of All Knowledge – Yes, Even “Egg” is Related to Philosophy
In the following section, I will address the view that philosophy lacks practicality and marketability.
Firstly, the education development blueprint in Malaysia may have perpetuated the view that philosophy is mutually exclusive from development, this does not mean that it is true. I argue that philosophy plays an essential and inevitable role in change and progress, but this perspective is not available to most Malaysians because precisely there is minimal opportunity to be exposed to philosophy.
Philosophy Foundation
If anything at all, we wouldn’t have been where we are today if not for philosophy. This is because arguably, philosophy is the fundamental of every idea or concept in existence. As philosopher Tim Maudlin put it, “For all X, there is a philosophy of X, which involves the theoretical investigation into the nature of X.”
To see why, if you imagine all concepts as nodes forming a web of knowledge, philosophy would be the central node where all other concepts branch out from. For instance, at the core of the study of politics lies fundamental questions like “What is justice?” and “What is an ideal government?”. At the core of the study of neuroscience, we encounter questions like “What are mental states?”, “Do human brains operate in a pictorial or syntactic format?” and “Can human consciousness be fully explained by materials and physical causes?”. And at the core of the study of sciences, questions like “What is free will?”, “What are the best methods of inquiring into the nature of the universe?” emerge. It is through philosophy, which is the pursuit of answering these big fundamental questions and analysing these fundamental concepts that we roll the wheel of progress forward. This shows that every field of studies falls back to philosophy at the end of the day.
BBC
Need further convincing? Mathematician Hannah Fry showed how if you hit the first link in the main text of any Wikipedia page and do the same for the next page, a pattern emerges. You will eventually reach the page on “Philosophy” no matter where your starting point is.
This shows that Philosophy is not just important, but also inevitable in everything. Everything begins with philosophy including even “egg” and “marmalade”, as Hannah Fry showed. It may be more challenging for us to “see” the values of philosophy because the changes that philosophy creates are changes that happen at a more fundamental level – the level of neurons and thinking, and these changes do not happen instantly or over a short period of time. But this does not mean that philosophy hasn’t propelled any change.
Philosophical Skills are the Skills of Tomorrow
Next, even though philosophical pursuit is time and energy-consuming due to the method of inquiry, it is worth your time and energy. At the very least, philosophy teaches us to be better critical thinkers, decision makers and problem solvers, and philosophical skills are highly employable.
Philosophy majors are found to be ranked in the top 25% of salaries, and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has also shown that philosophy is at least as good of an investment as fields like engineering and healthcare.
An article from thebalancecareers.com also showed that the skills that philosophy teach, including critical thinking, communication and ethics are among the top employability skills sought after by employers.
Philosophy is Necessary for Change and Progress
Pexels
Furthermore, Philosophy can offer us new lens to look at current world affairs and issues, and even solutions to these problems. Philosophers have created history-changing social and political impacts. For instance, Karl Marx has inspired renewal of perspectives towards capitalism and social classes and the birth of Communism through 3 different revolutions, Peter Singer ideas on altruism and animal welfare have contributed to the rise of Effective Altruism movement and aided the relief of poverty and animal liberation across the globe, Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s work contributed to the use of human capabilities as a measure of quality of life, and Camus’ Absurdism has helped individuals cope with fear of death and loss of meaning in life during the pandemics, to name a few. The real-world impacts that philosophy is capable of creating also further illuminates my previous point that philosophy is necessary for change and progress in society.
We at the Malaysian Philosophy Society have been committed to continue the spirit of these philosophers, creating real-world impacts using philosophy, through the content, events and projects we do. What you would like to associate philosophy with after this, we leave it up to you. But we encourage you to come experience it for yourself before making any hasty conclusions.
Chew Zhun Yee is the co-founder of the Malaysian Philosophy Society, an NGO aimed at making philosophy practical and accessible to everyone. Zhun is also a first-class philosophy graduate from King’s College London. Zhun did her year abroad at the University of California, Berkeley, during which she had the chance to dabble into Anthropology, Psychology, Cognitive Science and Graphic Design. Apart from directing the Malaysian Philosophy Society, she is also working full-time in the fields of education and design, and a passionate singer and figure skater herself. Zhun’s dream is to inspire more souls in this planet Earth using original thoughts, written words and digital art.
My taste buds were bland and unstimulated. I could only taste what was fed to me– “knowledge” from textbooks and “recommended readings” to prepare myself for exams. I followed teachers’ and tuition teachers’ instructions religiously.
I was taught that studying hard and regurgitating what was taught is a virtue that every good student should have and the opposite is a vice that should be avoided.
However, I began to question this dichotomy of good and bad, praised and accepted blindly by almost everyone, when I tasted the flavour of emptiness lingering at the back of my tongue when I received my results for the Malaysian Certificate of Education. I got straight As, but I felt empty. I realized that my 5 years of hard work were translated into only a few letters burned onto a piece of embossed paper, which many others also have. And I also realized that I have spent my 5 years of high school life operating like a machine; I never knew or wondered who I am, what I want, how I want to live, and why I do everything I do. My consciousness has way departed from the piece of cert I was holding, and I felt my emptiness grow to the extent that it can fill up the entire space of the auditorium. I didn’t know if my peers felt it too, but it seemed like most of them were either busy sharing the good news with their parents over their phones, or for those who didn’t do so well, they had droopy eyebrows drawn over their faces.
While most of my peers made the choice to immediately continue their higher education, I decided to take a more unconventional path. I didn’t have a plan in mind; I was hoping to figure out my path by letting go of any forms of structures or rigidity. I took a gap year; the decision was doubted and questioned by many, as expected, but I didn’t let others’ opinions take me down.
The Taste of Life
For the first time in my entire life, I tasted the tang of life – it is a little nerve-wrecking, but it is mostly exciting and enriching.
I believe everyone’s quale of life is different (in Philosophy, “quale” is a subjective or phenomenal quality of an object as perceived by a person). But for my case, life feels most lived when I experience breaking my own bubble of knowledge through questioning, inquiring and challenging the status quo.
During my gap year, I partook in a kaleidoscope of activities and ventures I never thought possible when I was trapped in “bad faith” in my high school years. In Sartre’s philosophy of existentialism, “bad faith” is a phenomenon where one refuses to confront choices or alternative possibilities in his or her life by yielding to the values or norms in society, and end up disowning his or her freedom. One of the best discoveries I made during my gap year was discovering the beauty of philosophy. It was through an online course I took called the “Introduction to Philosophy” by the University of Edinburgh. I could still vividly recall the module on Epistemology (the study of knowledge) which got me rethinking the “knowledge” I have learnt throughout my high school years. I never knew that knowledge is “justified” through beliefs and is not regurgitated, I never knew the foundation of knowledge can be shattered through scepticism, and I certainly never knew we could question almost everything in this reality, including the seemingly infallible facts of science.
The Taste of Passion
Embarking on a philosophy degree journey, I tasted passion for the first time.
It wasn’t easy at first, but philosophy opened up worlds that weren’t available to me. I learned to suspend my judgments rather than blindly accept what is presented to me, embrace opposing viewpoints and consideralternative perspectives, and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of arguments. The skills that philosophy taught me are not easily discardable, like the information I learned and regurgitated back in high school.
It taught me better critical thinking, decision making and problem solving. For instance, when I am faced with obstacles at work, my years of training in philosophy allowed me to work through the problems in a logical framework, by analysing the logical consequences of each possible solution and figure out the most viable outcome that minimizes the utility lost.
Many people, including you and I, have practiced or are currently practicing philosophy in our everyday life, from the way we think, the questions we ask, to the way we behave; you are probably just not aware of it. For example, you are upset about not performing well on a task at work or school, so you decided to take a break from your work, practice meditation, listen to some music, and distance yourself from the situation at hand. You tell yourself, you have already done your best, and whatever your boss thinks or how the results turn out to be is not up to your control. Without you realizing, you are actually practicing Stoicism’s Dichotomy of Control – you practice focusing on things that are within your control and accept that certain things are not worth frustrating over with. In short, philosophy brought me out of my bubble of knowledge, and most importantly, it ensured my journey of learning and living is one that is full-bodied.
It didn’t stop there. I wanted to share this joy I found in my encounter with philosophy with more people in Malaysia. I believe the Malaysian education system can do better in terms of instilling creativity and critical thinking amongst the students.
The Malaysian education system, for those of you who have experienced it, can be characterized as a linear model where teaching and learning form a one-way current – that is, the educators disseminate the information to the students and the students absorb them like a sponge.
This is because we follow the British education system established in Malaysia since the British colonisation era. Things have progressed since then, but the pace of progress of education is significantly slower than the progress of science and technology in our country.
We are educated in ways that cannot sufficiently prepare us for the challenges of the modern world.
The skills required in today‘s working environment are vastly different from those of a few decades ago. With the rapid progression of science and technological advancement, it is not open to the workforce to rest on their laurels. It is the eagerness to learn new information and the critical thinking ability to assimilate and apply the new knowledge we learned that allow us to keep up with the constant change in contemporary society. Here is where Philosophy comes in.
I co-founded the Malaysian Philosophy Society with Dr. Tee Chen Giap, for this very reason – to introduce and integrate philosophy and critical thinking into the education system and everyday life of Malaysians.
Taste of Hope
It was during that time that I tasted hope – the hope that there is room for change in the education climate in Malaysia. We have been working towards the goal of building an ecosystem of philosophy and critical thinking here in Malaysia by holding onto that piece of hope since the end of 2016. Our modus operandi is making philosophy practical, that is, using philosophy to solve everyday life and real-world problems, through the content, events and projects we do.
It is worth noting that we are not dumbing down philosophy, rather, we make the already practical aspects of philosophy more explicit by:
Actively analysing local problems through the lens of philosophy,
Translating general questions that philosophers ask into specific ones targeted on local issues, and
Collaborating with multidisciplinary thinkers and policy makers to plant philosophy’s position in the hearts and minds of everyday Malaysians.
I hope, in the near future, we can all taste the local flavour of kemajuan (progress) in our country through philosophy. To end, I would like to cordially invite you to hold the hands of courage to open the terrain of your taste buds to new stimuli and spices out there, for you will be surprised by the new possibilities that are opened up to you.
I would of course encourage you to give the dish of philosophy a try as well. Whether you like it or not, at least you have given it a go.
