How to Become More Manly

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If you\\u2019re a man, it seems wise to strive to become more manly. But what does this mean?

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To past philosophers, they called it becoming more \\u201cvirtuous\\u201d (virtus meaning \\u201cman\\u201d.) But funny enough, nowadays it seems that the trend is to strive towards manliness is not really a desired goal. We are trying to teach men that masculinity is \\u201ctoxic\\u201c, and that instead of striving to become more manly, or masculine, we should strive to become more \\u201ccompassionate\\u201c, empathetic, \\u201cinclusive\\u201c, etc.

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Ultimately it comes to a philosophical code of ethics. What is philosophy? The closest answer that Nietzsche came up with is the philosopher as a legislator, or a law maker of the future. In more practical terms, I see a philosopher as somebody who tells others what they \\u201cshould\\u201c do. Also what they \\u201cshould not\\u201c to do.\\ufffc\\ufffc\\ufffc\\ufffc

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The tricky thing is that nobody wants to be told what to do, at least upfront. It does seem to take more energy to think for yourself.

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The teacher as philosopher-educator\\ufffc

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What is the teacher anyways? Partly an educator of basic concepts, but teachers are also philosophers, who shape the minds of children. It seems that in today\\u2019s modern society, because a lot of the parents are always working, the teachers end up having the moral responsibility of teaching kids ethics, and a code of conduct.

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For example, I was born in 1988. As a kid growing up, I was taught notions of diversity, equality, open mindedness, critical thinking, the value of being unique, and different. For the most part, I actually really liked this. I\\u2019m quite happy the way I turned out. But certainly as one becomes an adult, one should start to question the codes of ethics one was raised with, and to decide to start thinking for oneself. And to start living for oneself.\\ufffc\\ufffc\\ufffc

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Why don\\u2019t I really know any women interested in philosophy?\\ufffc

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Cindy is probably the first woman I have ever met in my life, who was actually interested in philosophy and the meaning of life. However the big word philosophy is not thrown around. It is more about adventuring, questioning the status quo, and dreaming big.\\ufffc

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In actuality, in today\\u2019s world, nobody really talks about philosophy. It is not something that one questions.

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So two things: first of all, maybe it is a sociological thing: society does not care for women to question the status quo and society, they would prefer women to be the child readers, give birth to children, do domestic chores, etc.

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But also on the other hand, society doesn\\u2019t really want men to be philosophers either. Philosophers are pretty much disobedient, unproductive folks, who refuse to be told what to do. If you think about past philosophers like Diogenes, they were kind of annoying nomadic homeless people, who would say pithy things, and just be a little bit annoying to everybody.\\ufffc\\ufffc\\ufffc

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Also, it does seem that in order to become philosophical, or truly philosophical, there are a lot of things that one cannot have in life: a standard 9-to-5 job, dependence on money, etc. For myself, I was only able to start really thinking philosophically once I left America, and started to live abroad in Vietnam, where I realized: I will never run out of money.\\ufffc

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If anything, a philosopher is actually the highest rank in society. A philosopher doesn\\u2019t actually need to base their opinion on first principles, they could simply state what they believe in, without having to call anybody else. It seems that the bias in today\\u2019s society is that he who is richest has the highest rank. Modern society in America valorizes really really rich people, really really rich business people, and really really rich entr'