4.1 The inner

The following paragraphs focus on the inner part of human beings so that this writing emphasise the necessity to think about the development of the inner part of human beings, not just thinking about the policies or regulation implemented in society. In order to think about how we can deal with the problems around expression and the difference of context or background among peoples, the following writing gives us at least an idea to think about.

In the world at the beginning of 21^st century, when the topic of freedom of expression comes to the table of discussion, typically the left or human rights advocates raise their voice to claim the importance of freedom of expression. Although the right to speech and express opinions is fundamental one, it often deepens the tension between those who claim the importance of freedom of expression and those who are in the opposite position. This is particularly seen in Europe as well as Asia for example in 2010s. This type of cases may repeatedly occur, and it made me think about how we can alleviate the tension among people of different opinions. In the tense situations where two opposite parties have opposite opinions each other, it is not easy, or I would say difficult to soften the tension.

In order to cope with this kind of situation, I would like to focus on a concept that human beings can share in the deeper part of their mind. What I focus on in this part is the concept of sentiment. It is related to the inner part of human beings that triggers care about others. When it comes to freedom of expression, many debates tend to talk about policies and regulation such as improving the policies on online platforms or regulating hate speech by new policies. They are outside human beings and involved in the improvement of environment in which people live. However, I don’t think we only have to talk about the environmental policies, and I feel the necessity to talk about the inside of human beings as well, that is to say the inner part of human beings.

One of the concepts that is related to the inner aspect is thymos. It appears in The Republic by Plato(1). The concise explanation of thymos is that “Thymos is something like an innate human sense of justice: people believe that they have a certain worth, and when other people act as though they are worth less—when they do not recognize their worth at its correct value—then they become angry”(2) and it “refers to a part of the soul that invests objects with value”(3).

The sentences describe that thymos is “an innate human sense of justice”, which signifies that it is more related to human nature, and mentioned a certain relationship with anger. Additionally saying, another concept which is dignity, is often related to the discussion of expression. The dignity is related to the inner part of self and “‘Dignity’ refers to a person’s sense of self-worth; ‘in-dignation’ arises when something happens to offend that sense of worth”(4).

As regards this thymos, what should be kept in mind is that it applies not only to oneself, but also to others. This is to say that the former is the case when a person feels anger when another undertreats them, the latter is that a person feels anger when, for instance, their friend is undertreated by others.

When those who are believed by some persons are targeted by the expressions of others and those expressions are perceived as uncomfortable, there’s a tension between those who have beliefs and those who claim their right to express. Human nature of feeling anger if one is undertreated has been talked in a topic of Thymos, the anger arises in things related not only to oneself but also adaptable to others(5).

This adaptability towards others matters when those who or which have been receiving faith from the citizens are the target of expressions by others. As far as one’s dignity is maintained, one may not take action in seeking it. If not in the enough level one considers, one may further seek. Dignity applies to the ones who have respect in another, and another is irrespectfully treated by others, for example in religious context.

The topic of the inward in oneself has been profound in philosophy. Particularly, the link between the inwardness of oneself and freedom is not separable. The inner part of oneself is the unalienable sphere by the physical force. This topic triggers curiosity in looking at the perspective that “Ancient world alienation in all its varieties—from stoicism to epicureanism down to hedonism and cynicism—had been inspired by a deep mistrust of the word and moved by a vehement impulse to withdraw from worldly involvement, from the trouble and pain it inflicts, into the security of an inward realm in which the self is exposed to nothing but itself”(6). Rule and law put in place are outward factors surrounding persons. In order to have a better society for the public, the efforts of government are welcomed, but eventually “The care of Souls cannot belong to the Civil Magistrate, because his Power consists only in outward force”(7). The growth of the inward has to be the true contemplation by oneself, it hasn’t been done by coercion from outward. Coercion is often denounced, and freedom of conscience is protected in many countries. Even human’s mind has not been fully captured in details by science as of the beginning of 21^st century.

There are different types of thoughts. Some believe that “all aspects of mentality (including conscious awareness) are merely features of the computational activity of the brain”, that is why they believe that “electronic computers should also be capable of consciousness, and would conjure up this quality as soon as they acquire sufficient computational power and are programmed in an appropriate way”(8). What Penrose thinks about it is that “whatever consciousness is, it’s not a computation”(9).

If one spends some time in their life, one has felt a variety of sentiments in a variety of situations. The feeling of imagining the situation as I were in that circumstance is what I respect for human beings.

In the following part on sentiment, I put focus on how we cultivate the inside of human beings such as sentiment or mind as the inner part of human beings is related to the understanding of expression as well as of how others would feel from expression one makes. It is to talk about the sentiment of those who make expression and those who receive expression, and also others living in community.

(1) Francis Fukuyama, The end of history and the last man (New York: Free Press, 2006), p. 163.

(2) Francis Fukuyama, The end of history and the last man (New York: Free Press, 2006), p.165.

(3) Francis Fukuyama, The end of history and the last man (New York: Free Press, 2006), p.165.

(4) Francis Fukuyama, The end of history and the last man (New York: Free Press, 2006), p.165.

(5) Francis Fukuyama, The end of history and the last man (New York: Free Press, 2006), pp.171-172.

(6) Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018), p.310.

(7) John Locke, Second Treatise of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), p.129.

(8) Roger Penrose, The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and The Laws of Physics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), p.xv. Which Roger Penrose disbelieves in.

(9) ‘Roger Penrose: Physics of Consciousness and the Infinite Universe | Lex Fridman Podcast #85’, Lex Fridman, published 31 March 2020, accessed 27 July 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orMtwOz6Db0. Around 40:20-.