Beyond the souls in jars, mind melds and waiting to mate every 7 years, I am curious about the stoicism and dedication to the principles of logic inherent in Vulcans. Obviously as an idea it's never been fleshed out entirely, and bits of it, like any philosophy put to practice, are probably prone to wildly differing interpretations, but has anyone ever tried compiling this into something that could be practiced in the world? I have some experience with world religions. I like to joke that I have had more religions than new cars, but i am not entirely certain where to place this "Vulcanianism." It certainly isn't the middle way of Buddhism, nor is it as ascetic as some forms of Vedanta. It has no focus on a deity as, for the most part, are the Abrahamic faiths like Judaism, Christianity, Samaritanism, Islam, or Baha'i. It certainly doesn't seem to be dualistic like Zoroastrianism (and there my knowledge of Zoroastrianism runs out of gas). The closest I can come up with is as a non religious practice like stoicism, though in its religious attributes perhaps more like Jainism, though unlike Jains, Vulcans don't seem to believe in nonviolence. Why hasn't some group attempted to live like vulcans? Or have they? Can it be done?
Is the Vulcan way of life desirable? I'm not sure. I admire the Vulcan's capability to deal with stress, pain, anger and difficult situation by applying meditation techniques. But living an ascetic live like them wouldn't be my cup of tea, especially not the Kolinahr.
In general though they seem to live well. Their dedication to logic has not precluded their pursuit of artistic endeavor or of knowledge.
As a victim of self-imposed emotional suppression, it has its uses, but I can't recommend it as a healthy lifestyle.
This. ^ There's nothing healthy about long term suppression of emotion IMHO, unless you're some fictional alien being that has superhuman raging emotional states. I guess the mentally ill could practice some level of it, but in those cases, it still requires medication & therapy
Maybe the English who are trained to keep a stiff upper lip are an example of being somewhere on the "Vulcanianism" spectrum, but perhaps not too far in.
I doubt very many modern Brits would fall into that classic mold (or is that mould?)... Stoicism is not something invented for Star Trek, it was a real movement on this world in ancient Greece: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism
As its best the Vulcan philosophy, at least as it was portrayed in TOS, embraced the classical western values of temperance, prudence, self-restraint, and reasoned thinking. I like to think of Spock as a follower of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics.
The trouble with pure Vulcanism is, logic is great for finding the best way to achieve your goals. But the goals themselves are inherently emotional. Morality itself is based on imposing logical structures to our basic human empathy. If you try to totally disregard that emotion your moral goals will inherently drift to institutional moralism, which Iād argue is responsible for our greatest social evils.
Agreed. I wasn't trying to say that modern or even ancient Brits fall into that category, en mass. I was just trying to suggest that maybe the ones that embraced the "stiff upper lip" mentality might be a possible example of a (sub)group acting like "Vulcans". I'm not sure because I never delved deeply into that mentality, but at least on the surface, the outward suppression of emotion in difficult circumstances and the "getting to the business at hand" seems similar. I think we all know about the Greek origins of Stoicism by the way. No one suggested that Star Trek writers invented it.
I adopted an approach to life that was largely inspired by the Vulcans and Isaac Asimov's robots, during my high school years, to survive some very stressful situations I was dealing with. And it worked, but I also have come to believe that I put myself out of touch with my own feelings and wants to an unhealthy degree. These days I take a much more balanced approach to life. And I feel like Spock's conversation with Valeris about logic only being the beginning of wisdom was trying to warn me about the problems with what I was doing - but I wasn't listening.
Logic and clear thinking is a great tool, and society desperately needs more of it, but it is only a means to an end.
In TMP, a cut part of the scene in the officer's lounge had McCoy saying to Spock (generally) that because of Vulcan culture, in the last 500 years Vulcan had created no new art, had created no new music, advanced no new philosophy. Being without emotions would suppress hate and anger, but you would also lose love, joy and wonder.
I remember reading that humans who have damage done to the portion of their brain which controls emotions, making them more or less emotionless basically behave...well...illogically. We need emotions to help us rationalize. Without them, for example, people may decide to go out driving on an icy road wearing no seatbelt, because it was actually the fear of death that motivates people to make the "rational" rather than "irrational" decision.
It has seemed to me that "perfect" logic would acknowledge that in a universe where the ultimate heat-death of everything is inevitable, the most logical course of action would be to cease being as soon as possible. But that's just no way to live. Literally.
In the 2009 iteration of STAR TREK, Sarek came up with, IMO, the ideal reason why "logic" was the best lifestyle for Vulcans... (Shortly after Young Spock's encounter with his bullies) Sarek: Emotions run deep within our race. In many ways, more deeply than in humans. Long ago, they nearly destroyed us...that is why we followed the teachings of Surak. Now you must choose. Young Spock: Between you and mother? Sarek: Never, my son. But you may choose the ethic of logic. Logic offers a serenity humans seldom experience. The control of feelings... so that they do not control you. In many cases, "logic" is used as a tool, rather than a means to an end. In this case, "logic" tempers emotions, not control them. Otherwise, we lose the ability to have faith (in the general sense) in anything, as well as lack a degree of compassion towards others, IMO.
Interesting thoughts. I would love to have seen, in Star Trek, a movement of humans who have adapted and follow the teachings of Surak.