this video is brought to you by black
woods stick around to the end of the
video for a preview what's up guys
Jared here as I briefly alluded to in
our last South Park video I've been
playing a lot of Red Dead Redemption too
lately and at the risk of sounding
hyperbolic it's nothing less than a
milestone in the art of gaming now I
could spend the entirety of this video
geeking out about the detail the story
of the performances but that's not what
I want to talk about today because
surprise I want to talk about philosophy
in fact there's one mission in the game
that builds its entire trajectory around
two philosophical ideas and not only is
it quite clever but it builds off the
critique of early American values that
the franchise is so famous for this is
America you can always cut a deal so
welcome to this test vlog format on Red
Dead Redemption 2 we might do a bigger
wisecrack edition that focuses on the
entirety of the game but I haven't even
finished it yet in the meantime I know
you guys like hearing about our process
so consider this a little window into
how we think about things let us know
what you think about this new format in
the comments and very insignificant
spoilers ahead seriously it just doesn't
matter starting early in Chapter four
you can go on a three-part stranger
mission called idealism and pragmatism
for beginners so yeah you can probably
see why we're breaking down this mission
it comically explores the basic tenants
of idealism and pragmatism but it's in
its exploration of pragmatism a uniquely
American philosophy that we get to see
that classic rock star sarcasm as they
take American values down a peg in the
first part of the mission were
introduced to Mayor Lemieux the
pragmatist and his assistant John Mark
the idealist the mayor informs our third
that he recently bought a collection of
classic paintings to hang in a new
museum he plans to open but turns out
he's been conned the sleazy art dealer
painted them himself but that's no
biggie for Lemieux the problem solver
who will display them anyway these are
good paintings I can't make the
difference and I'm French but an expert
by the name of Professor shift occur is
on his way to evaluate the paintings and
make public their fraudulence so mayor
Lemieux hires
to intimidate professor shift occur so
that he changes his professional opinion
and deems the paintings real shift occur
initially resists but Arthur's fists are
quite convincing ok so what does this
have to do with either philosophy well
in this part of the mission we most
clearly see an interesting exploration
of pragmatism originating in the 1870s
pragmatism is an American philosophy
primarily developed by Charles Pierce
William James and John Dewey pragmatist
vary in their specific philosophies but
one tendency among them all is their
willingness to settle metaphysical and
scientific debates according to the
practical consequences of ideas so
basically they emphasize that which is
useful to advance human understanding of
the world more importantly this stands
in contrast with those who sought out
universal truths with reason a larger
man idealist like Immanuel Kant so on
the one level we see the mayor ever the
pragmatist deciding to beat the [ __ ] out
of a man so long as it's useful and
jean-marc the idealist holding moral
principles as universal truths not
unlike our boycott violence is never
right but there's another reading of
this scenario that perhaps incidentally
comments on how pragmatism deals with
our understanding of reality pragmatist
don't look towards universal truths and
stress that human ideas about reality
are likely wrong so because humans are
fallible some pragmatic thinkers favor
ideas that are the most useful for a
pragmatist like John Dewey scientific
hypotheses are great because they're
useful and even if they're not a hundred
percent right we can fumble around with
them to acquire more scientific
knowledge which allows us to concoct
better theories the same for Dewey
should be true of philosophical ideas
rather than search for some capital-t
truth one should instead search for an
idea that may be useful to humanity and
its advancement of knowledge so here we
see another layer to the joke the mayor
hires Arthur to beat the dead of a guy
until he admits that a fake painting is
real now although this isn't exactly
what the pragmatist we're talking about
they're making a blunt if reductive joke
pragmatism sure the paintings aren't
real per se but the idea that they are
real has its use in the advancement of
public education and culture so who
cares if they're fraudulent people are
gonna look at those paintings and love
them so you're helping as William James
said in his work pragmatism a new name
for some old ways of thinking the true
is the name for whatever proves itself
to be good in the way of belief and good
to for definite assignable reasons this
idea of partial truths also comes up
later I'm worried that he's going to
open his mouth and say things that
aren't true to those vulgar Puritans at
the newspaper
well perhaps true but not the whole
truth
now I don't think anyone at Rockstar is
reading John Dewey and if you are please
send me an email
but this take on pragmatism as it's more
commonly understood by non philosophers
is in line with red Dead's cynical take
on the value systems that propelled the
West at the turn of the century
pragmatism is darkly cast as an ideology
that more or less justifies selfish
cynical behavior education is the most
wonderful thing it'll raise us higher
and higher make civics and ethics less
work of dirty-minded pragmatist like me
and the calling of higher better man
Here I am in part two of the mission we
see this distinction between the dirty
pragmatism of the mayor and Jean marks
idealism when the mayor hires you to
once again intimidate a newspaperman
into funding the library Arthur does
what he does best and the newspaperman
gives in and libraries are good things
right look at these beautiful books this
is magnificent we'll bring this city
back to life if it kills me
and it probably shall so if it requires
a little bit of nasty business to get
something done it's worth it right such
pragmatic justifications for pretty
gnarly SH are all over both games
including the essential conflict of the
first game threat and John's family in
order to get him to do what they want
kill the remaining members of the
in the third and final part of the
mission we see a final standoff between
these two idea systems when jean-marc
turns on the mayor for his seeming lack
of principles we'll strive to improve
the city's moral backbone by any means
available to us here the reason
yes-yes-yes within my reason because
it's better to get something done than
nothing at all like you said utterly
corrupted Lemieux how I long for the
luxury to have principles such as you
but I must actually do things so there
you have it a little taste of philosophy
in what is undoubtedly a top contender
for game of the year so what do you guys
think is this exploration of pragmatism
relevant in more areas than just this
one mission let us know what you think
and hope you guys enjoyed this new vlog
format and as I already mentioned I'm
super impressed with the story of Red
Dead 2 so if you guys are looking for
more engaging stories to listen to while
you're hunting legendary animals or
trying to find those rare herbs you got
to check out black wood it's a narrative
podcast about a group of friends
investigating their small towns urban
legend the black wood bug man it's kind
of like VHS or Blair Witch Project meet
stranger things with it's found footage
audio style each episode leaves you
wanting more so if you're interested you
can head to wonder EFM slash wise or
find Blackwood anywhere you would get
your podcasts as always thanks for
watching guys peace
if you still need convincing check out
this preview for the series five years
ago three teenagers from the small town
of Blackwood Connecticut started an
investigation into a local legend we are
officially recording within weeks their
names would be added to a long list of
tragedies in town everything you're
about to hear was recorded by them all
of it
you can kick against his thickly scaled
body scratch out his bulging red eyes
but you won't escape the black wood bug
man welcome to the black wood podcast
[Music]