Philosophical Investigation

1. FADE IN.

2. 
   

3. Act 1

4. 
   

5. INT. STUDY - DAY

6. 
   

7. PETER checks a phone notification.

8. 
   

9. PETER (V.O.): Someone asks me what is a philosophical lesson one can learn from the coronavirus pandemic?

10. 
    

11. Pausing.

12. 
    

13. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): From a KOL on Hong Kong matters, I've moved on to become a pandemic KOL. My unexpected transformation.

14. 
    

15. Pausing.

16. 
    

17. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've been focusing on facts and their interpretation particularly from the governance perspective.

18. 
    

19. Pausing.

20. 
    

21. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And now on philosophy - a subject I hold dear to my heart.

22. 
    

23. Act 2

24. 
    

25. INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS

26. 
    

27. Recalling.

28. 
    

29. PETER (V.O.): A few days ago, somebody asked me what unique things to do during the lockdown and I suggested to him to learn some philosophy.

30. 
    

31. Pausing.

32. 
    

33. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Yes, the present question poser might have read that.

34. 
    

35. Pausing.

36. 
    

37. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A quick answer that has come up to my mind is that people never learn the lessons of history, repeating the wrongs all the time.

38. 
    

39. Reflecting.

40. 
    

41. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, but that is just an instructive observation from the social science perspective.

42. 
    

43. Pausing.

44. 
    

45. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Although laymen might regard that as philosophical enough, I've to direct them on the right track.

46. 
    

47. Pausing.

48. 
    

49. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It was in the 1970s that I studied philsophy. I took classic subjects like logic, epistemology, ethics, politics and religion.

50. 
    

51. Pausing.

52. 
    

53. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In the 1980s, I was focusing on the philosophy of law. And then I became the Secretary of the Hong Kong Philosophy Society for a few years.

54. 
    

55. Pausing.

56. 
    

57. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Since then, I haven't updated myself about the philosophical developments in the past decades.

58. 
    

59. Peter surfs the web with his phone.

60. 
    

61. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, there's now a subject called Social Philosophy. And a sub-field under it is the Philosophy of Social Science.

62. 
    

63. Pausing.

64. 
    

65. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): This is the first time I read about it. The field must be relevant concerning any philosophical investigation of the coronavirus pandemic.

66. 
    

67. Peter continues to read some small prints on his phone.

69. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, the content of the field is no more than the application of classic philosophical subjects like politics and ethics in the social science context.

70. 
    

71. Pausing.

72. 
    

73. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And no one has yet applied the so-called Philosophy of Social Science in the coronvirus pandemic context yet.

74. 
    

75. Pausing.

76. 
    

77. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But my challenge is to explain my answer in a concise and precise way so that people would understand.

78. 
    

79. Pausing.

80. 
    

81. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): People will quickly shut their minds if they think there's no way to understand philosophy. It doesn't seem that one would be handicapped without knowing anything about it.

82. 
    

83. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That however has been a human failing in my intellectual assessment.

84. 
    

85. Act 3

86. 
    

87. INT. STUDY- DAY

88. 
    

89. Recalling.

90. 
    

91. PETER (V.O.): If I say an unexamined life isn't worth living. People would simply dismiss it that they've had too many exams in life already.

92. 
    

93. Pausing.

94. 
    

95. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Let me first go back to the basics. What is a philosophical investigation? Let me define it so that people would have a better idea.

96. 
    

97. Thinking.

98. 
    

99. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): First, it is an intellectual process. Secondly, it investigates the nature of concepts. Thirdly, its purpose is to raise the levels of explanation.

100. 
     

101. Peter begins to type and we see on the screen: Philosophical investigation. It's an intellectual process to investigate into the nature of concepts like logic, epistemology, ethics, politics, law, science and social sciences with a view to raising the levels of explanation.

102. 
     

103. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I hope my definition explains. The investigation doesn't bring any conclusive answers. If there're, they would become science. Eg speculative cosmology is being replaced by scientific astronomy.

104. 
     

105. Pausing.

106. 
     

107. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But philosophy is quite the "science" of all sciences.

108. 
     

109. Pondering.

110. 
     

111. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Through the acts or omissions of individuals or agencies, there're lots of pandemic lessions one can learn.

112. 
     

113. Peter continues to type on his phone and we see on the screen: Pandemic lessons. In people's/agencies' omissions/acts, we learn about interpretation v knowledge, politics v morality, selfishness v altruism, individualism v socialism, anthropocentrism v ecocentrism...

114. 
     

115. PETER (V.O.): I won't jump to any conclusions. See if they would engage in the intellectual process in the suggested contexts and can synthesize the theses and antitheses to raise their own levels of understanding of what philosophical investigation is all about.

116. 
     

117. Peter taps Submit.

118. 
     

119. INT. STUDY - NIGHT

120. 
     

121. Peter is having screen time.

122. 
     

123. PETER (V.O.): Among all the answers I replied today, the philosophical one gave me lots of intellectual pleasure.

124. 
     

125. Peter checks something.

126. 
     

127. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Quite a number of views too. Hope my crisp answer can be life-changing!

128. 
     

129. FADE OUT.

130. 
     

131. THE END