Faithful Fool Research Paper

As you know, I was assigned to service learn at the Faithful Fools. Before this service learning requirement, and before Carmen had come into class to discuss a little bit about the organization, I had never heard of this the Faithful Fools before. But since then I have learned that Faithful Fools is a San Francisco based, Tenderloin neighborhood, street ministry organization. The Fools are focused on community, community building and the humanity of all people. An important phrase for the Fools is, “We discover on the streets our common humanity.” This short and simple phrase characterizes a lot of the Fools’ approach and their organization’s goal. This is because that it is a way of thinking and acting that the Fools strive for in both

their organization's actions in the Tenderloin (and beyond), as well as in their everyday personal lives. Since they are striving to see the humanity in every person instead of the labels placed upon them.
A very important part of volunteering and service learning, with the Faithful Fools, is participating in their Street Retreat program. And the Street Retreats are a great example of showcasing what exactly the Fools’ goals are because it is a time when the Fools are trying to lead people to be present in the neighborhood and the community and to dismantle the stereotypes and negative associations that people have when they think or view poverty and homelessness, particularly in San Francisco’s “notorious” Tenderloin neighborhood. The Street Retreats help because in the goal of dismantling these negative stigmas, because it “forces” you to immerse yourself in the neighborhood, to be a part of it with no other obligations or restrictions, with no other motive, or daily itinerary. The Street Retreat is a way that the Faithful Fools help you to do nothing other than to walk around, to notice, to be a part of the community in which they are based, and are trying to help build.
Another area in which the Fools’ effect on the community becomes clear and present is during their TL Votes program and the discussions and conversations that occur there.

TL Votes was actually one of my favorite service learning activities to participate in and to attend. This program was really essential in actually helping me create a connection to the Fools and these communities; to the people who frequent the Fools’ Court, and call it home, or a home away from home, a safe place. Through TL Votes I was able to talk to, and more importantly, for me, to listen to, the people who live in this community. To hear about the issues they have, particularly regarding housing, race, poverty, and class issues. Or, even to hear their thoughts and experiences, whether it related to a political issue or not.
A sort of culmination to my realizations through this service learning experience happened at the Fools’ annual Oscard’s Feast. This event was very eye-opening and stunning to me. Because I had never previously heard of this organization, I truly did not understand the true scope and the extent to which this organization, these people, truly help and inspired people; I was especially surprised by the amount of people they have

affected.
Based on these experiences, and the rest of my experience with the Fools, I believe that the Faithful Fools approach to justice, community, and ethics cannot be defined by a single philosopher’s idea or approach. It is clear to me that the Faithful Fool’s are in agreement with Iris Marion Young because they do not subscribe to the “distributive justice paradigm.” Iris Marion Young’s main criticisms of this paradigm are that it does not “focus on social processes” and that it does not include non-material resources like “rights, opportunity, and self-respect” Young believes that this paradigm “implies a misleading or incomplete social ontology (Young 25). Although the Fools might not explicitly state agreement with Young, (although some might, particularly if it was brought up during a TL Votes session) their actions also prove it. The Fools are focused on facing the very base issues, and particularly in supporting these non-material goods of rights, opportunity, and self-respect.
The Fools’ approach to justice also shows a lot of similarities to that of Kant and his categorical imperatives. In regards to the first of Kant’s categorical imperatives, that “I ought never to act in such a way that I could not also will that my maxim should be a universal law” (Kant 18). I think that what the Fools teach also coincides with this imperative because the Fools teach us how to recognize the importance of being aware of others, and how we affect others through our actions or even just our presence. I learned this both during the Street Retreat, and the weekly TL Votes meetings. Kant’s second categorical maxim that states “Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only” (Kant, 46). I think this is highly important and visible in the Fool’s actions. Everyone is welcome at Fool’s Court. The open and welcoming atmosphere really stresses the importance of people, and it does not just welcome people that have “value” or “use.” Also, once again the quote, “we discover on the streets our common humanity,” really comes into focus here. The humanity of a person, our common shared humanity, is what is intrinsically valuable. It is also very important to the Fools that you treat yourself with this same level of great respect and reverence as you should treat others. And so, in these ways, the Fools methods do coincide with Kant’s approach to ethics and justice.
I also believe that you can see Aristotle’s ideals of virtue ethics in the Fool’s work, especially in their partnering with Healing Well. For Aristotle, “human good turns out to be activity of soul exhibiting virtue.” He believes that human good is human happiness and that an important part of pursuing this happiness is working your entire life to be better, to be constantly striving for that goodness. I see this in the Faithful Fools organization because they are dedicated to helping others realize their worth, and providing them the space and opportunities, in order to do so. Both the Fools and their partner, Healing Well, have programs that are there to help people improve their lives, both in an intellectual sense, like Writing Now! or TL Votes discussion groups, or in a more personal sense, like meditation or Interfaith Bible Study. Creating these opportunities helps to allow people the ability to pursue happiness in the way that Aristotle believed. In all these ways, I began to see how philosophical study does have an actual, and necessary, place in society.
Through my service learning and community engagement with the Faithful Fools and the study of ethical philosophers, and even because of other people’s personal opinions and experiences that they shared during class has affected my own idea of what justice means.

My newly influenced meaning of justice affects how I view justice on both a personal level, as well as what it should mean in society as a whole. In the beginning half of this semester, we were asked to reflect on what our personal ideas of justice were. I had written, “I think my personal idea of justice is very entwined what I would probably connect with respect and the basic dignities of life.” This still holds true, although now my idea of justice is much more nuanced and has more depth to it. I feel like now I have both academic knowledge and “real-world” experience to support my idea of

justice.
Through learning with Faithful Fools I have gotten to participate in and observe I have been able to, narrow down my conception of justice. In one example that I have mentioned in a previous essay, there was a woman, Anne, who had been homeless with her husband until they managed to attain veteran housing. Yet, even though they were given housing it was not up to the standards that most of us would accept–meaning roach and bedbug infested, and loud even in the dead of night due to placement. Listening to this story helped me to see that even something that on a surface level look (a homeless husband and wife getting housing) is not as clear-cut as it seems, and despite first glance appearances, does not actually coincide with what I believe justice should be.
My idea of the meaning of justice was also heavily influenced by our philosophical readings and class discussions. I always tend to come back to Aristotle, but that is because I think that his view of ethics and justice is a very hopeful one. I truly like that it focuses on bettering yourself continuously and not being condemned for not immediately achieving the end result. I think that this is important to my idea of justice because this way I can always be open to the idea of growth and change all for the sake of becoming a better person, or for creating a better society.
I also tend to come back to Kant, in reflections and discussions, and I believe that with Kant’s approach I gained influence from both the readings and the Faithful Fools. The second categorical imperative is such a strong stance, especially from a deontologist point of view, where it becomes a duty to treat people as intrinsically valuable just because they are rather than what they can be used for. I think that this is such an important way to approach other people, and it is often something that is ignored, especially in our capitalistic society, where production is put above everything else.
Strangely enough, the influence of Iris Marion Young on my idea of justice happened mostly because of my classmates. It seemed like many people had a hard time understanding Young’s defining of the “distributive paradigm of justice.” I think that people having such a difficulty with seeing Young’s critique of this paradigm is telling. I also think if it were not for the Faithful Fools I would have had a much more difficult time in understanding this critique. But, because the Fools do not subscribe to distributive justice and their organization is not focused on distributing goods or materials it was easier to see what Iris Marion Young’s critique was, and why she was critiquing it. But, because the Fools are very focused on building community and encouraging advocacy and discussion no pressing issues, it was easier to look past the idea of distribution being the end all be all and to begin to look at the reasons why these are issues that we are facing in society.
Because of my new depth to my personal understanding of justice, I have to do some more reflection on “what role I would like work towards justice to play in my own life.” But, I think that because of my current field of study, Urban Studies, citizenship is very important to me. A popular question in urban studies (and politics) is what exactly and actually creates citizenship. I think that this is an important topic to look at, especially since what it means to be a citizen often directly relates to justice, and what justice is and can be. So, I suppose this is why I also was intrigued by Iris Marion Young, because she is a political philosopher, and her writings helped to really solidify why the connection to politics and justice is so important, and I believe this is especially important in an urban context.
On a less broad level, I believe that there is a connection to how justice and friendships are related. I think in personal and emotional relationships and connections the role of justice can be confusing and muddled, but with further reflection, I realized it is also very important. I think that my new idea of justice is very similar to my original in that I do believe that respect and dignities of life play a large role. But, the complexities that come with that are more apparent to me now. And because we focused in large part on large societal connection to justice, I want to continue to look for it on more private, and personal levels.