In a message dated 12/10/00 7:45:33 PM Central Standard Time,
namacdonald@stthomas.edu writes:
> Subjectivism isn't nonsense- the entire discipline of hermeneutics
> depends
> on this concept.
I'll confess I'm no expert on the technical philosophical writing that passes
under the name of "hermeneutics." And I'll also acknowledge that modern
scholarship which stresses the context of historical narratives has at least
that as an important contribution to our culture. But the complete
relativism that has come to dominate contemporary academia could only seem
anything but absurd to someone immersed in it.
> Although I agree that post-modernism is a dead
> paradigm
> that hasn't had it's funeral yet, I can't agree with a paradigm which
> denies
> the relevance of my existence.
I don't follow how pursuit of a rational approach to life "denies the
relevance of your existence". Correct me if I'm wrong, but somehow you seem
to be equating reason with emotional sterility. This is the straw man that
the early firebrands of the Romantic movement attacked. But it is just that:
A shallow caricature of reason.
> Not that the ideological progressives of
> the
> 1950's were any better (Karl Marx? Communist Materialism?!?)... I'll
> agree
> that Romanticism is lousy as a base from which to work, or a social
> paradigm, but it's a wonderful way to live one's life. In my opinion,
> the
> best philosophy isn't that which achieves the most universal happiness,
> but
> the one that tells the best story in the end. Wars, revolutions, love,
> hate, death- this is what makes life interesting!
The glorious triumph of the Volk; the stirring triumph of the proletarian
dictatorship! What great stories! How interesting!
> > > Well then, zeig heil!
> >
> > I wonder what this could mean.
>
> Extrobots seldom seem to grasp the concept of "meaning".
I don't normally engage in ad hominem interchanges, but I feel compelled to
make some response here. Damien Broderick is one of the most learned men
I've encountered in my life, and is also a great wit and a true gentleman.
He's written deeply about postmodernism from a not entirely unsympathetic and
certainly not uninformed position. I have one of his books on the subject in
my list of upcoming reading materials. I've been studying philosophy for
longer than you've been alive, Nicq, and I work with the practical problems
of applied ethics, psychology and history every day in my profession. This
list is graced with a brilliant constellation of some of the finest minds of
our generation. May I suggest that the thrill of hurling an epithet like
"extrobot" might not be worth the brief pleasure it may give you: By losing
the respect of people who have much to teach, you may miss some little lesson
or other that could stand you in good stead some day.
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
ICQ # 61112550
"We never stop investigating. We are never satisfied that we know
enough to get by. Every question we answer leads on to another
question. This has become the greatest survival trick of our species."
-- Desmond Morris
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