Re: Evil genius?
Ian Murray asked, And what would Wittgenstein say about all those sentences? :-) Dunno. Will you settle for Edna Ullmann-Margalit referring to Wittgenstein in a discussion of the invisible hand and the cunning of reason? "Only when an invisible-hand mechanism can be pointed to, can the spell of an explanation that postulates a creator, a designer, or a conspiracy be effectively broken. "It is in this sense, and in this context, that we may allude to Wittgenstein's notion of being 'in the grip of a picture': the picture is the theological picture, within which one is held in the grip of the 'argument from design.'" Perhaps, we could say O'Neill was trying tocover his ass by pointing the finger atan invisible hand. Or is that perhaps taking the notion of being 'in the grip of a picture' too graphically? Tom Walker
Re: Re: Evil genius?
- Original Message - From: Tom Walker To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 10:04 PM Subject: [PEN-L:21466] Re: Evil genius? Ian Murray asked, And what would Wittgenstein say about all those sentences? :-) Dunno. Will you settle for Edna Ullmann-Margalit referring to Wittgenstein in a discussion of the invisible hand and the cunning of reason? "Only when an invisible-hand mechanism can be pointed to, can the spell of an explanation that postulates a creator, a designer, or a conspiracy be effectively broken. "It is in this sense, and in this context, that we may allude to Wittgenstein's notion of being 'in the grip of a picture': the picture is the theological picture, within which one is held in the grip of the 'argument from design.'" Perhaps, we could say O'Neill was trying tocover his ass by pointing the finger atan invisible hand. Or is that perhaps taking the notion of being 'in the grip of a picture' too graphically? Tom Walker === Who could resist Edna! I got my first hint that economics wasn't the major for me when I asked one of my profs. 'if it's invisible how can you tell it's a hand?' I made it to Keynes but when I read Dudley Dillard's 'Economic Development of the North Atlantic Community' I started thinking the problems were a little deeper than economic analysis was going to get at. I still wonder whether economists are as uneasy about philosophy as Plato [and Locke]were about poets.:-) Ian
Evil genius?
QUOTE OF THE DAY (NYTIMES)="Companies come and go. It's part of the genius ofcapitalism."-PAUL O'NEILL, treasury secretary, on the collapse of Enron. The banality of O'Neill's comment obscures a deeper confusion. It is not simply the collapse ofEnron that is noteworthy but the timing, magnitude and agency of that collapse. Ah, so many geniuses, so little time. Here's a sampling from Google: The genius of capitalism, as Lenin might have pointed out, is that it develops its own rope, for hanging as much as for other purposes. The genius of capitalism consists precisely in its lack of morality. Few people will deny that the genius of capitalism lies in its ability to produce goodscommodities for people to buy and consume. The production of both specific intelligence and generalised stupidity are, to my mind, the most outstanding expression of the genius of capitalism. The genius of capitalism is its ability to capture the genius of everything else. Bernstein recognized from the outset that the evil genius of capitalism is its ability to take anything resembling dissent and quash it. The genius of capitalism is in coping with failure, writes the founder of Grant's Interest Rate Observer in this book. Once again, the genius of capitalism at work: Create a problem, then come up with a new product to deal with the consequences. It took the genius of capitalism to make a valuable commodity out of thoughts, opinions, teachings. It is the genius of capitalism that chaff like the Loman's are ruthlessly winnowed. A genius of capitalism has been to transform the ancient vice of avarice into a modern virtue of acquisitiveness, with the belief that when each one acts in economic self-interest, the greater good of all will result. The genius of capitalism is that thus far it has proven democratic when under threat. The genius of capitalism is its simplicity of motive. A major genius of capitalism is the emphasis on diffusion of economic -power This is the true genius of capitalism, the seduction of offering us yet another new toy as the answer to the quest for human happiness. The genius of capitalism, its magic, its alchemy, transform the lead of repression into the gold of stimulus. It is part of the genius of capitalism that it recognizes this selfish tendency and harnesses it to generate change in society. I would cheerfully argue that the genius of capitalism is that everything is tried and sometimes businesses get lucky and in effect roll 20 straight passes. Tom Walker
Re: Evil genius?
- Original Message - From: Tom Walker To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 11:57 AM Subject: [PEN-L:21360] Evil genius? QUOTE OF THE DAY (NYTIMES)="Companies come and go. It's part of the genius ofcapitalism."-PAUL O'NEILL, treasury secretary, on the collapse of Enron. The banality of O'Neill's comment obscures a deeper confusion. It is not simply the collapse ofEnron that is noteworthy but the timing, magnitude and agency of that collapse. Ah, so many geniuses, so little time. Here's a sampling from Google: The genius of capitalism, as Lenin might have pointed out, is that it develops its own rope, for hanging as much as for other purposes. The genius of capitalism consists precisely in its lack of morality. Few people will deny that the genius of capitalism lies in its ability to produce goodscommodities for people to buy and consume. The production of both specific intelligence and generalised stupidity are, to my mind, the most outstanding expression of the genius of capitalism. The genius of capitalism is its ability to capture the genius of everything else. Bernstein recognized from the outset that the evil genius of capitalism is its ability to take anything resembling dissent and quash it. The genius of capitalism is in coping with failure, writes the founder of Grant's Interest Rate Observer in this book. Once again, the genius of capitalism at work: Create a problem, then come up with a new product to deal with the consequences. It took the genius of capitalism to make a valuable commodity out of thoughts, opinions, teachings. It is the genius of capitalism that chaff like the Loman's are ruthlessly winnowed. A genius of capitalism has been to transform the ancient vice of avarice into a modern virtue of acquisitiveness, with the belief that when each one acts in economic self-interest, the greater good of all will result. The genius of capitalism is that thus far it has proven democratic when under threat. The genius of capitalism is its simplicity of motive. A major genius of capitalism is the emphasis on diffusion of economic -power This is the true genius of capitalism, the seduction of offering us yet another new toy as the answer to the quest for human happiness. The genius of capitalism, its magic, its alchemy, transform the lead of repression into the gold of stimulus. It is part of the genius of capitalism that it recognizes this selfish tendency and harnesses it to generate change in society. I would cheerfully argue that the genius of capitalism is that everything is tried and sometimes businesses get lucky and in effect roll 20 straight passes. Tom Walker == And what would Wittgenstein say about all those sentences? :-) Ian
