Jay Hanson wrote:
>
> From: Brad McCormick, Ed.D. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> >I do not find the man-is-an-animal
> >metaphor (self-conceptualizaton) very rich or enriching -- unless
>
> Hey Brad, it's not a metaphor. <G>
>
> Jay
OK: It's a partial truth, which, if not carefully
delimited as to how much and in what ways it illuminates,
may only further obscure our understanding of the
(our) situation. Now, of course, all truths are
"partial" but what makes some of them (like this
one) especially dangerous is that a lot of people
believe them uncritically and act on them unselectively,
etc. It wouldn't be so bad if everybody believed a
different partial truth: That every person is an
end in himself and not merely a means (Kant). The
results of overextending *that* partial truth
would be ennobling rather than debasing.
On the other hand, every metaphor / partial
truth is subject to multiple incompatible
interpretations, so if one means by "man is an
animal" the Aristotelean notion that man
is a creature with an inner capacity for
self-movement, that's quite constructive:
it says that "the American people" have the
capacity to get off their duffs and take
control of their social world (factories,
offices, schools, etc.) -- and transform their
"formal democracy" into a *material democracy*.
And surely medical technology is largely
dependent on the operational paradigm of man as
animal, although we also know that "psychological
factors" influence even bodily health.
As Castoriadis said: In our society, anything
that's obvious is probably false.
\brad mccormick
--
Mankind is not the master of all the stuff that exists, but
Everyman (woman, child) is a judge of the world.
Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua, NY 10514-3403 USA
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