[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> And yet myth-making and myth-following seems to be at the heart of all
> systems. Seems to be what that much cherished social cohesion is all
> about.
>
> So, how do we construct a quality control approach for myths. Or is there a
> "best by.." date, after which its best to fund more for the myth-makers.
[snip]
I think there is an important distinction that may be of help here:
I think it may be possible to distinguish between *myth* and
*narrative*.
I would argue that narrative is the [ultimate, and
often unrecognized...] orienting pole of all
human action, while myth is the orienting pole of *most* (far
too much!) human action.
Indeed, I would go so far as to propose that narrativity itself
may be the only possible non-mythic "heart" of human social
and individual motivational systems, because the process of
articulating a course for action [a narrative...] is the sine qua non for
all possible action.
Any narrative which does not have as its
core the project of nurturing "the conversation we are" (Gadamer)
perforce has as its core some content *in* that conversation.
But any such content is always a provisional and partial
accomplishment of conversation, which, taken as a goal per
se will always be "off" (mythical in a bad way...) to an
extent we cannot know because we don't know what we don't
yet know. Anything we take to be "the truth" (etc.) except
for the social communicative process of seeking truth (etc.)
is necessarily idolatry, since it substitutes a part of
reality [the conversation we are] for that reality in its
full elaboration and encompassing of all things.
But, as I said earlier, the "place" of communication
in human [which is always *individual*] life (by which
I mean the place of human life in our conversation...) is not
taught, except for a few exceptions that prove the rule.
I apologize if I've been too polemical here, but it's
something I believe, and I don't think we have any
chance of really getting up and out of what Husserl,
back in 1935, called: "The crisis of European humanity"
and "The crisis of European sciences", until our
self-understanding as well as our understanding of
scientificity overcomes its almost universal idolatry.
"Yours in discourse..."(sic)
+\brad mccormick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Magic Circ Op Rep Ens [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: February 10, 2001 3:39 PM
> To: Victor Milne; Brad McCormick, Ed.D.
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: study: the dumbing-down of US science textbooks
>
> > > One of the strongest defenses of the present
> > > social system of capitalism is the individual's
> > > fantasy of getting a promotion, or at least keeping
> > > his or her job, which builds on his or her earlier fantasy of
> > > getting an A or at least passing and being promoted to
> > > the next higher grade.
> > >
> > > +\brad mccormick
> > >
> > Thank you, Brad. This clarifies why I began to lose my fantasies about the
> > social system 15 years ago when I had to take to factory assembly work to
> > survive.
> >
> > Victor Milne, B.A., M.A., M.Div. (plus all but dissertation for the Ph.D.)
>
> I feel the same way about church sex instruction.
>
> REH
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua NY 10514-3403 USA
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