Hi Ham I am reading a book about values called Eros and the Good that you would love. It discusses conservative values and relates them to John Dewey's metaphysics and seeks to understand the basis of wisdom. Platt would love this book too. For my part I agree with the analysis of Dewey and some of the analysis of current problems but I do not buy many of the conservative and right leaning values.
What you say below could have come out of this book. What you call hedonism and freedom without values is questionable. Firstly, yes there is greater access to pleasure and less sexual restraint than in the past, but up to a point that is a good not a bad thing. Yes, excessive and exteme sex and consumption is portrayed in the media but this is sensational and by the nature of media not the norm. Yes, there may be neglect of family and communal values, but to what extent is this driven by consumerism and commercialism that is the consequence of competitive markets as supported by the right? Values still exist but they have changed. People value career success, their family life, self-expression, and yes pleasure too, but it is not all there is to modern values. Where I think the Right have a point is where they attack the Left for lack of values and for attacking all traditional values with little to replace them with. I think that the Left like to allign themselves with secularism and science and science,due to its fight to separate from religion, liked to claim it could access truth without any needto reflect on values. On this science and the Left are wrong. I say debunking elitist values should not stop us recognising what is of value and what is of high quality. Science and the Left should stop claiming religion is false or a lie or a myth and recognise that religion is largely about values. We, on the Left, may disagree with some religious values but let's not say this is about truth. The important questions are about values,what is good, and how can we realise it? Such is the open cosmos we live in, full of possibilities from which we must make our choices. regards David M > Hi Marsha -- > > > >> I think that which is prior to our experience is best left >> undefined. To me, using the word 'primary' is saying too much. >> The word 'purpose' seems very presumptuous. While unknowable, >> within my frame of reference (constellation of overlapping, >> interconnected, ever-changing static patterns of value) I find >> events and relationships very interesting and exciting. Therefore, >> I try to make the 'best' of these events and relationships. I live my >> life. And I'm happy corresponding with you is a part of that life. > > Far be it for me to try to push a metaphysical hypothesis on you when you > are obviously not ready for it. I'm glad that you find the ever-changing > patterns of events and relationships exciting, and can understand why > you're > presently content to leave the "unknowable" undefined. Yet, there are > many > out there who are hungry for understanding beyond factual knowledge. > These > are the folks I'm trying to reach. A great many subsist on faith in > religious doctrine, others seek the wisdom of the venerable philosophers > or > the spirituality of New Age mysticism, while some are convinced that > scientific objectivism will eventually resolve all their questions. > > What troubles me is that our society, with the help of Hollywood and the > media, has succumbed to emotional fads based on issues which have no logic > or wisdom behind them. One of these fads is the belief that the desire > for > higher understanding is a relic of the past that "intellectual > enlightenment" has overcome. Elitists like Richard Dawkins and > Christopher > Hitchens play on this ruse by trying to convince the vulnerable that > religion is the root of all evil and that it's time we put spirituality > behind us. They profit from the sale of books pitting Science against > Religion, as if this were not a battle already played out in centuries > past. > Yet, they say nothing about the values that have been trashed by a culture > which has made "having fun" the first priority, with little if any concern > for fiscal, moral, or civil responsibility. > > In a small book titled "Roots of Freedom", John Danford wrote: "The > hedonism > of individual pleasure-seeking, the sense that there is no limit to what > is > permitted in the name of individual fulfillment or 'actualization', the > disappearance of any sense of obligations-these are early warnings of a > free > society's decay." Unfortunately, he's right. I would venture to say > that > most citizens today are so accustomed to enjoying the latest technological > gadgets and an affluent life style, they've come to believe that America > is > invulnerable. The sad truth is that they're in a state of denial about > many > "realities" confronting them, not the least of which is the threat of a > barbarian culture fully committed to the destruction of their way of life. > > A retired chemistry professor, and friend of many years, told me recently > he > thought value is really only "what's important". I would turn his > definition around and say that what's really important is value. In > seven > decades on this planet I have watched the values that made this nation > great > fall by the wayside to be replaced by the hubris of power, the deferment > of > individual responsibility, the mediocrity of multicultural egalitarianism, > and the senseless rejection of metaphysical reality. > > By the time you reach my age, Marsha, I suspect you will be expressing > some > of the same observations. Hopefully by that time you will have sensed a > need to revisit the concept of "primary source" and discover what is > fundamental to your life-experience. > > Thanks for a stimulating discussion. > > Essentially yours, > Ham > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
