> > <Platt> > Then the intellectuals took control with their amoral > scientific worldview (SOM) and its been pretty much downhill ever since. > Our "slouching toward Gomorrah" is well documented in Pirsig's "Lila," an > original philosophy which has been met by intellectuals with a predictable > lack of enthusiasm because it challenges their faith in politically correct > thinking. > </Platt> This is a very interesting viewpoint Platt - that intellectuals took control. I would like to examine this more closely but I find the term "intellectual" to be either too broad or too narrow. Obviously, we're all "intellectuals" in that we use our intellects, to differing degrees, to make sense of our place in the cosmos. So what form of intellectualism is it that bothers you? I'll answer for you, the same for me, it was an intellectual unfolding of certain defects in reason itself.
But I would go further than you here. Those defects were not in themselves evil or bad. Any more than polar co-ordinates can be "bad". They contained a weakness that could be exploited by those of intellect who wanted to gain control - for it's own sake. I'd rather call them something besides "intellectuals". For now, let's just consider them "the enemy". Pirsig mentions something about a death force? And it manifests usually in social systems. Nazis, corrupt dictators, greedy capitalists or whatever form they take, it's always about power and control over other people. And they suppress good ideas that threaten their system. The goal then is to earn their outright hostility and not just their feigned indifference. I want to say more. Especially about loyalty as defined by another ignored philosopher, Josiah Royce, because there is such a rich comparison between loyalty as defined by Royce and caring as defined by Pirsig. But it's mother's day and I'm off to cook brunch and stew in my juices. John Carl 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/
