Hi Matt. Excellent. I read the whole thing and posted comments on the blog. (Can't see them yet.)
Ian On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 2:43 AM, Matt Kundert <[email protected]> wrote: > > This is a new bit I wrote, fully housed at my blog, here: > http://pirsigaffliction.blogspot.com/2009/05/philosophy-metaphysics-and-common-sense.html > > It's another attempt to circle Socrates, Plato, Pirsig and Rorty, done mainly > through narrative. > So if one is looking for metaphysical principles, or the like, one would be > disappointed. I'll tease it with the first 500 words to help decide whether > it's worth reading the rest: > > > > Socrates essentially defined philosophy as a common, basic > human activity when he said that the > unexamined life is not worth living. Plato said that philosophy was for the > very > few people who were able > to do it. Pirsig said philosophy isn’t worth doing if it > doesn’t help with life. Rorty said > philosophy is pretty > remote from life. > > > > Is there a way of coordinating all of these thoughts? Do they all fit > together? I think they can, in their > way, fit together > coherently, but there have been better and worse ways of construing them. > > > > Socrates came upon the Greek scene at a very important point > in its cultural evolution. For some > years, > leisured aristocrats had begun popping up around the Aegean Sea and > composing themselves in a manner > that had previously been unheard of—our first > intellectuals. They for the most part > had begun speculating > about the way reality as a whole functioned, though they > did occasionally drift into the way humanity, > specifically, functioned (humans > being a natural enough subject within the purview of “reality”). These > drifts didn’t pick up speed until > democracy had taken hold in Greece. The > hold of democracy on Athens > produced a shift in the educational institutions of > Greece. The existence of a citizen class > in Athens > created a need for a means of educating them, one that surpassed the > means that existed for the needs of > fickle aristocracies. For the first time in history, an opportunity > was created in which people could live on > their wits. > > > > These were the Sophists, the first professional > intellectuals, and, like most people I know, they soon > began talking about > themselves and what they do. The trouble > for them was that nobody had really done > what they did before. Their only real models were the poets, the > previous educators of Greece, but the > poets’ profession had itself begun to > change, too, at about the same time. It > was a common enough > feature for Greek rhapsodes, > oral poets, to brood about what they were doing (captured well by Hesiod > in his > musings on the Muses) and the earlier physiologoi, > Thales, Heraclitus and the rest, had themselves > produced occasional remarks, > but we can imagine it wasn’t until the pressure of professional > differentiation > set in for the Sophists (produced by the high concentration of them in Athens) > that real > self-consciousness kicked in. > The Sophists had to attract customers, which meant not only displaying > their wares in public, but arguing for why they knew what they were doing, > over > and against their > competitors. > > > > What they did, in fact, was increase the ability of > public speakers to convince their audience that they > were right. In Athens, in contrast to today, every man > was their own politician and > lawyer. This meant > that arguing your > view (say, of innocence) became dramatically more important than in previous, > > aristocratic generations, where oratory was more for the battlefield (the > first > great place you had to > convince people of doing something, like bleeding). So the Sophists, our > first rhetoricians, began > to > reflect . . . . > > Matt > > _________________________________________________________________ > Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. > http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_QuickAdd1_052009 > 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/
