John, did Platt actually say "a cosmically intrinsic directional pull toward betterness" ? I suspect he said something more reductionist.
Anyway - I actually doubt that directional pull is automatically towards betterness, but it would not be a problem for me if it were. In fact it would be ideal if it did - I suspect however (misguided, SOMist) human ingenuity is capable of thwarting it. So the real issue (as ever) is not whether I believe it exists, but what it takes - in practical action - to permit it, encourage it, cultivate it .... Ian On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 7:46 PM, John Carl <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't quite get Arlo's complaint against Platt, how can having a > cosmically intrinsic directional pull toward betterness impinge upon > freedom? > > > Freedom isn't something dependent upon anything outside myself, I can choose > to push against gravity and walk on two legs, or just let my body fall and > flop all over the place, whatever. Likewise the cosmos being composed of > morality doesn't force me to be good. I'd say just the opposite of > constraint, it offers a force to push against, a choice to be made. > > A cosmos without quality is like a rollercoaster in space - meaningless. > > Does Arlo complain against gravity because it forbids him from floating off > into the aether? > > > Choice spells more freedom, not less. > 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/
