Marsha, It was good to have you gone for a while.
It made me realize anew the old aphorism, ya don't miss the water till the well runs dry. And I agree completely when you say, "can't top what Dan has written." But it's always fun to try. John On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 11:02 PM, MarshaV <[email protected]> wrote: > > John, > > Can't top what Dan has written in response to dmb, so I won't add much. > I find something dynamic in all your writing, and I've even become > interested > in learning more about Royce. You're writing is alive in the way I > experienced ZMM and LILA. > > There is another on this list who when he writes about W. James, makes me > think philosophy is dead and self-promotion is alive. But I am quite sure > I must be projecting my own demons in seeing that. > > > Marsha > > > > > > On Mar 3, 2010, at 4:23 PM, John Carl wrote: > > > Greetings Marsha, and thanks for the questions. Since I'm on my lunch > > break, I'll start by just answering one question, and I'll pick #2 > because > > I've got it right in front of me at the moment. > > > > And of course, I'll confine myself to the Roycean side of the question, > and > > leave James to the dime-a-dozen Jamesians extant. > > > > "Should evolutionary doctrines be true, the 'real world' will not be a > place > > of mechanical laws and the flux of atoms; it will be a world 'of struggle > > and conflict, of triumph of the good, or of the abolition of evil, of the > > moral importance of the world, of the transition from lower to higher > > conditions... It will be a world of *ideals."* > > * > > * > > Kuklick continues: > > > > "Why does Royce see these implications in the truth of evolutionary > > doctrines? An evolutionary process is historical, and to appreciate it, > he > > claims, we must forsake that kind of temporality which confines > mechanistic > > explanation. Genetic explanation 'takes in at a glance' a series of > > moments; it treats them as a whole. This temporal whole will have > meaning > > or significance, and this dimension of time transcends that encapsulated > in > > the moment-to-moment sequence which characterizes changes in the physical > > world. An evolutionary sequence may be a series of events which qua > series > > is physical--a set of causally related conditions occuring in space and > > time; but to accept this series as an historical explanation is to > emphasize > > unity, meaning or significance in a way that causal explanation will not. > > > > When a temporal series functions this way as an explanation, when it > affirms > > meaning or significance, our explanation takes on a moral dimension; it > will > > be evaluative." > > > > Intellectual History of Josiah Royce, > > > > And I guess Marsha, for #3, I believe that last statement makes my case > for > > what Royce brings to the MoQ. He posits evolution as proof that the > cosmos > > is a moral order - he agrees with Pirsig's view of evolution in Lila. He > > shows that even when your arguments are good, there are jealous and > naughty > > men in the world who want to keep you down and even if Pirsig said > > everything perfectly, that's no guarantee he'd be accepted by a > values-free > > Academia. > > > > > > And now, I'm off to work! > > > > John > > 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/md/archives.html > > > > ___ > > > 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/md/archives.html > 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/md/archives.html
