Hi John, >> I think I'll have more to say on the matter after I've thoroughly digested Mary's posting of Levy. That looks pretty interesting.
Thanks. I thought it was interesting too. If you leave out the dog and the mistress, almost everything in that interview has direct applicability to the current situation in America and elsewhere. We can see the same issues arising in Britain, the Netherlands, and perhaps even Norway and Sweden, for example. "This is a principle of the book. How two enemies can exchange words, can quarrel, debate, without making war to each others." Seems vital to the effort, but if unattainable, there must be other ways to approach the problem. Perhaps the historical record could provide insight, for instance? He continues. "The question of commitment. I believe in public intellectuals. I believe that to be a public intellectual, as you say in English, is something. He believes in pure literature." Levy is tending in the direction of saying that we could rely on our prominent intellectuals to guide us, but only if they are willing. Perfectly sensible, that. The unwilling cannot lead and should not be called to. I found great optimism in Levy's claim here to champion the middle way. All things in moderation, for the situation is not nearly so dire as advertised. "The book begins in a very despair, a very pessimistic tone and it finishes another way. For example, Houellebecq is convinced, not only that he has a pack against him, the mob running after him and preventing him from writing, but he even believes that society is made for that. The conviction of Houllebecq is, Question, What is society? Reply, society is this which prevents artists to exist and to perform. I'm not completely in agreement with that, and maybe I convince him a little on that. That the situation is not so desperate. " The section on what it means to be Jewish was fascinating too. Having been raised an agnostic, I had no prior instruction in this area, but as he put it, a very MoQ-esque flavor emerged. Imagine, another group of people who believe, "The words are the very thing which keeps the world together. Without words, without letter, without the deeds and the prayer, the world should fall into dust again. To be decreated." Quite amazing really. Is he talking about what it's like to be Jewish or explaining symbol manipulation at the Intellectual Level? But his warning to us to beware ideologies was most prescient. Funny that I'd not thought of it that way before, but once he said it, I could see that he is absolutely right. Unsupportable dogma is always discovered for what it is in the end. I suppose these philosopher guys can have something useful to say to us after all. Best, Mary 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
