John said to Arlo:
I read ZAMM in the context of analyzing a book, Arrogance of Humanism- for
logic class. These ideas are Eherenfeld's not mine, except in the sense I
agree and adopted them long ago. ...What he's really talking about is SOM.
A metaphysical position that feeds industry and govt powers new skulls full of
the right programming to serve the system. Professor Sessions' next assignment
being ZAMM, you could see where he was going here.
dmb says:
Here's rigid coyote trying to sneak in some God again. Sigh.
Here's how the first Amazon review begins. As you can see, the author is
attacking Humanism because it's not theism. Ehrenfeld's book is a meandering
and disjointed personal statement from a Jewish-Christian perspective, and he's
disputing a belief that no serious person believes: Man's ability to become
"more or less omnipotent and, by implication, god-like". He and John are
grinding the same axe, apparently, but Pirsig is not grinding that axe.
" 'The arrogance of humanism' by David Ehrenfeld isn't a stringent
philosophical book (which I assumed), but rather a personal statement by the
author himself - and perhaps his wife Joan. The book feels meandering and
disjointed.
Ehrenfeld writes from an ostensibly Jewish-Christian perspective, and
frequently quotes rather unusual sources, such as "Lord of the Rings" or "The
Silmarillion". He also has a crush on George Orwell, whom he regards as one of
the few humanists who understood the problems of his own philosophy. To the
author, "humanism" is essentially a religion, which replaces the belief in God,
Nature or the supernatural with belief in Man, or rather the ability of humans
to become more or less omnipotent (and, by implication, god-like)."
"The most disturbing aspect of the book is its explicit misanthropy. The
supernatural intervention (sic) or world depression craved by the author would
lead to a *massive* die-off. Small wonder Ehrenfeld isn't a humanist!"
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