Doug Henwood wrote: > > > Oh come on. What's wrong with a little ad hominem, especially with > such a gang of thugs? Here's a guy with every advantage in life > handed to him - Andover, Yale, Harvard, inherited money and position > - and he's still a provincial ignoramus. Marx never had any problem > with making fun of his enemies. >
Ignoramus is not the same as unintelligent. I had lots of ignorant students who were by no means unintelligent. Jan worked with many ignoramuses in the post office who were by no means unintelligent. If he is inherently unintelligent, then he's not to blame for it, and it's not the proper focus for making fun of him. When we think judge someone to be ignorant what we're apt to be saying is that they don't have the same knowledge _we_ do (and we may not be competent to judge them in the areas where they are _not_ ignorant. Is Tony Soprano an ignoramus? Marx & Engels make fun of Duhring for his arrogance more than for his lack of brain power. And we are all pretty ignorant of where brain power itself comes from. (Unless we happen to be one of the authors of The Bell Curve.) Carrol > Doug
