Hey Struan, Rog and all,
> PIRSIG:
> "To say that a comment is "stupid" is to imply that the person who makes
> it is stupid. This is the "ad hominem" argument: meaning, "to the
> person." Logically it is irrelevant. If Joe says the sun is shining
> and you argue that Joe is insane, or Joe is a Nazi or Joe is stupid,
> what does this tell us about the condition of the sun? ...the ad hominem
argument is a form of evil.
STRUAN
Showing that Pirsig is a hypocrite is rather too easy. To append a
> comment to my words, which states that I have used an 'ad hominem'
> attack and that an 'ad hominem' attack is evil, is to imply (by Pirsig's
> logic at least) that I am evil, which is an 'ad hominem' attack - albeit
> one that I take as a personal compliment. Being evil under the moq
> almost has to be good.
RICK
"You're a stupid hypocrite!"
"Oh yeah... well, you're an evil nazi!"
You guys are so funny. This has degenerated from a metaphysical discussion,
to name-calling, to a metaphysical discussion about name-calling. If that's
not intellectual progress, then I don't what is.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
And now for something completely different....
STRUAN WROTE:
> My subscription to the list has not been 'approved' by the moderator,
> hence I am posting by proxy. Further participation may well, for this
> reason, prove difficult.
RICK
IF THIS IS TRUE, I'm quite dismayed. I don't who is doing the
moderating these days, but if it's anyone short of God himself then I'd like
to say that I find it highly insulting that you're blocking contributions to
this forum from anyone. We are not children here. We don't need
"mother-moderator" deciding for us who we can or can't hang out with.
Of course the moderator has a job to do here. I can see the value in
screening out complete irrelevancies and pointless obscenities. But
silencing a dissenter? That sort of content-based regulation of our
intellectual marketplace is LOW-Quality and is inexcusable.
(And a salute to Rog for piggy-backing Struan in. Guerilla warfare... I
love it.)
rick
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