From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Tue Oct 08 2002 - 22:28:15 BST
Sam and all:
Sam:
To my question: Is it your view that those who are Conservative
(politicians/ voters/ sympathisers) are unenlightened? Your answer is
(broadly) yes - "Do the unenlightened hold conservative views?... Yea, I
guess you could say that." [NB you reverse the order, but I don't think
that's significant at the moment - I asked whether Conservatives were
unenlightened, and you answered that the unenlightened are conservatives.
Your answer leaves open the possibility that you can be Conservative and
enlightened, but I'm assuming that wasn't a deliberate "loophole" on your
part.]
DMB:
Loophole? Not exactly, but close. As John Stuart Mill said, "Conversatives
aren't necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservative." As I
keep pointing out, there are plenty of exceptions to the rule, but that
doesn't mean such generalizations are without value.
Sam:
Please would you say (in general terms) what you consider an 'ideology' to
be, and say whether you think a) ideologies are good or bad things *as
such*, b) whether it is possible to operate at the intellectual level
without an ideology, and c) how to determine which ideologies have more
Quality. I realise that's a big question, and the answers might overlap, but
I'm not after big answers - broad brush strokes will do!
DMB:
I use the same definition of ideology that anyone can find in a dictionary,
but I'd add that this conversation is about political ideologies. (A)
Ideologies are good in helping us understand and explain social movements,
but bad when they're used justify cruelty and opression or when they're
clung to as dogma. (B) Yes, its possible to operate at the intellectual
level without an ideology because the highest intellectual level is beyond
ideology. That is to say, such a person can understand ideologies and be
conversant with them without being bound to them, without identifying with
them personally. (C) Determining the quality of the various ideologies is
what this conversation is all about. As I understand it. Pirsig makes a case
that the liberal ideologies are better that conversative ones presicely
because the correspond to the intellectual and social levels respectively. I
think one could produce two or three dozen quotes from Lila to back that up.
In fact, I have already done so.
Thanks,
DMB
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