RE: MD Making sense of it (levels)

From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Feb 04 2003 - 14:55:27 GMT

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    Matt:
     
    > Platt said:
    > could you tell us again what's at the
    > top of the ladders you keep climbing and discarding, what's on the
    > islands you jump on and off of, why you keep changing and how you
    > determine when one ladder or island is "better" than another?
    >
    > Matt:
    > The answer for Rorty is the same as it is for Pirsig: we don't really know
    > except for something vague like, "betterness." This is a point of easy
    > commensurability between Rorty and Pirsig as far as I can see.

    So I take it that "practicality" is not the standard by which you judge
    "betterness" since you ignored my follow up question, "If 'practicality' is
    the answer who decides that ladder 1 is more practical than ladder 2
    and how many must agree?" Did you not answer the question for
    another reason?
     
    > Platt said:
    > do you view
    > the pragmatist line as providing a temporary foothold on a static pattern
    > ladder that will eventually be discarded?
    >
    > Matt:
    > Do you mean is pragmatist philosophy a stepping stone to something else?
    > Well sure. Just as Platonic inquiry had its time and place, so will
    > pragmatist philosophy. I have no idea what nonPlatonic, nonpragmatist
    > philosophy would look like, but I'm sure someday a genius will come along,
    > hold the past in thought (as Hegel said), and decide that there is a better
    > way to do things. If I had an alternative to spell out less vaguely, then
    > I might be that genius. But I'm no genius. I think we still need to
    > follow through on the pragmatist arc.
     
    I'm puzzled by your phrase, "a better way to do things." Can you give us
    some examples of how Rorty's philosophy has provided you with a
    better way to do things?

    I'm glad you consider pragmatist philosophy a stepping stone to
    something else. Sometimes it's wise to take a step back to see where
    we've gone wrong. :-)

    Platt

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