Re: MD NAZIs and Pragmatism

From: bahna@rpi.edu
Date: Sun Feb 09 2003 - 20:31:55 GMT

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    DMB says:
    Rorty does not use the word "Platonism" to denote the thoughts of Plato?
    It means instead a "nest of dualisms"! Oh, Lord! No wonder I'm confused.
     
    Andy quoted Rorty:
    "Dewey thought, as I do, that the vocabulary which centers around these
    traditional distinctions has become an obstacle to our social hopes." pg
    xii

    DMB says:
    This seems to be the problem that pragmatism is trying to solve, but I
    don't get it. How is the vocabulary an "obstacle to our social hopes"? As
    my old philosophy professor used to say, understanding the question is the
    most important and most difficult thing in philosophy. The answer to a
    question only makes sense if one first knows what the question is really
    about. And this is what I can't see. How does the traditional philosophical

    distinction stand in the way of our social hopes? What are these social
    hopes? Put another way, what is the goal and how does "Platonism" frustrate

    that goal?

    DMB,

    I don't know if I can answer your questions concisely. But if my memory
    serves me correctly, in Bill Moyers and Joseph Cambell's "Power of Myth"
    series, didn't Campbell make the point that the key to enlightenment was
    transcending these dualism also? I hear a little of Campbell in what
    Rorty is suggesting here. If you can get your mind wrapped around
    Campbell, surely these ideas put forth by Rorty will seem trivial by
    comparison.

    Andy

    ps. I eagerly await my epic love poem

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