RE: MD A metaphysics--Resignation

From: Ian Glendinning (ian@psybertron.org)
Date: Sun Sep 21 2003 - 23:55:37 BST

  • Next message: MATTHEW PAUL KUNDERT: "MD Shusterman"

    Matt
    As one pragmatist to another can I plea that you pull yourself together.
    This pro / anti-Rorty argument never needed a "winner".

    Interestingly, you may have noticed that your frustration is in fact my
    starting point.
    Namely - no motivation to answer a "good question" just to pursue someone
    else's dialectic.

    I hope you'll keep sharing your views your way.
    Not all questions require answers.
    Life's too short.
    Ian

    -----Original Message-----
    From: owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk
    [mailto:owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk]On Behalf Of MATTHEW PAUL KUNDERT
    Sent: 21 September 2003 23:02
    To: moq_discuss@moq.org
    Subject: Re: MD A metaphysics--Resignation

    David,

    David said:
    I want what we can't talk about easily to be at the forefront of our
    thoughts where as the pragmatist wants to forget about it.

    Matt:
    I think that forgets about the poetic half of Rorty's pragmatism. Poets are
    those who push our language forward so that we can talk more and more easily
    about more and more different things. Poets, on Rorty's view, create more
    and more things to talk about.

    Uh, I was going to say a lot more about this and some other things about
    DMB's reading of Rorty and philosophy and society, but I just wanted to put
    up the white flag, send in my resignation, announce my defeat: DMB has done
    it. He has won. With the help of other beligerents, he has finally worn me
    out. Through one of the must extensive attrition campaigns I have ever seen
    mounted at this forum, I have lost all that kept me going. I still think
    DMB is wrong about me and Rorty (and Pirsig), however, now that he has
    posted some potentially good questions, I have lost the will to even
    respond. It takes energy to take a beating like the one I've received and
    to continue to write some (what I, and perhaps alone, consider to be) good
    philosophy. I just don't have the time and energy to do it. I don't have
    the energy now to muster up and flesh out the good and relevant arguments I
    see in that I should use against the attacks.

    I don't have the energy, and I don't see the point. I've never been so
    naive to think that people like Platt and DMB would ever really change there
    stance towards Rorty. People don't have chips on their shoulders like the
    ones they have and change. That's fine, my polemics were mainly aimed at
    trying to convince others not to believe them. But that's over now. I'm
    just going to drop almost everything that I should respond to. One more
    post on "strong misreadings" and that's it. I'll leave them alone and
    hopefully they'll leave me alone. (All that means is that I refuse to enter
    a dialogue with them: when I comment on them, and they reply, I won't reply
    back and when they comment on me, I won't reply back. All this is
    contingent on them having stupid comments, though.) I can hear all the
    catcalls now, but ya' know what? It just doesn't matter. This last month
    has been one of the most disappointing months I have ever had on the MD. It
    has been, almost resoundingly

     so, an utter waste of time for me. I don't think I've ever wanted to say
    that before, but I do it now. I have things I want to do with Pirsig, I
    don't have time to apologize myself enough room to do it. Like I told
    people before, there's an infinite amount of room here. You shouldn't need
    to clear yourself some space.

    Matt

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