From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Sep 22 2003 - 23:00:22 BST
Andy,
> You said Matt made this assertion: "that the state shouldn't interfere
> in a person's "self-creation" and in the next breath says that
> philosophy should stay out of politics. Apparently these kinds of
> contradictions are accepted without a blink of an eye by Rorty fans."
>
> Andy: OK, I am a Rorty fan. So maybe I just don't see it, but where is
> the contradiction?
Matt's assertion that the state should not interfere in a person's self-
creation is a philosophical statement about the proper role of
government. Politics is about government. So he brings philosophy into
politics where he says it doesn't belong. It's hard, if not impossible,
to escape philosophy.
It's like Matt's stating on one hand that Rorty is against universal,
fundamental principles and then in the next breath stating as a
universal, fundamental principle that "cruelty is the worse thing one
can do."
Of course, if you don't care about logic and rational discourse, such
contradictions are ignored with a shrug. You've no doubt heard of the
supposed evils of "logocentrism," the cruel intellectual position that
white protestant European males use to maintain positions of power.
The feminists are large on that point of view, and it seems Rorty is on
board with them with his universal of no uninversals.
But, we digress from the MOQ where I think we can find much agreement.
Platt
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