From: abahn@comcast.net
Date: Sun Sep 28 2003 - 00:09:36 BST
DMB,
Sorry. Sometimes I can't tell if you are being serious or not. I geuss you
were. Rorty is trying something different. He doesn't want to do philosophy in
terms of discovering truths. What he is saying is essentially (I agreed to
translate, but I am hesitant because I am sure something is going to be lost in
the translation) that knowledge is consensus among individuals in a society.
Hopes are the dreams of individuals in a society. These hopes can be agreed
upon through discussion, persuasion and consensus. Once a group has defined its
hopes for society, then the group can together strive to achieve these hopes,
rather than discovering truths. This is the best translation I can give for
"substituting hopes for knowlkedge." I am sorry if I sounded hostile. It takes
patience to try and explain ideas, especially if these ideas are not my own.
However, I think Matt truly gives the best translations for Rorty, so I do wish
you could try a little harder to understand him.
On a side note, I recently began reading a book by John Taylor Gatto in which he
gives a persuasive indictment of the history of compulsory public education in
the US. John Dewey plays a large role in his critique of how our schools were
shaped by "scientific management" which destroyed the will of the individual and
made a citizenry of obedient consumers who rarely question authority. It is a
very sad tale. And the saddest part of all is that I, along with the rest of
the Americans here, lived it. It looks like I might have to rethink this whole
Rorty thing afterall.
contemplating a retraction,
Andy
Dewey saw a sharp divide between a past where family enterprise and individual
effort were the main agencies of personal definition, and a future where
institutions would do that better.
John Taylor Gatto
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