From: Erin (macavity11@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Aug 26 2005 - 08:29:48 BST
Hey Platt,
Matt has a new essay coming out that talks about right-left concerning essentialism. I don't think it lines up with right-left politics......because I believe (but not sure) Sam is more right-wing politically but more left-wing as anti-essentialist. I am not sure where you place yourself on the anti-essentialism/essentialism spectrum?
From the quote Arlo put up today I believe Pirsig would also place himself as anti-essentialist (but I think Matt has some thoughts on how this is unclear in his writing) ("The trouble is that essays always have to sound like God talking for eternity, and that isn't the way it ever is. People should see that it's never anything other than just one person talking from one place in time and space and circumstance. It's never been anything else, ever, but you can't get that across in an essay.")
For me I think the anti-essentialism has a stornger argument so I would like to place myself there but I discover that I can slip into essentialistic mode, sometimes without realizing it..........which is what I was talking to Sam about liking Campbell and how do you know you crossed the line by looking for an "essential core". So for me I can recognize some essentialistic thinking even though I identify more with the anti-essentialist argument (and recognize anti-essentialist thinking in myself).
So I just made that comment because the "purification" reminds me of essentialistic thinking (which I think everybody does at some time or other....).
Your confession post reminds me of this too.....slipping from one frame of mind to another...not sure if it is the same thing or related?
Erin
Platt Holden <pholden@sc.rr.com> wrote:
Erin, Ant:
Erin:
> He's been unsuscribed. (I never understood his original unsuscribing). I
> noticed his paper was replaced by a Hicks. Thank goodness Ant is not the
> moderator....all dissenting opinions would be replaced by Hicks links as
> Ant's "purification" process . ( Matt that Fish line of right-wing
> intellectuals disguised as left-wing intellectuals comes to mind right
> now).
>
> Heil DQ!
Yes, indeed Erin. A fine example of the leftist mind at work. The Loggins
paper wasn't politically correct. Therefore, ban it. This is precisely the
sort of censorship that goes on all the time in the educational
establishment today where students who don't toe the party line are
ridiculed, persecuted and silenced. Fortunately, several states in the
U.S. have responded to this fascist-style of intimidation by passing an
"Academic Bill of Rights" that ensures diversity of thought on campus (the
only kind of diversity that makes sense) and protects students and faculty
from ideological bullying.
Ant's blatant attack on free speech, the cornerstone of intellectual
quality, must give Pirsig second thoughts about Ant's understanding of the
MOQ. It's certainly affected my opinion. But, we all make mistakes. Let's
hope the Loggins paper is restored to the robertpirsig.org website..
Platt
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