From: Greg Burch (gregburch@gregburch.net)
Date: Tue Oct 15 2002 - 05:31:24 MDT
Good post, Lee, and one that certainly expresses my feelings about the
18th century. I wish I had more time to elaborate, but for now can put
it this way in summary: I feel like the 18th century was scientific
humanity's vigorous and playful childhood (with the Renaissance and
Reformation being its cradle and nursery, respectively). Unfortunately,
we had a tumultuous and violent adolescence and early adulthood (the
19th and 20th centuries ... to continue the metaphor. A central thesis
of my current world-view is that the West took a deeply wrong turn in
the French Revolution, which fully expressed itself in both the
"premature rationalism" (no time to explain) of Marxism and the
regressive emotionalism of the Romantic movement.
I'm currently reading "The Culture of Hope" by Frederick Turner, and
hope to be able to write an extended review of it some time in the next
couple of weeks -- for now, let me say that folks who found your post
stimulating may well enjoy this book as one that shares the idea that
much of what has happened *since* the 18th century as wrong-headed.
Greg Burch
Vice-President, Extropy Institute
http://www.gregburch.net
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