From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Tue Jun 19 2001 - 02:16:27 MDT
Mark Walker wrote:
>
> >>
> I find a certain irony in your call for a renewal of philosophy yet your
> posts seem to lack the careful analysis that is the hallmark of the great
> philosophers from Plato to Kant. For a start, what do you mean by
> 'philosophy'? When you say that socialists and Nazis "showed respect for the
> power of philosophy" you cannot mean respect for the great tradition of
> philosophy started by Plato.
Actually, yes, you can point to a pretty direct line of
philosophical thought from Marx through Engels through the
Idealist school of philosophy all the way back to Plato. This
doesn't mean that all or most Nazis or socialists had strong
philosophical roots. But it does show something of the power of
philosophy and its importance.
>Presumably you mean something like an
> individual or a group's core beliefs and values, e.g., when tv commentator's
> refer to a football coach's philosophy they usually are not speaking about
> his view on the mind/body problem but rather (say) the value he places on
> the running game. So let me put this to you in the form of a dilemma: If you
> mean 'philosophy' in the sense of the project that Plato, Kant, and Dewey
> were pursuing, why should we believe that this project is necessary or
> desirable for transhumanism? If you mean 'philosophy' in the sense of a
> common core of values and beliefs why should we think this is necessary or
This is a false and sterile casting of the question.
- samantha
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