tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post579054539477837660..comments2024-03-28T06:07:03.667-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: QUICK RESPONSERobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-33498143570725595602011-06-04T09:02:31.301-04:002011-06-04T09:02:31.301-04:00I am interested by what you say about Alisdaire. ...I am interested by what you say about Alisdaire. I was not at all aware of that earlier phase in his thinking. Thanks for the brief info.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-44068899229676248132011-06-04T07:38:14.196-04:002011-06-04T07:38:14.196-04:00I finally read Alasdair MacIntyre's first book...I finally read Alasdair MacIntyre's first book, <em>Marxism and Christianity</em>, a week or two ago, and complemented this by re-reading a few of his more recent papers on Marx. I think MacIntyre was powerfully attracted to Marxism for the ideological critique it offers, and many of his books do the same thing (albeit in a way that he admits is somewhat idealistic). Reading between the lines still further, I believe he eventually left Marxism in favor of Thomism and the Catholic church because he did not see how the former could plausibly claim that it, and only it, was not vulnerable to ideological critique. Thomism (according to MacIntyre) provides the resources for what we might call transcending ideology -- a way by which a piece of ideology can plausibly aspire to eventually achieve universality. <br /><br />That was quite compressed, so I'm happy to expand further if anyone's confused and/or intrigued. <br /><br />Anyways, MacIntyre is, of course, very much not an existentialist. It may even be fair to say that he recognizes, and attempts to resolve, the problem in a way much more in the trends of Anglophone than French philosophy.Noumenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02442204504120141558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-82776554050024820072011-06-02T10:46:36.905-04:002011-06-02T10:46:36.905-04:00Thank you, Andreas. That is not my style of disco...Thank you, Andreas. That is not my style of discourse, but it expresses almost exactly the view to which I have come after a lifetime. Strange as it may sound, I find it liberating, not immobilizing, to recognize that committed action does not have to wait upon an a priori demonstration of a universal moral principle [the quest that led me to write my second book on Kant -- THE AUTONOMY OF REASON.]Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-32416314501560944192011-06-02T10:04:35.295-04:002011-06-02T10:04:35.295-04:00I think this is the essential point of Stephane He...I think this is the essential point of Stephane Hessels recent pamphlet "Indignez-Vous!" - that the decision to move <i>politically</i> cannot arise from theoretical analysis, but most arise from a life-choice (Lebenswahl)... Hessel points to Sartre and the existentialists as his inspiration, his indignation - cf. Camus "Cet état de l'absurde, il s'agit d'y vivre." We have to create a project for ourselves in this absurd world, and since so much of the absurdity in this world arises from the inequal distribution of goods, health and happiness, the obvious project is to fight these... Just a random musing.<br /><br />Best,<br />AndreasAndreas Baumannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08524527271555279976noreply@blogger.com