Thursday, September 1, 2011

[Mind's Eye] Re: "Confessions of an Ex-Moralist"

I would love to hear the tought process behind this guess Neil, it
seems to fly in the face of my own experiances?

I used to belive that things are ultimatly more simple than they
appear to be, I no longer belive this. Life is complex, we live in a
complex system/universe.

Yes we use all sorts of things other than intelect and reasoning to
guide us, belifes, best guesses, feelings, emotions and intuition are
part of the human physche.

On Aug 31, 10:51 pm, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My guess is we are not as individual as we think Lee.  And there has
> to be something simpler than intellectualism to guide.  I'm inclined
> to see the moral field like the Python poverty joke = on can always
> outdo the hairy shirt or crown of thorns!
>
> On Aug 31, 5:32 pm, Lee Douglas <leerevdoug...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Here is the rub Neil.
>
> > What duties do you speak of, by what law do these duties arise?
>
> > There are of course laws that say you will not murder and if you do
> > you will be punished/face rehabilitation.  But we all know that people
> > are free to hold to or brake laws at their own whim.
>
> > So there are no duties except those that the individual imposses upon
> > himself.
>
> > OM does offten suggest there are errors in all kinds of thoughts, and
> > of course he is free to do so, but that to is a function of the canny
> > mind of OM.  Is he right, is he wrong?
>
> > I don't know.  I do know that he and I agree on some things and
> > disagree on others.
>
> > Did we go in a circle then and are we back to simple belife structers?
>
> > We are not all one mind, I doubt pending global catasphroy we will
> > ever be, humanity is a funny old beast indeed.
>
> > The thing with me is individualism, to attempt to engage individuals
> > as veried as there are shades of colour, to think alike, to plot
> > alike, to vote alike, to reason alike seems an impossible task, but
> > ahhhh I guess some of us have to try, and I say hats off to them.
>
> > Hehh of course though, this is a function of my own mind.
>
> > On Aug 31, 2:33 pm, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > None of the above stops duties for an individual like not killing,
> > > stealing and so on being simple ways to express rules of thumb for a
> > > decent society, or thinking by individuals trying to improve same or
> > > come up with ideas free of socially approved epistemic authority -
> > > indeed, given human collective history this is probably a rule of
> > > thumb itself.
> > > Orn often suggests that there are errors in nihilist thinking (as a
> > > broad label) - I agree.  Modern deconstruction ends up telling us some
> > > things are undecidable and we have to do our best with them.  A bit
> > > like playing a leg-spinner when you can't spot his googlie.  This is
> > > unremarkable - what might be important is that socially decision-
> > > making is broadly established in an elite and the decisions need not
> > > be - often obviously decidable. This is very animal stuff and we
> > > surely can't be sensibly voting for it.  How can we vote for
> > > autonomy?  We might start thinking that there is a moral cause against
> > > representative government that so inevitably decides in the interests
> > > of such a small group.  Moral thinking against established authority
> > > is easily justified - our literature once praised it - often with
> > > existential heroes battling torpid discrimination masquerading as
> > > objective good sense.  I suspect what goes wrong in merely
> > > deconstructive thinking is a point at which authority is banished as
> > > we recognise its violence and forget that this is merely the ground of
> > > default to might is right.
>
> > > On Aug 31, 12:50 pm, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > Getting out of the mess we're in is perhaps a forlorn hope, but the
> > > > odd one of hem came off! History as taught is useless other than in
> > > > creating factional madness.  Biology might help us overcome our
> > > > failure to recognise how animal we are and history could show us the
> > > > repeated blunders we keep falling for.  My thesis is that argument
> > > > hasn't helped us much - my guess being we are broadly ineducable
> > > > through schooling and need a more technological form.  I think we have
> > > > the hard technology but have failed to make this socio-technical to
> > > > date.
> > > > I see some of this as 'moral' in that we can clearly challenge all
> > > > morality - this leading to something rigsy said on the hapless ego
> > > > state of making this mean 'other people are wrong' - surely (the ego
> > > > state - not rigsy) childish.  Most of us still live and die very
> > > > parochially and one lesson is that the apparent differences in moral-
> > > > religious thinking are just cultural.  I would be more like Vam and he
> > > > more like me if our birth places and families been exchanged. Born in
> > > > Islamic families we would both likely be Muslim.  This was recognised
> > > > before Descartes (Maupassant I think).  Some of my Muslim students
> > > > think this is not the case because they are chosen.
> > > > The question is less one of the nihilist rejection of morality and
> > > > more one of a global morality we can sensibly adhere to.  The term
> > > > 'global morality' is scary as is any totalising solution.  And many of
> > > > the issues we need to grip and grok are scary too - population control
> > > > is one - not least because we presumably want people to be able to
> > > > live in comfort and plenty - something likely to raise breeding
> > > > potential.  If we think of the Earth as a commons, then we should
> > > > expect the issue of the tragedy of the commons to arise.  How do we
> > > > tell the people who want then 'no more big families'?  How do we
> > > > justify issues on disability that would arise?  If we want power to be
> > > > democratic, How do we prevent power through wealth, whether through
> > > > capitalist accumulation to a few individuals or the State =both of
> > > > which have a history of either war or oppression or both?  Some will
> > > > say we are better off not addressing such matters as human planning is
> > > > always a mess and we are better off leaving things to the chance of
> > > > evolution, war being part of this - the purpose of man is to be a
> > > > warrior and women's to be recreation for the warrior and such rot.
> > > > Others are more fatalist in that none of this mat matter much as the
> > > > overall plan goes on whatever human trivia makes some believe.
> > > > My view is that religion and various other myths of origin, all
> > > > containing perverse views amongst their elites that ordinary people
> > > > can't cope with the recognition they are myths (Plato is the classic)
> > > > and only the priests or guardians can, are rationalist fantasies - but
> > > > what bigger such fantasy as the very idea of anything global that
> > > > would ask all to take on a 'morality'!
> > > > We leave out a major 'purpose' in economics in much of our moral
> > > > thinking - that of the West (still currently the major military power)
> > > > being on top and staying on top.  The idea in this is that to prevent
> > > > a "backward change" the West needs to dominate economically in order
> > > > to attract the innovation needed to stay on top.  What, for instance,
> > > > would the current situation be now if Muslim states had equivalent
> > > > military power, or a dominant one?  It is also clear that the same
> > > > economics is profoundly anti-democratic in that our own ability to
> > > > manage through it is severely restricted, probably by the accumulation
> > > > of capital in very few hands.  Capital that has invested in such a way
> > > > as to hand over manufacturing (the essential means of war) outside the
> > > > West - something that is treason in some thinking.  This form of
> > > > capital has remained imperialist and one can make a good case that it
> > > > is a form of organised crime.
>
> > > > The key 'moral' issue in all this - which needs book length
> > > > elaboration - is that there isn't much moral in the form of thinking
> > > > that doesn't consider what is happening to all people and that moral
> > > > thinking should be by social animals who recognise that is what they
> > > > are and that we all start with entrenched views that can merely seek
> > > > conversion in others without needed reciprocity.  I believe strongly
> > > > in humility - yet this cannot be a one way process.
>
> > > > I don't believe we can change much through argument and that
> > > > technology is the way forward - even such technology as agrarian
> > > > living alongside 'hot fusion' energy.  I live in a country about to
> > > > evict 'travelers' from their homes and the frustrations on all sides
> > > > is clear.  I wouldn't want them at the end of my garden, yet the law
> > > > seems inadequate.  We have around 8 million people unemployed (real as
> > > > opposed to government figures) and yet continue to be a country with
> > > > net immigration.  It becomes more and more obvious that we can't
> > > > educate our way out of this - indeed, one wonders what effect
> > > > education, after some basics such as women having fewer babies =
> > > > actually has - rather like milk yields in cows and genetics/
> > > > environment equations.  50% of our kids hardly pass go in schooling
> > > > terms and we seem content to 'replace' them in our workforce with
> > > > "better genetic specimens" because this is how economics works.
> > > > Despite the blarney on only bringing in these highly skilled people
> > > > (itself morally dubious as this means taking doctors from elsewhere),
> > > > our taxi drivers are becoming exclusively 'brown' just as jobs are in
> > > > short supply.
>
> > > > Given the practical mess I'm not surprised the moral flight is into
> > > > the subjective where an individual can experience control.  My guess
> > > > is this is a flight from the social, much as the wealthy move
> > > > practically away from the problems, to areas where their kids can go
> > > > to the schools without the problems or in private schooling and so
> > > > on.  Even Plato, especially Plato, wanted his Guardians free of the
> > > > normal, corrupting social. My own view is that this may be simply the
> > > > first step to the immoral.
>
> > > > On Aug 31, 12:34 pm, Lee Douglas <leerevdoug...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > Indeed OM indeed.
>
> > > > > I asked once or perhaps twice or
>
> ...
>
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