[MD] a-theism and atheism

[Platt Holden]

On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 9:50 PM, ARLO J BENSINGER JR <ajb102 at psu.edu> wrote:

> [.
>
> [Arlo]
> I understand there is a lot of "those damned interlictials" going on, all
> these
> stoopid perfessers and their commie ideas mucking up the world for freedom
> loving free thinkers. And while there are valid criticisms of the Academy,
> there is a reason why the enormity of historical philosophical dialogue
> occurred within its halls. Even in the Buddhist tradition, scholarly
> discipline
> was held within "walls" where the history of the dialogue could be seen,
> examined and debated. The "walls" are a necessary immune system that keeps
> out
> viruses and parasitic patterns. Yes, like any immune system it can function
> too
> tightly, no one would say otherwise.
>
> But to demonize the immune system is to champion cancer. When the body can
> longer distinguish between viruses and harmless (or helpful) organisms, it
> quickly dies. The Academy built its immune system because of the extreme
> risks
> and cancer offered by the social patterns whose control it had to overcome.
> It
> HAD to ensure that The Church could not "squelch" Copernicus' ideas, and it
> has
> been under relentless assault from social power ever since.
>

Platt
Given a choice between Arlo's and Pirsig's immune system analogy I prefer
Pirsig's:

"Just as the biological immune system will destroy a life-saving skin graft
with the same vigor with which it fights pneumonia, so will a cultural
immune system fight off a beneficial new kind of understanding like that of
the *brujo in* Zuni with the same kind of vigor it uses to destroy crime.
It.can't distinguish between them." (Lila, 26)

I see representatives here of the academic immune system fighting off
beneficial new kinds of understanding such as proposed by Bo, Mark, John C.,
Marsha and others. One's perspective changes depending whether your inside
or outside the system. Believing is seeing.