[MD] Sociopathy (wasRe: Step Two)

[John Carl]

I find those criticisms somewhat valid, but not all that damning.
After all... the same could be said of Pirsig.




On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 12:35 PM, david <dmbuchanan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Is Randy Auxier the author of an academic book of philosophy or an
> internet troll? How did this stuff make it past the editors?! He says, "the
> current state of professional philosophy and a great deal of science is
> "sociopathic" and compares individuals in philosophy and science to Hitler!
> He says, "these little fascists of the intellect ensconced within their
> tiny domains of thought who are engaged in the academic and educational
> equivalent, cleansing the Reich of human thought of whatever strikes them
> as impure" with "whatever the Zyclon B of their pet theories happens to
> be."  Jeez. Hyperbolic much? Even the friendly critics complained about
> this unprofessional rhetoric...
>
>
> Jacquelyn Kegley says, "Auxier is sarcastically critical of James and
> Dewey" and "one would wish that points made by Auxier could be made with
> less venom".
>
>
> "I found large portions of the book harsh and unduly polemical in tone in
>  what I conceive is a markedly un-Roycean way as far as the nature of
> American culture, politics, and history are concerned. I reread Royce's
> essay, "On the Limitations of the Thoughtful Public in America".  Auxier
>  does not discuss this essay, and I find it an antidote to much of what I
>  see as his frequently intemperate criticism.  Auxier  is also scornful
> about many of his fellow philosophers, although his book shows that he
> has learned more from both the analytic and continental schools than he
> is ready to admit.  In sum, the book is worthwhile but erratic in its
> writing and argument with sections of great insight alternating with
> portions of unclarity and diatribe." -- From Robin Friedman's review of
> Auxier's book.
>
>
> He also seems to be cherry picking and otherwise trying too hard.
>
>
>
> John quoted from Time, Will and Purpose by Randy Auxier:
>
>
> > The problem of the sociopath is precisely the failure to credit the
> > *value* of the possible experience of others, and the metaphysics that
> > follows from such a condition fails to credit the possible reality of
> > the same. Only with such a perverse move can there be a "problem of
> > other minds" and other pseudo problems which 20th century philosophy
> > so often occupies itself.  The real issue is not the reality of other
> > minds, but the tendency among some to trust ungrounded abstractions
> > above concrete experience, deemed "the philosopher's fallacy" by James
> > and Dewey.  More pointedly, all forms of abstractionism and
> > reductionism are sociopathic and we lament that this is the current
> > state of professional philosophy and a great deal of science, both
> > social and natural. ... The human being who strives to be a person by
> > serving institutions that have been warped risks taken into himself or
> > herself the defects of purpose and memory that are immanent in the
> > activities of the institutions themselves.  Thus one can, under the
> > right circumstances, get individuals such as Hitler, who thinks he is
> > serving the genuine purposes of the Fatherland by purposing policies
> > that destroy the very cause he sought to advance, or one can get
> > scientists such as Dawkins and E.O Wilson, or philosophers such a
> > Dennett, these little fascists of the intellect ensconced within their
> > tiny domains of thought who are engaged in the academic and
> > educational equivalent, cleansing the Reich of human thought of
> > whatever strikes them as impure.  They tell human beings, without
> > apparent shame and without any hint of humility, that we are nothing
> > more than our biology or our physical aspects, or whatever the Zyclon
> > B of their pet theories happens to be, and often this is not even
> > recognized as a fundamental assault on human dignity and the full
> > range of the human experience.
>
>
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play within boundaries.
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