MDDM Ch. 72 philosophy is for everyone

[vze422fs at verizon.net]

on 8/25/02 11:50 PM, owen j mcgrann at owen at sardonic201.net wrote:

>>
> 
> yeah - people ask me constantly what i intend on doing with a philosophy
> major.  well, pretty simple: living on the street.
> 
> maybe it's just that my daily human interaction is mostly with professional
> philosophers, but i must admit to be slightly irked by the appropriation of
> philosophy into other fields by (and this qualification is important)
> people who don't necessarily know what they are talking about.  yes,
> philosophy is for everyone - one of the great things about philosophy is
> that it lays the theoretical groundwork for lots of
> disciplines.  philosophy is intrinsically linked with mathematics, physics,
> literature, linguistics, music, art, etc.  as this list pertains to
> literature, so i'll try to say what i mean in terms of philosophy and
> lit.  a few years ago i took a course on early british literature and was
> taught that beowulf was a marxist and feminist text.  not only is this an
> anachronistic imposition of modern thought, but my professor had never
> actually read any marx or feminism.  if you are going to claim to be an
> advocate of marxist literary critique is it too much to ask that you have
> actually read marx?  my point is: philosophy everywhere - good; bastardized
> and misunderstood philosophy everywhere - bad.  wow - this is all rather
> tangential to the original post.  interesting.

> 
> 
> 
> - owen
> 
> 

    Yes, this is a tangent, but a damned good one. Your Brit.Lit.
professor's small "s" sophistry is a beautiful example of the specious
reasoning that clogs current dialogue on just about any subject, especially
the political. The road to the truth is jammed with misinformation and
outright balderdash. When a mental Sunday driver, such as your professor, is
presented with a decent contrary argument, or even incontrovertible
evidence, they invariably start spouting off about their "right to their
opinion". This is the last refuge of the intellectually dishonest and the
bigoted. To paraphrase Mr. Dixon, the honest seeker of truth turns to face
the whip of reason like a man (or woman, as the case may be).  Please
forgive the horribly mixed metaphor. I was typing really quickly and got
ahead of myself.

At any rate, tangents seem to be what this list is all about. Just ask Doug.

Peace
Joe

P.S. Just kidding, Doug.