On Sun, 11 Sep 2005, Brian Charles Dauth wrote:
> Dear List:
>
> Miles writes:
>
>> Moreover, Emerson-style personal reflection is not
> necessary to get to your conclusion that we could
> structure society to > distribute resources more
> effectively so that everyone could live rich and varied
> lives.
>
> As long as it gets to that conclusion who cares?
Yeah, okay, I'm a pragmatist. As long as Emersonian self-reflection isn't touted as the only way to get there, I'm fine with it.
>> And again, thousands of years of human culture have
> demonstrated that you don't need to think like Emerson to
> come to that conclusion.
>
> But you can come to that conclusion by thinking like
> Emerson. Why do you want to be authoritarian and close
> off a viable path? Who died and left you Cyclops?
Actually, I didn't come to that conclusion by thinking like Emerson; in fact, as Doug suggests, his paeans to self-reliance can be an obstacle, if our goal is to recognize our mutual interdependence. I'm just saying that I see more viable paths than American (and it is American through and through!) Emerson-style philosophy. I'm not closing off the trail; I'm just pointing out others that I think lead less circuitously to the goal.
Miles